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STATISTICS

Most Frequent Locations

Retail Store                                               24%

Restaurant                                                 19%

Commercial Building                               12%

Office                                                           8%

Convenient Store                                       6%

Government Building                                3%

All other locations                                    32%

Driver Age Distribution

Under 30                                                   29%

30-60                                                         33%

60+                                                            38%

Most Frequent Causes

Operator Error                                          22%

Pedal Error                                                17%

DUI                                                            15%

Traffic Accident                                         12%

Medical                                                       6%

Ramraid / Crash and Grab                        9%

All other causes                                        21%

In April 2022 we completed an exchange of data and methodologies with an arm of Lloyd’s of London, the largest insurance market in the world.  In exchange for the use of our data for their own risk assessment and risk profiling purposes, Lloyd’s agreed to review and audit our data and collection methodologies, the accuracy of our data, and the value of our data on an ongoing basis.  Lloyd’s found that our data was valid and credible, and that our collection methodology gave them such high confidence that our collection of data concerning vehicle-into-building / storefront crashes should be used by researchers and risk managers as “source data” given the lack of any other available data sets involving private property accidents in the United States.

Lloyd’s concluded in their remarks that our data, as complete as it is, reflects only a fraction of the total of storefront crashes which occur every single day:  At the most conservative, it appears that the SSC database captures 1 in 12 incidents (8.33%).   Using the data that we have collected and using the Lloyd’s audit and documentation, we can make the following statements:
 
Storefront crashes occur more than 100 times per day

46% of all storefront crashes result in an injury

8% of all storefront crashes result in a fatality

Each year in the US, as many as 16,000 people are injured and
as many as 2600 are killed in vehicle-into-building crashes.
 

OUR RESEARCH


Our 2014-2022 storefront crash statistics are among the most complete ever assembled for accidents on private property.  Federal and State agencies do not regularly receive such data as part of any national reporting system, so our data collection of accidents involving commercial properties (such as shopping centers, strip malls, and many roadside locations) is unique and very useful to government officials, researchers, underwriters, risk managers, and safety professionals.

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We share our data with these and many other third parties, and we share our compiled statistics free online on our website.

As part of our research work with the Storefront Safety Council, we have been collecting data from all over the United States for more than ten years.  Our database of compiled storefront crashes now numbers over 25,000 incidents, and we have additional confirming data on more than 15,000 other vehicle-into-building and related incidents.

We based these research methodologies, analyses, and reporting protocols on our cooperation with Texas A&M University in research conducted in 2013.   The Storefront Safety Council searches out information on vehicle-into-building crashes, limited to commercial or public buildings, transit stops, public areas, and other non-residential structures.  Having gathered anecdotal and media reports, court records, police and fire department records, published studies concerning such incidents, and corporate-supplied data revealed in litigation, all incidents are then analyzed for details such as cause, age of driver, type of building and other information, and are cross checked for accuracy using court documents and police reports when available.  The information is uploaded to our growing database, from which our statistical results are obtained.

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From 2014 though 2021 we have collected data on:

  • stated causes of storefront and similar crashes

  • ages of drivers of vehicle involved in storefront and similar crashes

  • category of buildings and businesses struck vehicle-into-building crashes for each state, ranked against each state's percentage of  licensed drivers in the US

In 2016, we expanded our research to analyze for the same data listed above and have begun to collect additional information that we have found to be statistically significant including:

  • Names of locations hit by vehicles if applicable (eg "Starbucks.")

  • Number and name of “brand/chain store” locations hit by vehicles.

  • Statistically significant causes previously captured as “other” including;  vehicular assault on people, reckless driving, falling asleep at the wheel, weather conditions, speeding and mechanical failure, driver distractions.

  • Statistically significant site types previously captured as “other” including; bus stops, child and elder care facilities, schools (K-12), churches, medical facilities, government buildings, gas stations, banks and hair and nail salons.​

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