Wall Draws Cars Like a Magnet : Accidents: Motorists have crashed three times into the fence around a Northridge couple’s home.

Helen and Dean Skovlin may be victims of Murphy’s Law, a bizarre twist of fate, or just plain bad luck.

On three different occasions in the last six years, speeding motorists have crashed into a 6-foot-high wall surrounding their Northridge home, each time costing the couple thousands of dollars.

As fate would have it, while construction workers were repairing a section of the wall Monday, a driver crashed into the construction company’s truck and a barricade, sending workers scurrying for safety.

“It’s bizarre,” Skovlin said. “When I called my husband at work to tell him, he thought I was jesting,” she said with a laugh.

Though ironic, the situation is also frightening, Skovlin said.

“It gets worse every day,” she said. The Skovlins live in the 17000 block of Parthenia Street, dubbed “Parthenia Speedway” by residents.

In the past, residents have clamored for and received increased patrols by traffic officers citing speeding motorists, Skovlin said.

Accident investigator Greg Pfeifle, of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Valley Traffic Division, said the street is known for speeding.

“I’ve had crashes up there at 100 m.p.h. impact,” he said. “Any time you have speed, you have speed-related accidents. Usually it’s people pulling in and out of driveways. Those poor people that pull out of their driveways are doing it in front of people who are speeding down the street.”

Pfeifle said the average traffic citation is for speeds between 60 and 80 m.p.h.

The Skovlins’ wall was hit most recently two weeks ago when a speeding city garbage truck braked to avoid hitting their neighbor, who was pulling into his driveway, Helen Skovlin said. The driver lost control and crashed into her wall.

“We thought it had been the big one,” she said. “It felt like an earthquake. This place literally shook. It gives you an idea of the impact.”

The truck also knocked out a power pole, leaving live power lines in their yard for about an hour, she said.

The Skovlins are not alone. Their neighbors have also had parts of the walls surrounding their homes destroyed by speeding drivers. And the street has seen several serious accidents, one that left a pedestrian dead and eventually led to the installation of a stoplight, the Skovlins said.

But Helen Skovlin did not know of anyone else who had suffered through three wall accidents and another mishap in the midst of a repair.

“Not many people can claim that fate,” she said.