StoreFrontCrashExpert.com
Find me socially:
  • Home
  • About Rob
  • Storefront Crash Statistics
    • Our Research
    • Statistics By Age
    • Statistics By Cause
    • Statistics By Site Type
  • Storefront Safety Council
  • Resources
    • Articles, Media & News Reports
    • US DOT Reports
    • Websites
    • Best Practices for Prevention
    • Legislation and Safety Standards
    • Education & Presentations
  • Crash & Grab/ Ram Raids
  • The Storefront Blog
  • Contact

Tragedy Prevented at Hope Head Start in New Mexico When Barriers Stop Two Cars From Crashing Into a Daycare in Albuquerque.

2/3/2015

0 Comments

 
"Thank God we have those barriers right there." 

That was the comment of a Head Start director after two cars collided at a busy Albuquerque intersection and both cars crashed into the front of a daycare and preschool.
Picture
As the Task Force in Orlando Florida completes there work on a new ordinance to protect daycare centers in Orange County (see the press coverage HERE ) this event in Albuquerque proves the point.  Two cars collide in an intersection and both of them slam over the sidewalk and into the parking lot of a daycare -- but instead of tragedy as we saw at the KinderCare in Orlando, this daycare had a barrier in place that protected the babies and children just inside the building.  To see the video and hear the interview, please review the excellent coverage from KRQE news HERE.

This is a good example of why ASTM took steps to create a test standard for safety barriers and bollards.  This new ASTM standard - F3016 - will allow architects and engineers and city planners and daycare providers to understand that protection is necessary, that heavy vehicles moving at high speed can kill, and that with a small amount of planning and wise expenditure of funds, children can be safe in the very place parents drop them off every day.

So what could have been a tragedy turns out to be a wonderful lesson on planning ahead.  I hope that the city and county representatives in Florida take heed of the this lesson and listen to their task force -- because lives depend on people doing the right thing for the right reasons.
0 Comments

Another 83 year-old Driver, Another Shopping Mall -- It Is Deja Vu All Over Again!

9/9/2014

0 Comments

 
Seven years ago when I was running Calpipe Security Bollards, I struck up a casual friendship with a gentleman who wrote for Penton Media.  Riccardo Davis ended up writing a timely and very informative article about people driving into shopping malls that ran in Retail Traffic Magazine.  The title of the piece was "CURBING THE MALL DRIVE-THRU" and I am pleased that the link from 2007 is still live -- read this excellent article HERE.

That article discussed three incidents in less than a year where someone drove
into malls and caused considerable damage inside to stores and merchandise, as well as to the mall structure itself.  The point was made that for anti-terrorist or anti-theft reasons alone, mall owners should make the investment to protect mall entrances -- protecting malls from malicious drivers or clueless drivers would be an added bonus.

Fast forward seven years.  2500 days later.  And drivers are STILL driving through unprotected shopping malls in the United States.  This time, an 83 year-old driver drove right up an ADA ramp, through a front door, and several hundred feet down a main aisle with people and shoppers and stores in front and on both sides.  He finally crashed into a vacant space at the end of the aisle.
Picture
Hudson Mall clearly did not anticipate that anyone would ever drive an SUV up the ADA access ramp from the parking lot, or they would have taken simple measures to prevent it.......What confuse me is how could they NOT know how often this happens?  The three malls mentioned in the article were all owned by national mall companies, and the owner of this mall is a very sophisticated real estate investor.  So WHY so much trouble learning simple lessons that others have learned so much better?

Watch this video coverage from NJ.com -- it is proof that these accidents can and will happen here, there, and every where.  And think to yourself -- what if the next driver is not an innocent and confused driver, but an angry, malicious driver intent on harming people?

There were no reports of injuries this time, but damage will be in the many tens of thousands of dollars.  And an 83 year-old may lose his license.  I hope that this time, the lesson that got swept under the rug for seven years will finally take root -- after all, an accident like that could have just as easily sent a dozen people to the hospital.  What investor or shareholder wants to have to deal with that kind of problem when solutions are so simple, so proven, and so inexpensive?
0 Comments

Dunkin Donuts, When Will You Protect Your Customers, Employees and Franchisees by Specifying Tested Bollards At All Your Stores?

6/22/2014

1 Comment

 
Dunkin Donuts, you have been on notice for a long time that your store designs and lack of safety barriers put your customers at risk and put employees working inside at risk.  Hundreds of accidents over the years, dozens of injuries documented, tragic fatalities, and still no action.  And now, another preventable accident, another preventable injury, and another failure to take basic safety precaution to prevent a simple vehicle incursion incident from becoming a vehicle-into-building accident.  This latest example occurred in West Bridgewater,
Massachusetts this weekend, when a Toyota jumped a curb and struck a man entering the store.
Picture
See the great coverage from Maria Papadopoulos at the West Bridgewater Enterprise HERE.  Scott Eisen gets photo credit for the photo, which in addition to showing how the car jumped the curb and how the pedestrian entering the glass door was completely unprotected, also clearly proves once again that wheel stops do not stop anything.  Dunkin Donuts, stop wasting money on ineffective concrete trip hazards and invest just a little more in an actual steel bollard that meets ASTM specifications!

The Storefront Safety Council
has assembled data on more that 7,500 crashes to date and with every month we learn more about the causes of vehicle-into-building accidents and how frequently certain type of businesses are struck.  Month after month, coffee stores and restaurants are among the most often struck -- and month after month, Dunkin Donuts appears on the list, all too often involving injuries to patrons and employees.  For a link to 2012 statistics, click HERE

Dunkin Donuts, you know how often your stores and those of your franchisees are struck.  You cannot pretend that these crashes are rare and unusual.  You are on notice that this situation is a persistent unsafe and hazardous condition and you have chosen to not correct this condition.  Greater liability awards in cases just like this one in West Bridgewater will be the result.  Underwriters and insurance carriers, now you are on notice that higher judgements will result because of the failure on the part of Dunkin Donuts to spend (or specify for franchisees) just a few thousand dollars per store in needed safety equipment.  And plaintiff attorneys, you are also on notice -- plenty of admissible evidence exists that should be included in personal injury claims against Dunkin Donuts.

1 Comment

Orange County Florida Begins to Look At Barriers In Front of At-Risk Day Care Centers and Other Vulnerable Locations.

4/19/2014

0 Comments

 
The press in Orange County Florida, scene of a recent fatal crash into a KinderCare day care center, is reporting that local officials are beginning the process to study the extent of various vulnerable locations in the area and to begin to look for "best practices" to use as the basis of a local ordinance requiring safety barriers at such facilities.  (For excellent coverage, see the Orlando Sentinel coverage HERE.)

As readers of this blog and the many members of the Storefront Safety Council LinkedIn group are aware, these types of crashes are very common.  With regard to the efforts of city and county officials to determine what types of barriers might be effective, affordable, and suitable for inclusion in any local ordinance that they may consider, I suggest a review of the information included in these pages, as well as that which is available on the Storefront Safety Council website.  In addition, there is additional information available for review in Standardization News, the magazine for ASTM International.  ASTM is in the process of finalizing a test standard for low-speed (non-highway) barriers and bollards which would be suitable for applications such as day care centers, medical clinics, senior centers, and other exposed facilities.  For information on the Low Speed Vehicle Barrier standard see the ASTM article HERE.

I first advocated for the creation of this standard seven years ago;  it was very apparent that the standards and engineering that were applied to anti-terrorist barriers and highway safety barriers were not appropriate for applications in front of strorefronts, restaurants, and child care centers.  As our research continued and we began to get a better handle on how frequent these crashes are and the extent of the monetary damages, injuries, and fatalities that resulted from them, others in the industry stepped up to take this problem on.  To their credit, ASTM agreed that this was a suitable area of study and an area in need of regulation.  As the Orlando Sentinel report shows, there is not at this time a national standard for either the types of barriers to be deployed, or the types of places where they should be required.  This proposed standard goes a long way to making a national standard practical.

Here is an excerpt from the introduction for the proposed standard:

"
A majority of applications for barriers is to protect people or property from accidental or intentional vehicle incursions. One example is protecting pedestrians or students from vehicles on adjacent surface streets. Another example is protecting store fronts or mall entrances from vehicles which might approach at high speed due to operator pedal error. Anti-ram and security applications also need to be addressed, for those times when vehicles are employed as a means to gain illegal access. Currently no testing standards exist, and consequently, specifiers do not know what type of products to deploy and how to qualify either a product or a manufacturer. As a result, the public is left undefended in too many instances."  Full text can be found HERE.

The science of vehicle barriers is well known, and the engineering is not difficult.  There is no need to spend fortunes and there is no need to turn the front of buildings into fortresses.  Preventing vehicle incursions is something that is done efficiently, effectively and affordably every day in retail areas, school campuses, pedestrian areas, and commercial and municipal buildings. 

I applaud the efforts in Orange County to find best practices, and after a determination, to enact an ordinance that requires such safety measures in front
of at-risk facilities.  I would just remind everyone that storefront crashes like the one at KinderCare happen 50 to 60 times EVERY DAY.  Please do your research, make your determinations, and get your ordinance in place.  Kids, teachers, and parents are at risk every day until you do.

And it doesn't have to be that way.


0 Comments

    Author

    I am an expert in perimeter security and retail and pedestrian safety.  I am also co-founder of the Storefront Safety Council

    CONTACT US

    Archives

    February 2021
    October 2020
    September 2020
    March 2017
    January 2017
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014

    Categories

    All
    2014 Stats
    2014 Storefront Crash Statistics
    ABC NEWS
    ADA Parking
    ADA Spaces
    Addie Hall
    Addison Hall
    AFRA
    ALDI
    Alva Oklahoma
    American Firearms Retailers Association
    Angry Spouse
    Arlington Mass
    ASSE
    ASTM
    ASTM 3016
    ASTM F 3016 Test Standard
    ASTM F-3016 Test Standard
    ASTM Standard
    ATF
    At Risk Day Care
    At-risk Day Care
    Austin
    Bell Ringer
    Bollards
    Bolt Down Bollards
    Burlington New Jersey
    Bystander Dragged
    Cast Iron Decorative Bollards
    CCTV Video
    Cell Phone Stores
    Chicago Crash And Grab Gangs
    City Ordinance
    Comfort Inn
    Costco Bollards
    Costco Crash
    Crash And Grab
    Crashes Into Apartments
    Crashes Into Homes
    Crash Into Costco
    Crash Into Day Care
    Crash Statistics
    CVS
    CVS Storefront Crash
    Day Care
    Decorative Bollards
    Decorative Fencing
    Deliberate Attack On DMV
    Deliberate Crash Into Lobby
    Deliberate Vehicle Attack
    Deposition
    Donna Wine
    Dragged Under Truck
    Drive Aisle
    Driving While High
    Drugged Driving
    DUI
    Dunkin Donuts
    Elderly Drivers
    Elderly Drivers In Florida
    Expert Witness
    Farmers Market
    Farrel's
    Fatal
    Fatal Crash
    Fatal Farmers Market Crash
    Fatalidades
    Fifty Daycare Crashes
    Finkelstein Memorial Library
    Florida Drivers
    Florida Storefront Crashes
    Florist Shop Crash
    Foreseeability
    Fred's Place Crash
    Gas Pump
    Gas Station
    Goal Post Bollards
    Goleta
    Gun Shops
    Hang Up The Keys
    Hathorne NJ
    Impaired Driver
    Impaired Driving
    Jessica Bunch
    Keeping Us Safe
    KinderCare
    Kindercare Crash
    Lack Of Steel Barriers
    Laundromat
    Lexus
    Library Crash
    Matt Gurwell
    Maui Marathon
    Meten A Negocios
    National Preparedness Month
    National Shooting Sports Foundation
    #NatlPrep
    NBC News Crash And Grab
    New Orleans Convention Center
    NOLA Video
    Nose In Parking
    Nose-in Parking
    NSSF
    NTSB
    Orange County Florida
    OSU
    OSU Homecoming
    Otto Drozd
    Out Of Control
    Parklet
    Parklet Crash In Los Angeles
    Pedal Error
    Pedestrian Safety
    Personas Heridas
    Perth Australia
    Preparedness Month
    Prescription Drugs
    Preventable Accident
    Prevention Through Design
    Ram Raid
    Redbox On Notice
    Risk Management
    Rite Aid
    Rocklin California
    Roll-up Doors
    Safety
    Safety Barriers
    Salvation Army
    Salvation Army Volunteer
    Santa Monica Farmers Market
    Sausalito
    Self Serve Laundry
    Senior Drivers
    SERVPRO
    Shameless Promotion
    Sharla Cummings
    ShopRite
    Sidewalk Dining
    Silver Tsunami
    Slide Show
    Soft Target
    South Florida
    Starbucks
    Statistics
    Storefront Crash
    Storefront Crash Stats
    Storefront Safety Council
    Street Closures
    Sudden Acceleration
    SXSW
    Telemundo
    Thank You SERVPRO
    THC
    The Atlantic Cities
    The Gun Vault
    The-playhouse-crash-university-village
    Toyota Camry
    Trader Joe's
    Tti
    Untested-bollards
    Utah
    Vehicle Error Versus Driver Error
    Vehicle Incursion
    Venice Beach
    Verizon Crash
    Walgreens
    Walgreens On Notice
    Westbrook Maine
    Wheel Stops
    Wrong Gear

    RSS Feed

Contact Us
Copyright 2021 by Rob Reiter.  All rights reserved. Content may be freely copied and distributed subject to inclusion of this copyright notice and our World Wide Web URL http://www.storefrontcrashexpert.com.