UPDATE: Woman continues fight for guard rail after car crashes into house

BENTON COUNTY, Tenn — A family  is now returning to the place they love.

“I’m glad to be home,” said Geraldine Kesse.

Kesse and her family were forced out of their home after a car ran into the side of their house on August 29, leaving a trail of destruction and costly damage.

“A long time of bouncing from motel to motel to we ended up getting a one bedroom efficiency apartment and we was just out of our normal routine,” Kesse said.

Although her insurance company took care of most of the costs, Kesse had to come up with more than $3,000 for repairs.

Now she is back in the house and continuing her fight to keep it protected.

“A guardrail, a stop sign and a flashing light,” Kesse said.

She said something should have been done years ago.

“(There) should have been a guard rail there many, many many, years ago.”

Kesse said if TDOT does not take action, she has more than 200 people waiting to sign a petition that hopefully will.

“The homeowner has requested that we take a look at it,” TDOT Operation Director Michael Welch said.

Welch said they are working to keep her protected.

“I’ve talked to our traffic engineer today for the region and he’s putting together some guys to take a look at it to see if there are any kind of improvements that can be made,” Welch said.

He said sometimes guardrails are not needed.

“Guard rails might not be a good solution for this. There might be a caution light, chevrons around the curve,” Welch said.

Just knowing that change could be coming, Keese said it’s a step in the right direction.

“That makes me happy. I don’t want to make their job anymore stressful but I want to make our lives safer here,” Keese said.

Leaders with TDOT said they will look at the crash history, the speed and will drive the highway before making a final decision.