Convenience Store News Spotlights Crash Problem

"Thanks" to Convenience Store News for publishing "Is Your Store Prepared for Pedal Error?" this evening on its website. According to the publisher, Convenience Store News is the c-store industry's #1 print & online publication and the "highest-trafficked website in the industry," with 81,700 unique visitors (Aug. 2012).

The article was co-authored by Rob Reiter and me to help generate c-store industry awareness and engagement. The piece uses some of the stats generated by Texas A&M University from its research into the issue this summer. Let us know what you think.

Texas Transportation Institute Spotlights Need for Storefront Barrier Standards

Infographic: Texas Transportation Institute

The Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) added its voice today to the call for prevention of storefront crashes in its article, 'Parking Is a Full-Time Job', published online.

TTI Assistant Agency Director Dean Alberson — who led the team that developed the ASTM testing standard used by the U.S. State Department to help protect embassies and other facilities from vehicle crashes — noted that while storefront crashes are preventable, businesses should install vehicle barriers that meet an effectiveness standard. Otherwise, the barrier might not work as a business intended.

“We have the expertise and facilities needed to codify the new standard for storefront crashes,” Alberson said in the TTI article. “We’ll be conducting tests for manufacturers who want to prove their products meet the new ASTM standard we’re currently developing.”

TTI completed a longer paper on the issue this week — 'Data Analysis and Prevention of Vehicle-Into-Building Crashes: An examination into the frequency of vehicle-into-building crashes and a solution to protect people from such accidents' — co-authored by Alberson, TTI Graduate Assistant Researcher Felicia J. Desorcie, E.I.T., and Storefront Safety Council co-founder & Blockaides Inc. consultant Rob Reiter.

I'll post a link to that larger paper when it becomes available online.

Teen Parking Manual Out from IPI & AAA

Thanks to the International Parking Institute for letting me contribute tips on how to prevent a vehicle-into-building crash for its just-released parking education manual for teen drivers. You'll find 'Avoiding a Pain in the Glass' on page 5 of the PDF manual, which is available for free download at parking.org.

IPI teamed with AAA Mid-Atlantic and the Mid-Atlantic Safety and Education Foundation, affiliated with AAA, to publish the booklet that educates teen drivers about how to park. IPI launched the collaboration because 70 percent of all vehicular crashes involve parking incidents. The How to Park manual is "designed to boost parking maneuvering skills along with insights to encourage greater respect for parking enforcement, and it concludes with a suggestion that high schoolers consider careers in parking! A publicity campaign targeted at teen media and driver education instructors is planned," said IPI.

100-Year-Old Driver Backs into Crowd

Photo: AP via Daily Mail

A 100-year-old driver accidentally hit 11 pedestrians on a Los Angeles sidewalk August 29, 2012, apparently while trying to back out of a parking space. Nine of the victims were children. Some were trapped under the car, according to news accounts.

News links: Daily Mail | San Francisco Chronicle

Follow-ups: Car examined (L.A. Times) | He'll stop driving (L.A. Times)

Thanks to Marc Silverstein of Rockville, Maryland-based On The Marc Media and Beverly Hill of Abbey, Weitzenberg, Warren & Emery law firm in Santa Rosa, California, for the heads-up to this story.

[KTLA video]

Young & Old Alike Cause Crashes

Photo: WWBT NBC12

A 13-year-old girl driving in a grocery store parking lot (while accompanied by an adult) struck a 25-year-old pedestrian, then crashed into the store's entrance. The accident occurred July 22, 2012, in Comstock, Michigan.

In Ashland, Virginia, an 81-year-old driver plowed into a restaurant on July 13. Luckily, the restaurant was closed that day. Bystanders said had it been open, people very likely would have been sitting right where the car came crashing in (photo above left).

Photo: WWBT NBC12

In nearby Henrico, Virginia, two people were hurt on July 9 — one with life-threatening injuries — when a driver crashed into a dialysis center (photo below right).

Both the 13-year-old and the 81-year-old drivers reportedly confused their pedals, hitting the gas instead of the brake.

Parking Education to Get Push

The International Parking Institute (IPI) announced a new partnership January 3rd with the Mid-Atlantic Foundation for Safety and Education (MAFSE), which is affiliated with AAA Mid-Atlantic, “to collaborate on the development of parking education programs for drivers.”

“Being knowledgeable about parking is an essential and often undervalued part of being a good driver,” explains Shawn Conrad, executive director of IPI.

I was especially interested to read that the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says “parking-related crashes account for more than 20 percent of automobile insurance claims.”

Read IPI's full announcement here.