Good news -- Texas teenager Jessica Bunch, after four surgeries and something approaching $1million in hospital bills, seems to be recovering slowly from her horrific injuries.

Jessica was standing at a Redbox machine in front of a Wagreens store in Canton Texas on 7 July, and was struck down by a driver who accidentally hit the gas pedal instead of the brake.  Neither Redbox nor Walgreens, despite dozens and dozens of such crashes going back at least five years, cared enough for the safety of customers (or employees) to bother with simple, inexpensive, and effective safety barriers placed between Jessica and oncoming vehicles.

Jessica and her father want to change laws to prevent this sort of accident from ever happening again;  such efforts are already underway in California, Georgia, Massachusetts, and Florida.

You can see more of Jessica's story in the previous blog post, but for right now, I will let Jessica's father, Don Bunch, give you an update in his own words.  You can see his post online (and donate to her recovery fund) at the GiveForward fundraising page "Jessica Bunch -Extended Hospital Relief" HERE


Day 19
Posted by Don Bunch on July 25th, 2015

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Jessica finally got out of ICU on Day 17 and has been moved to a room. She is trying to eat a little, we have got to get the pace picked up a little or they will have to put a feeding tube in.

Hopefully all surgeries are done. She has had four of them, the first was to stop the internal bleeding, and the second was to remove her appendix, gall bladder, and part of her bowel, the third was to reconstruct her pelvis and the fourth was to reconstruct her rib cage. She has been put through a living Hell right here on earth.

I felt so sorry for her, she lifted her gown and looked down at her tummy and started crying, I ask what was wrong and she said that my body is so cut up, I will always have  these scars. I tried to talk to her to soothe the heart ache, but she is heart broken.

Her attitude is a lot better than I ever expected, for someone who was literally crushed to death, she is taking all of this pretty good. She is very optimistic about the accident. She would like to talk to the elderly women that ran over, Jessica says that it will help with forgiving her. I hope this is true.

All in all I’m glad to have my baby girl back. We still have a long way to go, but with the Grace of GOD we will get there.

Thank you so much for all the donations, but most of all thank you for the prayers.

Don Bunch

As we continue to collect more data and continue to analyze the information we have collected,  we are able to observe more trends developing on causes of vehicle-into-building crashes and more about the drivers in those crashes.    We have just finished running accident data by driver age and found that our results run much higher than the expected curve for the age of drivers who have storefront crashes.

As the chart below illustrates, we have compared national figures for the age of licensed drivers (stated as a percentage of total licensed drivers) against the reported ages of drivers involved in vehicle-into-building crashes (when driver age is reported.)  What we have found is startling -- just 19% of the licensed drivers are responsible for something like 45% of such storefront crashes.

Those 19% of licensed drivers who are  responsible for 45% of all storefront crashes are drivers over the age of 60.

By comparison, 44% of licensed drivers who are responsible for just 38% of all storefront crashes are drivers under the age of 40.

While there has been a great deal of research indicating that drivers over 65 are more likely to have pedal error accidents than younger drivers, most of those studies have been conducted by NHTSA or State and Federal Transportation or Highway departments using data collected from reports of incidents which occurred on state or federal roads and highways.  In contrast, most of our data is collected on private property;  parking lots, malls, local streets and driveways, etc.  Significantly, our data also shows that pedal error is the leading cause of vehicle-into-building crashes in such locations -- as high as 36%.

Our data is very different from highway data because pedal error is many times more common in the act of parking or unparking.  Driving into and through parking lots is very much more hazardous than on open roads, as NHTSA pointed out in their report in 2013.  NHTSA noted a study done in North Carolina which showed that injuries and deaths are much more common in lower speed accidents in parking lots and retail storefronts than they are in highway collisios -- mostly because of the presence of unprotected pedestrians outside of stores and vulnerable employees and customers inside the stores.  See the NHTSA study and the North Carolina data HERE.

We have no desire to get into a shouting match with NHTSA, or for that matter with AARP, AAA, and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, all of whom have gone to great lengths to paint the problem in a very different light.  So we will just say that the Storefront Safety Council a very small, all-volunteer organization which would be overjoyed to receive any help or support available from competent parties who would like to help us crunch data, conduct research, or compile anecdotal or media reports on crashes going back to 2004 -- which is what we are trying to do while we attempt to stay current with as many of the sixty or more storefront crashes that we believe occur in the United States every single day.

But we say to those organizations -- if you have better numbers for storefront crashes on private property than we have -- please share them with us.  And if you have them, why in the heck have you not tried to do something to call attention to the problem?

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Crimes where thieves use stolen vehicles to gain entry into businesses is all-too common these days.  Today, there were two thefts, one in Kansas and one in Texas, which stood out from all of the others.  Both used stolen vehicles to crash into gas station convenience stores, both involved a number of young men getting out of the ramming vehicle to steal the ATM machine, and both times they failed.  The ATM machines did not come loose, the planning was very poor, and the alarms went off scaring the young men away.

Look closely at this photo -- this is from the video report about the robbery in Houston -- can you see what is missing?  The owners installed security bollards to protect their storefront.  Seven bollards are visible in the photo -- BUT NONE PROTECT THE FRONT DOORS OF THE STORE!  What were they thinking?

For more on this story and to see the video where the still is taken from, see the excellent coverage from Houston Channel 2 HERE.  The reported said that the owner's estimate for the damages was $40,000 to $50,000.  Putting bollards in front of those doors (properly spaced to be in full compliance with ADA requirements) would have cost an additional $600 when those other bollards were installed......This entrance looks more like goal posts than a safe and secure entrance to a place of business. 

Also today, another gas station convenience store was struck, this time in Edwardsville Kansas.....Same basic story:  stolen vehicle, crashes into the store, attempt theft of the ATM, thieves fail and run away when the alarms are activated, and leave behind a destroyed storefront and $50,000 in damage.  See FOX4's coverage HERE.  And predictably, no bollards to protect the storefront.

$100,000 in damage that could have been prevented for a few thousand dollars if someone had just planned ahead.  It is not like this is a surprise -- there may be as many as 50 of these kinds of crash and grab thefts every day in the United States.  And it is being documented in all sorts of retail categories -- security Director News wrote about a rash of thefts where thieves are crashing into salons and beauty supply stores to steal human hair extensions.  See Amy Canfield's piece "Ram-raiders have hairy target -- Smash-and-grab thieves hitting beauty shops".

Protect your stores, protect your investment, protect your employees.  If you do not know how to do this, contact me and I will put you in touch with an expert in your industry or in your area.  Leave your store unprotected and you are what is called "a soft target" -- your insurance agent or the police can tell you what that means if you don't know.  Because there is nothing to prevent them from coming back again NEXT time if you do not take action THIS time.

Day Care facilities are incredibly vulnerable -- perhaps the most heart wrenching storefront crashes we see involve crashes where children are hurt or killed.

The recent crash into a Kindercare in Orlando Florida was such a case.  Many injuries, a little girl killed, horrible images.  That particular incident was one of the reasons that the County of Orange in Florida is working to put together an ordinance requiring some form of protective barriers to prevent such tragedies at vulnerable locations such as child care, elder care, and medical clinic facilities.

This past weekend the was a crash into a day care that was injury-free, because it happened at night.  University Park Illinois saw a speeding car crash into the The Playhouse day care and pre-school and while the images are very powerful, it helps to know that only the driver was injured.

See the great great coverage from WLS ABC Channel 7 HERE.

wonderful that no children were hit by all the flying glass, wonderful that no babies were sleeping in those six cribs.  Wouldn't it be wonderful for the parents who will take their kids there tomorrow morning if they could have piece of mind knowing that proper safety barriers were in place to prevent this from happening again?

Using the photos from WLS, here is a gallery of images.....thank God no children were in that room with all that flying glass.

Thousands of Farmer's Markets are held every week in the United States.  Some are held in parking lots, some are held on campuses, and some on private property.  But many are held on city streets.  And every year at these events where the streets are closed off, tragedy strikes -- a driver makes a wrong turn, or loses control, and drives into the crowd and into or through the tents, vendors, and shoppers.

Tragically this weekend a woman was killed and up to six injured while shopping for produce at a Farmer's Market in Hawthorne New Jersey.  While overall coverage has been spotty, NJ.com has done a good job:  see coverage HERE.
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UPDATE:  THE WOMAN KILLED IS IDENTIFIED AS 58 YEAR-OLD DONNA WINE.  THE DRIVER HAS BEEN CHARGED WITH VEHICULAR HOMICIDE AND LEAVING THE SCENE, AND HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED AS 48 YEAR-OLD JAMES WOETZEL.  THE INJURY REPORT HAS BEEN REDUCED TO TWO VICTIMS NOT INCLUDING MS. WINE
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These preventable and predictable tragedies are repeated over and over because market promoters and participants and local officials assume that "This is how we always do this" is the same thing as "This is the safe way to do this."  Despite all the evidence in the world that no speeding car has ever been stopped by a plastic sign or wooden sawhorse, visual barriers are still considered to be state of the art protection for pedestrians at "street closing" events.

This accidents comes almost exactly a year after the car drove around an inadequate barrier and careened down the Ocean Front Walk in Venice California, killing one and injuring more than a dozen, and five months after a speeding car in Austin Texas went through IDENTICAL barriers to those used in Hawthorne and killed four people and injured almost twenty attending the SXSW music festival.   And there have been more deaths and injuries at many other Farmer's Markets and street fairs and festivals in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut over the last two years as well, all of which should have alerted officials and promoters in Hawthorne to take a look at the their traffic management plan and their safety plans.  From the news reports, this seems to have fallen on deaf ears.

Of course, the Tragedy Poster Child for farmer's markets and street closures is the 2003 incident in Santa Monica California, where an elderly driver drove three blocks through a farmer's market and killed 10 people and injured 63 others.  So horrible was this tragedy that the National Transportation Safety Board (which investigates commercial plane crashes, train derailments, and other mass casualty events) did a thorough investigation of the incident and concluded, in part, that had effective steel barriers been deployed instead of the flimsy wooden barricades and plastic signs used (and used in Austin, and used in Hawhorne) the vehicle would not have been able to gain entry to the event and therefore no able to kill and maim so many innocent folks.

Sarah Goodyear of Atlantic Cities wrote a great piece about the predictable and foreseeable mayhem in Austin last March -- she titled it "We're Shamefully Bad at Protecting Pedestrians at Events Like SXSW" (read it HERE) and that just strikes me as being so simply true that it should stop people in their tracks.  Not just behind the curve, and not just neglectfully ignorant -- we should be ashamed at the lack of effort in an area where not only has the solution been pointed out by the NTSB, but there are constant and tragic reminders in the news of the consequences to people and communities who fail to take simple preventative steps to protect people.

I had a dentist for a long time who used to lecture me about flossing and getting regular cleanings.  He used to tell me I only had to take care of the teeth that I wanted to keep.  I guess it is true in cases like this -- you only have to protect the people that you want to keep alive.

Farmer's market promoters, city officials, loss and casualty companies, and police departments -- YOU ARE ON NOTICE.  Vehicle incursion accidents are inevitable at events involving street closings for two reasons -- drivers can do really stupid things and crowds presume they are perfectly safe because they are in a crowd and they do not see any traffic coming at them.  Given that tragedies are predictable and foreseeable, and given that there are so many examples of the failure of plastic signs and barricades to prevent them, FOLLOW THE NTSB RECOMMENDATIONS and require simple, effective and inexpensive steel barriers or bollards for all street closings, do it NOW, and get advice from a professional who can show you how to do it properly and in conformance with ADA requirements, traffic management planning, and basic perimeter security and safety procedures.

I have never been to Hawthorne New Jersey.  For all I know, it is a really nice place to live, and folks really like it there.  But I know that in the future, when I hear of Hawthorne, this failure to protect people will be the first thing I remember.  One dead, six injured, and it didn't have to be this way.

VERIZON -- HOW MANY MORE CRASHES WILL IT TAKE BEFORE YOU START PROTECTING YOUR CUSTOMERS AND YOUR EMPLOYEES?

93 year-old Thomas Ochalek was sitting at a Verizon store in Port St. Lucie Florida buying a phone.  Suddenly, an 82 year-old woman drives her car directly into the store, smashing through the glass storefront and into the desk area where Mr. Ochalek was sitting.  See the video and hear great coverage from CBS12 HERE
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UPDATE -- One week after this accident, it has just been reported that the victim has died in the hospital as a result of his injuries.  Our condolences to Mr. Ochalek's family.
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Now we all know that the 2.5 million drivers in Florida contribute to one of the highest rates of pedal error crashes and storefront crashes in the nation (see yesterdays article from the Miami Herald and re-run in Insurance News entitled "A crash course: Why do so many cars smash into buildings?"  Read it HERE)  But we also know that cellular stores tend to be in small strip malls with glass fronts.  The Storefront Safety Council has records of over 100 storefront crashes involving cellular stores, and Verizon takes its fair share.....so if there have been so many documented crashes at what point do large corporations start to take action to protect their employees and customers?

Two jurisdictions in Florida are taking or have taken action to require safety barriers or bollards in front of vulnerable locations.  Miami Dade and Orange Counties are very active in passing ordinances.  Other jurisdictions in other parts of the United States are taking action, with New York and California following Florida closely.  When ordinances are passed and ASTM tested bollards or barriers are required when a known hazardous condition is present and an accident is foreseeable, 93 year-olds will be safe inside Verizon stores.  But as of right now -- keep one eye on the salesman and your wallet, and one eye peeled for a car coming straight at you from the parking lot.

Verizon and the cellular phone industry -- you are ON NOTICE that a recurring safety problem is present and that your employees and customers are at risk from storefront crashes.  Public awareness and some aggressive personal injury claims MAY get industry attention -- but how many more will have to suffer in the interim?