Easy Lessons

Editor's Note: This post is co-published on the Storefront Safety Council blog.

Car crashed into office, Parklawn Drive, Rockville, Md.
(Source: Montgomery County Fire Dept., May 2015)

It’s so easy to think we’ll be coming back when we walk out the door in the morning, isn’t it? As we grab our keys and turn that lock, we say to ourselves, “Oh, I’ll do that later,” or “I’ll make that phone call when I get home tonight.”

That’s what I thought, too, when I left to start what I assumed would be a normal day in August 2008. Little did I know that just a few hours later, I’d get hit by a car as it crashed through the doors of my favorite nearby 7-Eleven. I didn't come through my own front door again until many weeks later, after spending time in two hospitals and two nursing homes.

It would be nice now, seven years later, to just chalk that experience up to a life-lesson learned or a weird fluke that just a few of us experience. But when I heard in the news about a car that crashed into a building recently just down the street from where I once worked, I was reminded that this problem is not a rare fluke. In fact, it’s all too common.

This particular incident wasn’t very different from those you can read about throughout the pages here of storefrontcrashes.com or on storefrontsafety.org: “An elderly woman smashed her car through a Rockville, Maryland, parking garage and into a physical therapy office,” according to one of the TV news reports.

(Source: Montgomery County Fire Dept., May 2015)

Unfortunately, she injured herself as well as others, particularly a receptionist at the PT office — sitting at her desk doing her work like any other seemingly normal day — who was pinned under a desk and debris by the crash.

Two things grabbed my attention about this incident.

First, on a personal level, it was right in my old stomping grounds, maybe a hundred yards from my former office. So, do I feel like these crashes are hitting pretty close to home? Yeah. Going through it once was one time too many — no need for a repeat.

Second, and more importantly, the fire department public information officer made a seldom-voiced observation to the news media while he was on scene.

He said, “There’s not much of a barrier,” as he looked at the vehicle’s path. “There’s a parking space, a little cement, the sidewalk, a grassy area and then the building. It didn’t take much effort to get in there.”

If by some miracle you, dear reader, happen to be a commercial property owner or an architect, please…read his remarks again. Very little stood between a moving vehicle and an innocent receptionist on the other side of a glass window.

(Source: Montgomery County Fire Dept., May 2015)

I’ll refrain from getting preachy here. Suffice it to say that one of the common elements in most vehicle-into-building crashes (especially those that lead to injuries or deaths) is the lack of any sufficient barrier to protect pedestrians and building occupants from an out-of-control car.

Putting bollards or other appropriate standards-based barriers between people, buildings, and parking spaces is easy. Almost as easy as walking out the door in the morning thinking we’ll be coming back later.

Learn more at the Storefront Safety Council website.

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.

Five for Friday: Recent Crash Examples

Photo: WSAV.com

Savannah, GA: Elderly driver plows into Wendy's restaurant when her foot slips off brake pedal – photo left (August 3, 2012 - WSAV)

Commack, NY: Driver charged after daughter dies from July crash into 7-Eleven (August 1, 2012 - Patch.com)

Bowdoinham, ME: General store and restaurant destroyed when pickup truck crashes through building (July 25, 2012 - PressHerald.com)

McKees Rocks, PA: Three injured in DUI-related late-night crash into building (August 10, 2012 - CBSPittsburgh)

Colorado Springs, CO: Driver runs over handicapped parking sign and crashes into glass entrance of shoe store – see video below (August 2, 2012 - KKTV.com)

Convenience Store Clerk Takes a Hit

“Raj” Kumar got a huge surprise July 23, 2012, during his night shift at a Hi Ho convenience store in Navasota, Texas. Luckily, he's still alive to talk about it.

This article in the Navasota Examiner and the video below (source: KBTX) tell the story of what happened to him and the store when a 36-year-old driver (allegedly under the influence and possibly confusing her gas/brake pedals) crashed her SUV through the wall.



Thanks to paralegal Beverly B. Hill for the heads-up on this crash.

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.

NHTSA: Gas Pedal Accidents More Common Among Older Female Drivers

Photo via Google Images

A National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) study's findings about pedal confusion generated a flurry of news stories April 13 2012 after the Associated Press reported that the study concluded 'older female drivers are more likely to have gas pedal accidents'.

"Accidents in which drivers mistakenly hit the gas instead of the brake tend to involve older female drivers in parking lots, a new government study has found," reported AP's Joan Lowy.

"One of the study’s most striking and consistent findings was that nearly two-thirds of drivers who had such accidents were female. When looking at all crashes, the reverse is true — about 60 percent of drivers involved in crashes are male, the [NHTSA] study noted. Another finding: Gas pedal accidents tend to occur more frequently among drivers over age 76 and under age 20. ..."

Pedal confusion is frequently cited as a factor in news accounts of storefront crashes.

Here's the full NHTSA study report (PDF).

Can Parking Assist Systems Prevent Accidents?

A Feb. 24th New York Times article about how parking assist systems might aid senior drivers made me wonder: Does technology exist — if only on the drawing board, so far — that would counteract driver pedal confusion while parking?

I emailed that very question to Dr. Bryan Reimer at MIT, the researcher quoted in the NYT piece, and will see who else in the vehicle safety/research community I can pester.

Meanwhile, here's a link to the article: For Older Drivers, Help With Parking.

New Resource for Families of Senior Drivers

Aging affects our driving skills. Sad but true.

I know my own eyesight isn't what it was 30 years ago, for example. I'm sure it will be even more different 30 years from now. And vision is just one element of driving ability.

We all get older one day at a time. With "Baby Boomers" advancing into their senior years, however, the proportion of older drivers is growing rapidly in the U.S. Likewise in some other nations.

That makes family conversations about driving by older adults important and timely. Such conversations need to begin long before a family reaches the "Give me those keys!" stage.

Those four words strike fear and indignation into the heart of most any senior driver. (In fact, call a Baby Boomer of any age a "senior driver" and see what kind of "Who you callin' a senior citizen?" stare you get!)

Driving means independence. Independence means freedom of choice, freedom of movement—and dignity.

Enter "Beyond Driving with Dignity; The workbook for the families of older drivers."

This user-friendly workbook was developed to offer concerned families a working roadmap (complete with actual exercises) on how to address the issue of driving safety with an older adult in your family.

The workbook has been designed to offer additional peace of mind to families, help older drivers maintain their independence and dignity, and at the same time help prevent unnecessary deaths and injuries on our nation's roadways—not to mention our nation's storefronts.

Many of the crashes chronicled on this site involved a senior driver. Some mistakenly hit the gas instead of the brake. Some mistakenly put their vehicle in "drive" instead of "reverse." Some, like the driver who hit me, didn't know what went wrong.

StorefrontCrashes.com isn't about pointing fingers. It's about finding solutions. So, I'm interested in spotlighting resources that help drivers of any age—and their families—come to grips with issues that affect safety.

Full disclosure: I'll make a small percentage off the sale of "Beyond Driving with Dignity; The workbook for the families of older drivers." Hopefully, extra proceeds can help in raising awareness about vehicle-into-building crashes.

Driver behavior is only one factor in these crashes. Protecting people requires multiple strategies—because I believe accidents can happen despite drivers' best intentions.

But this workbook is a great step toward addressing one of the prime vehicle-into-building accident factors.

Please let me know how it works for you—via the comments area or with an email to mark 'at' storefrontcrashes.com.

Your feedback will no doubt also be appreciated by author Matt Gurwell, founder & CEO of Keeping Us Safe, LLC. He lectures throughout the United States on topics related to the aging process and its adverse effects on driving skills.

More about Matt in an upcoming post. He's been very selective about the platforms through which this workbook is offered, so my thanks to him for reaching out to you through StorefrontCrashes.com.

Get your copy of "Beyond Driving with Dignity; The workbook for the families of older drivers" at: www.keepingussafe.org/workbooksc.htm.

Pedal Design: Toyota's Perspective

The Wall Street Journal's article this week on Toyota's efforts to study potential changes in its vehicles' brake and gas pedals is both informative and frustrating ('Toyota Rethinks Pedal Design' - August 17, 2010).

That Toyota is delving into the ongoing mystery of why and how vehicles and their drivers unexpectedly accelerate and/or fail to stop is cause for optimism (albeit guarded—hopefully it's not just a rear-covering exercise).

The frustrating part: All the company's research has so far resulted, according to the WSJ article, in no obvious cause/solution insofar as its pedals go.

Here's the WSJ article: http://tinyurl.com/28khvrt

Gas/Brake Pedal Confusion Solution in Sight?

When you skim through news accounts of vehicle-into-building crashes, you'll notice that drivers in such accidents often confuse their gas and brake pedals. Japanese inventor Masuyuki Naruse wants auto makers to replace the two side-by-side pedals with just one pedal, writes New York Times reporter Hiroko Tabuchi.

Tabuchi's August 3, 2010 article is excellent and a quick read—well worth your time. Jump to it at nytimes.com.

(Thanks to Nicholas Ramfos of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments in Washington, D.C. for the heads-up.)