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Cars hitting buildings, vol. II

This thread continues the previous Cars Hitting Buildings, which reached the board's post limit last month...
epanastrophe
2016-03-08 12:09:23
Vehicle on Giant Eagle roof in Greenfield prompts store evacuation
PITTSBURGH —An emergency response is in progress at Giant Eagle in Greenfield, where a car somehow ended up on the grocery store's roof Tuesday morning.
"Somehow" ...
epanastrophe
2016-03-08 12:10:51
The story was so light-hearted about the whole thing. "I was just telling my wife we were about due!" "He'll be identified if the police find out he broke any laws."
jonawebb
2016-03-10 07:10:11
My coworker was waking there at the time of event had happened. So soon as I get home I will post two pictures be took.
mikhail
2016-03-15 15:55:43
mikhail
2016-03-15 20:33:49
This ones from out of town, but it includes a bike. Police were chasing a suspect on a bike when the cop hits a building. http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20160316/NEWS01/160319366 The officer “pulled up near the bicyclist and called him out by name, told him to stop, and the bicyclist took off,” Lamoureux said. A chase ensued into the semi-circular driveway of the Windsor Square Retirement Community at 9912 48th Drive NE. The chase lasted “less than a block,” Lamoureux said. A second officer heard the commotion and also drove into the driveway to catch the bicyclist. He couldn't stop his patrol car in time and crashed into an apartment. “His vehicle didn't stop and it slid into the building,” Lamoureux said. “At the same time his vehicle hit the building, the bicyclist hit the back of his patrol car ... He kept pedaling right into the back of the patrol car.” The investigation by collision detectives will look into the possibility that a mechanical problem with the police car contributed to the crash, Lamoureux said. He declined to specify what kind of problem is suspected. “The equipment failure is still being looked into,” he said. “This will include a mechanical inspection.”
marko82
2016-03-16 10:44:11
Not exactly a building, but the traffic signal pole on SB 40th at Butler (across 40th from GetGo) appears to have been run into by something recently... http://imgur.com/xgUuRWo
epanastrophe
2016-03-24 17:58:35
Not in Pittsburgh, but this belongs on this thread, not the out-of-town one. Geneseo, NY: A truck has clobbered the fountain in the center of town, toppling the 100-year-old bear on the pedestal. Tens of millions of cars have passed this fountain and managed not to damage it. Not anymore. Facebook photo and snippet Google StreetView I went to undergrad here. The only other time the bear has been off the fountain in my 40-year knowledge of the town was the night of the 1980 Olympics when we won the USSR hockey game, and then it was crazed and drunken students who pulled it down, not a car hitting it. I'm sure a good many of those tens of millions of cars who drove past it were piloted by drunken teenagers (yeah, the drinking age was 18 when I was there), and somehow we managed not to kill the fountain. So we're all now wondering, just how? A couple more posts, as news filters in on Facebook. Apparently it was a truck.
stuinmccandless
2016-04-07 14:30:57
Never forget
jonawebb
2016-04-07 14:34:09
I thought this belonged in this thread: Pennsylvania traffic deaths remain near record low http://www.post-gazette.com/news/transportation/2016/04/06/PA-traffic-deaths-remain-near-record-low/stories/201604060187 The state saw increases in fatalities where a single vehicle ran off the road (580, up from 534) and where a vehicle hit a fixed object (459, up from 425). So about a thousand drivers/passengers were killed in the state last year without any help from another vehicle.
marko82
2016-04-07 15:52:39
Stupid paywall. A subscription is required to access this premium local content.
stuinmccandless
2016-04-07 18:56:34
Larimer Ave in Wilkins, same pole has been hit three times, same yard more like six times. (Hat tip to "Eat That, Read This" #417.) 25 mph sign clearly visible in the report. WTAE story That would be here.
stuinmccandless
2016-06-01 12:37:17
"Witness Ahmid Alford told Bofta Yimam that the driver of the truck "was crying, saying he just bought the truck." Alford added, "[it's a] dangerous house," saying it's the sixth time in his memory that cars have crashed into that spot of Larimer Avenue. Or, you know, it's dangerous driving." -- Eat That, Read This.
epanastrophe
2016-06-01 12:51:59
PG Mount Washington story has a byline (Karen Kane), refers to the crash as an "incident". PG Wilkins Twp story has no byline (just "Post Gazette"), refers to the crash as an "accident". PG April 22 story about the school bus also has no byline, but refers to it as a "crash". So, we're making progress in not automatically calling them "accidents". We're nowhere near done, though.
stuinmccandless
2016-06-01 15:40:57
The aquarium crash was one of three over the weekend, summarized in this KDKA story.
stuinmccandless
2016-06-20 12:57:26
Ok, this one's a little odd: Police investigate marijuana grow operation in Baldwin Borough http://www.post-gazette.com/local/south/2016/07/13/Police-investigate-marijuana-grow-operation-in-Baldwin-Borough/stories/201607130182 Stay with me here.... Baldwin Borough police are investigating a potential marijuana grow operation at a home on Churchview Avenue. The investigation began when a car crashed into the house in the 3200 block of Churchview at 1:10 a.m. today. "We went to check on the occupants and found what appears to be a grow operation" inside the house, said Detective Tony Cortazzo. He said no one was hurt in the crash and the damage to the home was not significant. He declined to identify the occupants of the house because no charges have been filed and the investigation is continuing. BTW, the Baldwin Police station is a block further up the street.
marko82
2016-07-13 15:27:21
@Marko82 Bummer.
mick
2016-07-13 17:26:06
Second-order collision: A semi rolled over this morning on the Glenwood Bridge. A large metal coil in turn rolled off the truck "...and smashed into a nearby home. The owner of the home had to evacuate because of concerns about foundation damage." No word on why the truck rolled over, but having been on the Glenwood I've got a guess or two... http://www.post-gazette.com/news/transportation/2016/07/14/Pittsburgh-TRAFFIC-Overturned-tractor-trailer-shuts-down-Glenwood-Bridge-inbound/stories/201607140143
epanastrophe
2016-07-14 09:31:36
Well, the speed limit there is 25 mph, so it can't be because the truck was going too fast and couldn't make a turn.
jonawebb
2016-07-14 09:46:26
"Neighbors believe the driver accidentally ran through a stop sign and hit a car traveling through the intersection. The driver then hit a parked truck and wound up next to the home." (emphasis added) WTAE story About 7 a.m.
stuinmccandless
2016-07-14 12:46:09
Driver killed when car crashes into East Hills store http://www.wpxi.com/news/driver-killed-when-car-crashes-into-east-hills-store/413080357 PITTSBURGH — A man died early Thursday when a car crashed into an East Hills convenience store. Emergency crews were called to the 8300 block of Frankstown Avenue shortly after 3 a.m. Leon Spearman III, 28, was the only person in the car. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said the car was traveling outbound on Frankstown Avenue at a high rate of speed when Spearman lost control near Dornbush Street, ran over a curb and struck a telephone pole. As a result, the vehicle flipped and the passenger side of the vehicle hit the building. Spearman was not wearing a seatbelt.
marko82
2016-07-28 10:13:08
Police Investigating After Car Crashes Into Washington Beer Distributor http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2016/07/28/car-crashes-into-washington-beer-distributor/ According to Washington Police, 24-year-old Aurora McMahon was behind the wheel of a red Chevy pickup truck. After she allegedly crashed into the business, she backed out of the parking lot, got back on Jefferson Avenue and traveled about two blocks before parking under an overpass. Police eventually tracked her down and took her to Washington Hospital. She has since been discharged, but it is unclear if she has been charged.
marko82
2016-07-28 11:09:52
But, dude! I had to crash through the wall. There wasn't any other way to get a 6 pack.
mick
2016-07-28 11:21:33
Two of them reported in today's ETRT. 1 - Sure, let's drive 90 mph through Turtle Creek. WTAE coverage 2 - One building, hit twice in two weeks. KDKA coverage
stuinmccandless
2016-08-16 16:25:05
A picture from BikeSnobNYC:
paulheckbert
2016-08-18 13:10:54
also: The original story had Pitt's spokesman shrugging because apparently no Pitt people were involved, so they don't have anything to say about the obviously dangerous driving on&around their campus.  (Recall that after Susan Hicks was killed, Pitt's only statement was that they were adding bike racks and incentives for more people to get to campus by means other than driving...) Now of course it turns out both drivers were students, according to the Pitt News, which also has photos from the scene: http://pittnews.com/article/111274/top-stories/police-searching-driver-two-car-crash/
epanastrophe
2016-09-26 13:47:54
Nobody ever asks, "Why were you using a car?"
stuinmccandless
2016-09-27 13:53:47
The Trib has this photo of the house in Tarentum.   Trib story My comment on the story: I do not see how, if the driver was backing up, the car ended up facing opposite the house 75 feet away. Note also the scrape mark next to the left-most cone. I would sooner believe the driver was going forward, well over 25 mph, veered off the left side of the road, took out the porch, and finally stopped 75 feet later.    
stuinmccandless
2016-10-26 22:21:47
Truck hits Washington County home, inches away from sleeping 2-year-old boy http://www.wpxi.com/news/truck-hits-washington-county-home-inches-away-from-sleeping-2-year-old-boy/467138135 “He took out the neighbor’s mailbox, hit the road side before barreling into our house,” she said. Simmons said after the truck came to a stop, the driver attempted to leave. “I said, ‘You're not going nowhere until the police arrive.’ He kept saying, ‘Pull me out, and I'll go to Sheetz, get my donut and go home,’” she said.
marko82
2016-11-15 08:25:12
A few weeks old but... BALDWIN, Pa. - An SUV slid off an icy road Wednesday morning in Baldwin and slammed into a house. “It’s unbelievable. The car was inside the house,” said homeowner Kathy Laboon. She and her husband rent the home on Curry Road to a young family, including a baby who was thrown from his crib by the impact. http://www.wpxi.com/news/baby-thrown-from-crib-when-suv-slams-into-baldwin-home/483415845
marko82
2017-01-30 22:37:35
Red & I saw one yesterday in Carrick, but unfortunately didn't get a photo. Work van went onto the sidewalk and crashed/wedged itself between a utility pole and a building on Churchview ave.  I was going to go back to get a pic, but figured the firemen had enough to deal with.
marko82
2017-06-01 12:58:05
More details on that. Apparently fatal. PG story
stuinmccandless
2017-06-14 23:17:22
PAT bus hits two cars, then the Brookline Cannon.... pushes it across the street.  
rustyred
2017-07-08 15:10:31
Was the cannon wearing a helmet? I think they should have to get insurance & a yearly inspection too.
marko82
2017-07-08 15:55:19
Wow.  Just wow.  How the hell did that happen?  Can't even imagine.
edronline
2017-07-08 16:22:23
Car? Heck, no. A paving truck into a house.  
stuinmccandless
2017-10-02 22:25:02
@edronline - That podcast was a good listen. Heard it a month or two ago. Their assertions didn't really surprise me, but they definitely convinced me that there is little evidence that it's the car's fault.
benzo
2017-10-03 09:35:53
Please try and improve the spam filter and actively remove spam accounts and posts...
edronline
2017-10-11 06:55:47
Agreed. If you want a forum to be used, you have to invest the time and effort to police it. Or at least deputize respected community members and give them the ability and utilities to police it for you.
ornoth
2017-10-11 08:48:17
How would they possibly block this automatically? Somebody created an account and posted a personalized message with link to a sketchy site. How do you distinguish between that and what we all do? I can see going back and deleting the post retroactively. But I don't think it can be done immediately. Maybe follow-up to the message board suggestion thread.
jonawebb
2017-10-11 10:03:02
thanks, our spam filter does a lot, but sometimes things slip thru. we do deputize some people to help.
erok
2017-10-11 10:22:19
Wendy's on Butler St. Hamburger Hamburger Hamburger
erok
2017-10-11 10:30:08
@erok TYVM, weldun! Glad to have ur assistance.
ornoth
2017-10-11 10:41:52
gawd. another view. looks like 6 people were injured. 2 cars involved, 3 people in each car.
erok
2017-10-12 12:15:03
Free convertible conversion...  Hope all are ok.   If you are at fifth trying to turn left onto shady and there's a car trying to do something similar from the other side it can be impossible to see around the other car turning left and to see what traffic is coming.
edronline
2017-10-12 12:58:03
Abusing the concept of "Drive Through window."
mick
2017-12-04 18:47:04
The way the wpxi story was written gives the truck agency. Has the robot revolution begun early?
edronline
2017-12-04 20:20:48
The Wendy’s story reminds me of this old classic. Stick around for the climactic ending.
stuinmccandless
2017-12-06 17:56:05
New drive-thru at the Subway restaurant in Shaler! NOT! (P-G story)
stuinmccandless
2018-01-10 23:17:22
Full-motion video of the second-floor crash, in real time. What this shows is that the guy was traveling perpendicular to the street the building is on, and barely missed a car going one way and a city bus going the other. Website in Dutch, but that's irrelevant. Turn off the sound. There's no speaking but there is noise.
stuinmccandless
2018-01-15 19:55:07
I did not want to start a new thread so I am asking the here. How often do light rail vehicles on the Beechview and Library branches crash into cars, pedestrians, or cyclists at level crossings?
zzwergel
2018-01-18 22:15:14
Z: I think I could get actual numbers from Port Authority. My hunch is, a couple times a month. Without question, without exception it is the car driver's fault if it's a car. Absent other criminal activity or suicide attempts, I cannot think of any T-on-person incidents. To the Penn Ave incident, this is almost the exact spot the second cyclist got killed on Penn after the James Price crash in 2013. I cannot tell from the photo in the PG story if the airbag deployed in the car pictured or whether that is reflection of the building and lights above. But it does look like the direction of travel was diagonal, not straight-on. Meaning a car coming across the parking lot, not a car from within the parking lot. Does anyone else have more details on this?
stuinmccandless
2018-01-20 05:38:07
@Stu, What makes you think that? That is way too often. I heard that a little girl got hit by a light rail vehicle near Smith Rd. or St. Anne's in Castle Shannon yesterday.
zzwergel
2018-01-20 21:03:11
We’re both working from anecdotal data. But one of my main sources of info is the man who runs the Twitter site @pgh_bus_info, and carries with him a radio that monitors the Port Authority radio traffic between bus drivers and the Operations Control Center. Any significant event, he knows about it instantly, and some of the detail ends up on Twitter. So we’re straddling the line between anecdotal and authoritative. Maybe I can get hard numbers from the officials, too. Specific events, I have no hard data. Was that event reported in the media? It all sounds very edge-case, unusual. And this whole matter has nothing to do with cycling.
stuinmccandless
2018-01-23 03:56:46
And this whole matter has nothing to do with cycling.
Well, it has to some degree. Those vehicles much heavier than usual car. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siemens_SD-400_and_SD-460 (Pittsburgh has these) -- empty one weights 40.6 metric tonnes. And it's metal on metal (to more precise steel on steel) so it takes much more time and length to stop. Take this into account when you cross RR -- it does not matter on foot, on bike or in a car. And those guys could go fast and accelerate also very fast.  
mikhail
2018-01-26 14:17:47
"A car allegedly speeding down West Fifth Avenue in McKeesport Thursday night went airborne and slammed into a house, a parked car and a utility pole. The car finally came to a stop flipped over on its roof — and then caught fire. ... She said it's not the first time a car parked there has been hit — or the house, for that matter. "The house has been hit before; it's been about 20 years," she said. "Cars parked in that spot (have) been hit four times in the last three years." " https://flic.kr/p/238sBiG
paulheckbert
2018-04-06 09:49:42
I was intrigued by the idea of an international food emporium in brentwood that I tried to google it to find out what they sell and the whole first page is recycled news articles about the crash and business of the same name in CA and VA. Any idea what "international" in IFE means?
edronline
2018-05-17 14:21:06
^I stopped by a year or two ago.  It caters mostly to the Nepal  community with the typical miss-mash of things from food to clothing that you sometimes see in small ethnic stores.  There is also a restaurant next door which we tried.  I remember it being rather bland and disappointing.   I hope they have insurance and such.
marko82
2018-05-17 14:59:43
Oh, I know exactly where this is, then.
edronline
2018-05-17 15:03:51
And they called it an "accident."
edronline
2018-05-26 19:03:53
Brake fade, brake failure, are likely causes.
stuinmccandless
2018-05-28 22:29:29
Take a Break Bar on Penn in Lawrenceville was hit by a pickup truck.
erok
2018-07-24 11:28:50
Rare to see an arrest in these cases unless maybe intoxication was involved
edronline
2018-07-24 12:33:02
I was very close to that today. I'm glad I did not witness that
zzwergel
2018-08-12 16:42:29
Do bus shelters count? Based on what I'm seeing here, it appears that a car crashed into the bus shelter on Forbes Ave just west of Braddock Ave. This must be the repair crew. https://flic.kr/p/2avHoZ6 It's interesting and sad that a smashed advertising sign gets repaired a lot more quickly (a day or two?) than a cracked sidewalk, a trail railing bent by a car, or knotweed overwhelming a sidewalk, which go for months or years before being addressed. If only we could divert some of the money that currently goes to companies like Lamar Advertising to help maintain sidewalks, bike lanes, trails, and sidewalks.
paulheckbert
2018-08-27 20:24:19
Actually Lamar pays PAT and or the city and also does upkeep of the shelters in exchange for the right to sell advertising on them. Here's an article where the Lamar agreement is mentioned. In this case it's in a private company's best interest to get the shelter back so they do it quickly. Plus insurance probably reimburses on the back end. https://triblive.com/news/allegheny/10002314-74/employees-advertising-lamar
edronline
2018-08-28 06:50:17
The door of the van in the picture says LAMAR.
paulheckbert
2018-08-28 09:30:01
I see that. But in this case the city gets paid by lamar, lamar doesn't pay the city. And it turns out that PAT doesn't get a cut at all. So there's no real money to divert in this situation. I also agree that sidewalks/railings/etc are quite abysmal in areas and the city/penndot/county often don't fix it or spend their time fighting over who does the road vs. the sidewalk instead of actually doing the work. Interesting here in Fox Chapel when Delafield washed away the county was out paving it within 10 days. THey also re-did the sidewalk even though last time the sidewalk was redone (by the county and ohara) it was clearly stated that it was the homeowners who would be responsible for the next fix...
edronline
2018-08-28 12:48:53
If only we could divert some of the money that currently goes to companies like Lamar Advertising to help maintain sidewalks, bike lanes, trails, and sidewalks. Do you mean divert the advertising money, so in addition to having ad-supported bus shelters, we'd also have ad-supported sidewalks, bike lanes, and trails (plus additional sidewalks)? I'm not sure I care for the Great Allegheny Passage Sponsored by Ultra-Fresh.  
steven
2018-08-29 06:32:58
For a while there, we had a Station Square subway station with a strong Listerine Mint odor. Does that count?
stuinmccandless
2018-09-03 21:30:52
That's so amazing given how high the fence is over there. Though I guess when you're drunk instead of dukes of Hazzard jumping the fence you just plow through it. Time for a big ass concrete barrier.
edronline
2018-09-22 20:31:52
@Stu, Why does the Giant Eagle crash landing keep coming to mind?
zzwergel
2018-09-23 10:06:26
I'm guessing Giant Eagle's roof doesn't have even one No Parking sign. How was that poor drunkard supposed to know?
steven
2018-09-24 00:35:10
I can't even imagine how that happened without contribution of substances or a medical condition. And I love the #accident hash tag.
edronline
2018-12-04 16:58:15
whoa: "According to WTAE-TV , surveillance video reportedly shows the driver of a Ford Fusion crashing into the restaurant, getting out, trying to flip the vehicle and then running away."
erok
2018-12-20 12:04:51
at least the bike rack was unscathed.
edronline
2019-03-31 07:05:36
So in some states you can "stand your ground", but I guess that only involves firearms not people trying to kill you by car.
marko82
2019-03-31 18:30:35
There was one in New Castle yesterday but now I can’t find the link. A store, IIRC.
stuinmccandless
2019-08-20 07:41:06
Penn Hills, KDKA coverage. https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2020/06/09/car-building-penn-hills/ Actually, if you use the term "tag/" in the URL, KDKA's search routine shows several of these all at once. Looks like there were four more of these in recent weeks. https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/tag/car-into-building/ ...also brings up all these: https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2020/05/22/fatal-crash-in-charleroi/ https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2020/04/21/westmoreland-county-crash/ https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2020/04/21/mckeesport-car-crash-building/ https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2020/04/08/car-into-building-liberty-avenue-lawrenceville/
stuinmccandless
2020-06-10 06:23:54
That U-Haul incident, the truck appears to be a standard looking pickup truck. Based on the damage to both the truck and the house, it's difficult not to believe speed was a factor. Granted it's coming down a hill -- this is the hill coming down Mt Royal Blvd from Glenshaw into Etna, but with a diversion to a side street -- but it's hard to see how the truck could have gotten going fast enough to take out the entire side of a house. Here: https://www.google.com/maps/@40.509575,-79.9532814,3a,75y,85.4h,90.62t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sDeC1YHQ9Sgk7dMLAgiHtFA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192
stuinmccandless
2021-05-07 18:30:04
Damn this is funny and sad at the same time.
ezrock1523
2022-08-14 09:11:45