Vehicles crashing into buildings

[Bruce]

A recent article in The Seattle Times ("How often do cars crash into buildings in Seattle? Way more than you think.") reveals a startling number:

According to a Seattle Times review of fire department records, combined with those kept by a security contractor based in Colorado Springs who tracks building crashes, vehicles have struck buildings nearly 700 times in the city since 2012. That is likely an undercount: Crashes that did not elicit a fire department response or news coverage aren't included.

At 105 collisions, 2022 saw the most crashes for any year of the past 10. The high-water mark comes at the same time as the state sees a record number of deaths on the road, as speeding and impairment continue to climb and enforcement remains well-below 2019 levels.

Beginning in 2007, [security consultant Rob] Reiter set about documenting as many crashes into buildings as he could, via news reports and government records. His counts hover around 40,000 a year. Absent any other sources on crashes – including from national sources such as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration – his data is frequently cited by insurance groups and news articles and he is contacted by attorneys representing people injured in such collisions.

In concert with the rising number of fatalities on high-speed arterials, we're going to be seeing more road diets.

[SectorZ]

I wonder how much tech in cars that is meant to help drivers not hit other cars and people helps in not hitting stationary objects like buildings.

[triplemultiplex]

Thing is, so often a collision with a building is a secondary crash after an initial collision with another vehicle.  Or the vehicle hits a building trying to avoid hitting something else.  It's not a majority or anything, but likely accounts for a large number of them.
Another large category has gotta be "old person hit the gas instead of the brake".

Time for more bollards!

[J N Winkler]

A couple of my acquaintance had just signed a contract to sell their home (they were downsizing to an apartment) when someone had a (fatal) medical crisis behind the wheel of his classic car, which then careened off the street and into their house, demolishing one of the exterior walls and coming to a stop inside a room.  The sale and move had to be delayed while the damage was made good.

The SR 431 runaway truck ramp in Nevada has a house just beyond its end.  Before the ramp was redeveloped several years ago to its current design (paved with cable arrestor), the house sustained severe damage on at least one occasion from trucks overrunning the arrestor bed.

[triplemultiplex]

The SR 431 runaway truck ramp in Nevada has a house just beyond its end.  Before the ramp was redeveloped several years ago to its current design (paved with cable arrestor), the house sustained severe damage on at least one occasion from trucks overrunning the arrestor bed.

Damn, the helicopters couldn't get there in time.

[Max Rockatansky]

The SR 431 runaway truck ramp in Nevada has a house just beyond its end.  Before the ramp was redeveloped several years ago to its current design (paved with cable arrestor), the house sustained severe damage on at least one occasion from trucks overrunning the arrestor bed.

Damn, the helicopters couldn't get there in time.

They just needed grapple hooks.  If only someone thought to install them...

[algorerhythms]

[Max Rockatansky]

^^^

I'm more inclined to believe something like data from a NSHTA study than an urbanism YouTube channel.  I'm certainly not insinuating that this doesn't happen, but we are really use "Not Just Bikes"  as a secondary thread source?

There has been a couple issues over the years where customers and burglars have crashed into stores I've managed security for.  The break in attempt at Sears Grand out in East Los Angeles sticks with me given the guy who did it got his old Honda stuck in a bunch of fixtures.  He just ditched the car after stealing a couple things.  Amusingly it was registered in his name with a valid address.

[bulldog1979]

M-35 northbound in Perkins, Michigan, encounters a T-intersection that has a house just north of stop. I've wondered over the years just how often it's been hit by cars running the stop sign. The last time I was through there this fall, that vacant house is slowly collapsing and much worse condition than that 2016 photo shows.

[formulanone]

Another large category has gotta be "old person hit the gas instead of the brake".

It's a Florida thing. Made the news at least once a week.

I also wonder how many are intentional "smash-and-grabs" at liquor stores, convenience stores, et cetera.

[Scott5114]

I know this is a serious subject, but every time I see the thread title for some reason my brain thinks it's going to be a TimWorld thread.

[vdeane]

I know this is a serious subject, but every time I see the thread title for some reason my brain thinks it's going to be a TimWorld thread.

I guess the operators of those vehicles couldn't drive and chew gum at the same time.

[Max Rockatansky]

I have come here to chew bubble gum and crash into buildings...and I'm all out of bubble gum...

[Dirt Roads]

I found it!  This thread reminded me of a crazy story from Raleigh a number of years ago about a homeowner that continued to be plagued with cars crashing into the same house:
https://www.wral.com/homeowner-city-seek-solutions-after-6-cars-crash-into-raleigh-home/16169152/

[Techknow]

In San Francisco, a vehicle crashed into through a garage door and was launched by a car inside it to crash into a second floor, thus displacing everyone in that building. The building was in front of the beginning of Mansell Street, which is going downhill towards San Bruno Ave so it's clear the vehicle was going too fast and didn't stop in time. Very unfortunate that a house was built in front of the street.

News Article

GSV

[jeffandnicole]

In San Francisco, a vehicle crashed into through a garage door and was launched by a car inside it to crash into a second floor, thus displacing everyone in that building. The building was in front of the beginning of Mansell Street, which is going downhill towards San Bruno Ave so it's clear the vehicle was going too fast and didn't stop in time. Very unfortunate that a house was built in front of the street.

News Article

GSV

The house built in front of a side street is quite common.  It just sucks that this crash actually occurred.

[triplemultiplex]

One should invest in a giant rock if they own a house at the top of a T intersection.

[SectorZ]

One should invest in a giant rock if they own a house at the top of a T intersection.

https://goo.gl/maps/Rkan3rK3rdxcEWP99

https://www.sentinelandenterprise.com/2009/11/25/img-srchttpextrasmnginteractivecomlivemediasite1052007041820070418092051camimagejpg-altlowell-sun-video-width22-height10-border0leominster-woman-wants-house-protected-from-speeding-motorists/

(Apologies if the news article is paywalled)

The owner of this house had two vehicles crash into their house in the 2000's, with many other near misses tearing up lawn and landscaping. Nonetheless, this gem from the story, "Someone recommended the family install large boulders at the front of the yard, but Chromiak said she doesn't want to crowd the yard with boulders", confirms that some people would rather just get their house repeatedly struck when boulders will stop them and you don't need giant ones to do so. GSV here is from ten years after this news story still with no boulders.

[kalvado]

One should invest in a giant rock if they own a house at the top of a T intersection.

Pile of sand may be more humane but still efficient

[SEWIGuy]

I have a friend who owns a double lot at a T-intersection at the top of a hill. Twice he has had cars blow through the intersection and end up in his pool.

[triplemultiplex]

One should invest in a giant rock if they own a house at the top of a T intersection.

Pile of sand may be more humane but still efficient

Or that becomes a ramp launch the car through the roof instead of thru the wall. 

[chrismarion100]

A video of a man who intentionally crashed into the Cumberland Wi Police Station and the interaction with the officer who was working inside.

[SectorZ]

A video of a man who intentionally crashed into the Cumberland Wi Police Station and the interaction with the officer who was working inside.

If he didn't say "I'll be back" before doing so I'm going to be very disappointed.

[golden eagle]

The actor Leslie Jordan was recently killed in an accident in Los Angeles when his car his the side of a building. It was believed he had a medical emergency and it caused the crash.

[RM42]

An unfortunate gentleman in San Jose, California has had this experience at his home 23 times since the 1960s. Once every 2-3 years.
https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/san-jose-property-hit-by-cars/2979159/

I'll leave it as an exercise for the reader to find this man's home on Google Street View (it's a rather elementary task). If you go to the June 2016 Street View you can see the carnage of an incursion into his home. Though catastrophic brake failure and idiotic recklessness really are the only excuses for why you'd crash into his home because it is nearly 1000 feet from where the interstate and exit diverge and 1700 feet from the start of the exit lane. Though we all know that drivers are stupid and need tons of hand holding from traffic engineers.