A wooden fence lay in splinters. Metal poles were bent. A stone column meant to anchor it all was reduced to a pile of rubble scattered more than 100 feet along the sidewalk.

Neighbors along Heritage Trace Parkway near Harmon Road in Fort Worth say the wreckage is the latest — and most frightening — sign of a speeding problem they’ve been warning about for months.

“I’ve just known this was going to happen at some point,” one neighbor said.

Alex Gunter was in her backyard around 7 p.m. Sunday when she heard a car accelerating nearby.

“This is a busy road. I’m used to hearing the sounds,” Gunter said. “I think I could just hear that he was out of control.”

At the same moment, a few houses down the street, two children were swimming in a pool and a 2-year-old in a life vest was walking near the fence line. Seconds later, a car crashed through it. The car narrowly missed the children.

“That was close. That was so close,” said neighbor Alex Gunter. “We could be mourning the loss of a toddler right now, and that breaks my heart.”

Neighbors ran outside and found a badly damaged black car in the road, according to witnesses. Fort Worth police say officers with the North Division were dispatched to the 1500 block of Heritage Trace at about 7 p.m. Sunday for a vehicle-versus-fence crash. When they arrived, they found the car had collided with the fence.

The vehicle’s front-seat passenger was taken to a hospital; their condition was not immediately known, police said. The homeowners and their family were not injured. The driver was cited for reckless driving, according to Fort Worth police.

Gunter said the crash is part of a worsening pattern on the stretch of road.

“It has really felt like this has turned into a drag strip,” she said. “There have been several crashes at the intersection.”

After being shown video of the damage, Fort Worth City Council member, who represents the area the crash happened, Charlie Lauersdorf said the issue needs attention.

“Something has to be done,” Lauersdorf said.

He said he plans to raise the neighbors’ concerns with the city’s transportation and public works department.

“I’m going to go back to transportation, public works and ask them if they can do an assessment, traffic study on this stretch,” Lauersdorf said.

Gunter said she hopes that leads to real change before someone is seriously hurt.

“I’m concerned somebody is going to have to die before something gets done, and I don’t want that to happen,” she said.