Cape Coral neighbors want safety measures at cul-de-sac near deadly crashes

Memorials in public view serve as a reminder of tragedies a community in Southwest Florida wants to stop. Two different crashes in the same spot happened a year apart, taking the lives of two people.

A new sign sits at the end of a residential roadway warning people it’s a dead end. It comes just a day after a man was found dead in a nearby canal after crashing his motorcycle.

Neighbors want to see more than a sign on a cul-de-sac in south Cape Coral.

A bouquet of flowers now marks the spot where motorcyclist Jeffrey Kinkelaar died recently. They are next to a new sign put up Thursday to replace the old warning sign leveled in the deadly crash.

Cape Coral police say the motorcyclist was driving down a stretch of El Dorado Parway W when he flew off of a cul-de-sac, hit a sign and then landed into the canal. His body was found about a quarter of a mile away from where he crashed.

“They came in and put the new sign in this morning, but it was the same sign that did not prevent the last accident,” Marcus Messina said. “So if something is not working, there’s no point in trying to fix it.”

Messina lives a few doors down from the crash scene, the same spot where another man died a year ago.

Robert Zarnik crashed his car and died in the same canal in 2020.

“How many memorials do we need?” Messina said.

Messina and other neighbors want to see the city do something to make the cul-de-sac near their homes safer.

“There’s a large tree that needs to be cut down because it’s removing half of its shading, the light that could otherwise be alerting people of the impending disaster,” Messina said.

Neighbors say, until something is done, they worry the number of memorials will only grow.

“I don’t think it’s complex at all,” Michael Sheppard said. “I think they need a little signage before the end of the street and some dead-end signs and some rumble strips, as simple as that.”

The City of Cape Coral told us, if you want someone to look at traffic control signs and devices, all you have to do is dial 311.

MORE: Cape Coral – 311 Call Center