Vehicles into buildings on the rise; distracted driving is to blame

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Across the country, 60 times a day, a vehicle crashes into a building.

Here in central Indiana, we see this at least 3-5 times every week. There are a variety of reasons behind these crashes, and distracted drivers are at the top of the list.    

The driver of a gray SUV crashed right through the front door of this busy Lebanon gas station.

The vehicles’ progress was halted by an interior wall of the building and the checkout counter.

According to the Lebanon Fire Department, the driver was trapped in the vehicle for a short time and eventually taken to the hospital.

The cause of the crash hasn’t been released, nor has the age of the driver.

Rob Reiter is the co-founder of the StoreFront Safety Council, and he says a crash like this one is mostly preventable.

He says Indianapolis and central Indiana drivers seem to hit buildings at a higher-than-normal rate.  

“What I have noticed about Indianapolis, you tend to have a higher percentage of high-speed crashes into buildings,” Reiter said.

According to Storefront Safety Council data, the age of the driver involved in these crashes is split fairly evenly.

Nationally, the drivers that hit buildings are:

• 29%, under 30
• 32%, 30-60
• 39%, 60 and over

“Older drivers have pedal errors more frequently, which is fairly common. You are in the parking lot, pull into a space, and you floor it instead of slowing down. You are through the glass before you know it, but it is the younger driver doing more of the high speed off the road and into the building,” Reiter said.

Operator and pedal error made up 41% of the crashes into buildings.

In November, seven people were injured when an SUV drove through an AT&T store at the corner of Lafayette and Georgetown roads. IMPD said at the time the SUV had been parked in front of the building.

“For whatever reason, I’m not sure if the driver, if their foot slipped, or if it was driver error that will come out in the investigation,” William Young of IMPD said.

Alcohol, traffic crashes, and medical emergencies made up more than a third of the crashes into buildings.

Storefront Safety Council’s mission is exactly what the name implies, increasing safety around storefronts.

Reiter says that most of the newer retail buildings have steel and or concrete bullards around the building to keep drivers and their cars in the parking lot.

However, older buildings don’t always have the same protections.  

“A busy convenience store will have 500 cars in a day, so if it is one in-a-million, it is not that many days before you have had your millionth car. These things happen very regularly, and they are predictable and preventable,” Reiter said.  

Retail buildings, like strip centers, are most likely to have a vehicle driven into them, where government buildings and convenience stores are at the bottom of the list.