She wasn't at her home on the corner of Ngongotaha Rd, crossed by Stembridge and Beaumont Rds, when the incident happened. Instead she came home to the unwanted surprise the next morning.
"I've lived here for 50 years. It's not unusual for cars to lose it on that corner, we have at least one crash per year, but a lot have been unreported," she said.
"I believe it's the corner, the lighting is bad, at night you don't even know that you have to turn. We need a barrier and more lighting."
She said a number of trucks and buses had gone through fences and homes in the neighbourhood in the past.
"I'm fearing for my safety but it's a family home, it was my parents' home.
"I just hope and pray that someone puts a barrier or a speed bump or something there.
"You can tell when someone's going to hit you, you can hear the screeching and it's like, 'oh my god, where are they going to end up?'," Ms Richards said.
A police spokeswoman said police attended the crash shortly before 7pm and the driver of the car left the scene. She said police were looking for the driver.
New Zealand Transport Agencies national media manager Andy Knackstedt said its crash records showed there had been two previous loss of control crashes on the corner in the past 10 years.
"We have had no registered complaints about this site since the Transport Agency took over the road (from the Rotorua Lakes Council) on July 1 2014.
"We understand the concerns of residents in relation to the damage caused by this week's incident and we urge anyone with concerns like this to contact the Transport Agency directly.
"We also urge drivers to keep within the speed limit in order to ensure the safety of other road users and those living beside the road."
