GritCity - Why are so many cars crashing into houses?

GritCity

You'll like Tacoma

Friday, May 16th, 2008

Why are so many cars crashing into houses?

Posted by Cole Cosgrove @ 01:08:26 am

I don't know what kind of perverted magnetic forces are at work here, but it's taking a toll on our homes.

Personally, I blame errant GPS guidance systems.

I'm sensing a trend:

May 14: No one home, no one injured as police car backs into house

May 12: Car crashes through basement wall just after resident left the room

May 5: Woman flips car and crashes into house

February 28: Stolen gold Cadillac plows into duplex

Top two photos by News Tribune photographer Dean J. Koepfler. Last photo is a News Tribune file shot from 2004, when crashing into houses wasn't as trendy as it is now.

Categories: Commuting • 14 comments

COMMENTS:

Comment by Niner1 @ 11:07 - Friday, May 16th, 2008

Between an aging population and the Grand Theft Auto series perhaps we are just seeing the convergence of two groups of bad drivers with circumstantially similar results.

Comment by trustsatan @ 11:16 - Friday, May 16th, 2008

I like the commuting tag. I'm shocked that no Tilt-related conspiracy theory was offered in that post, given the naked anti-Tilt bias displayed by this blog.

These pics document my favorite car-in-an-inappropriate-place incident that I've seen on the webs.

The best part of that story: "Witnesses also reported that the driver jumped down from the vehicle and ran to catch a bus prior to the arrival of Engine 2 and the Harris County Sheriff's Department. "

Comment by trustsatan @ 11:22 - Friday, May 16th, 2008

http://cms.firehouse.com/web/online/Photo-Stories/Car-vs-Telephone-Wires-in-Texas/45$32289

i just read the fine print and learned that nt.com does not take anchor tags. sad face. i took the time to make it purty and it didn't work. at least someone finally fixed the login system!

Comment by mrsjk @ 11:57 - Friday, May 16th, 2008

That last photo from 2004 was my sister-in-laws house. Oh the memories!! The stolen car hit so hard it went through the garage and caused so much damage they could not live there for months. The family was asleep in the bedrooms above the garage at the time. Yikes! What a mess!!!

Comment by m9078jk3 @ 14:32 - Friday, May 16th, 2008

It's happening so often that I've decided on planting semi dwarf trees around my house.If an out of control driver kills himself I don't care but I don't want a vehicle crashing into my house,wrecking it(and making me homeless) or possibly killing me.If the driver wrecks one of my trees then I'll either sue him or his estate(if he is deceased).
Better a damaged tree than a ruined house.

Comment by Cole Cosgrove @ 14:40 - Friday, May 16th, 2008

I'm thinking I'll dig a moat.

Comment by m9078jk3 @ 15:07 - Friday, May 16th, 2008

A moat that's a good idea.Either that or a stone wall made out of 5 ton boulders.

Comment by derekyoung @ 16:19 - Friday, May 16th, 2008

Hmmm. The moat would draw attention from the trebuchet I built to teach the neighbors a lesson in keeping their pets out of my yard.

Comment by lklawitter @ 10:14 - Saturday, May 17th, 2008

a couple of months ago at 3 AM i heard a car smash into something outside our house on N. alder--went outside to see what it was and a guy had plowed his car THROUGH a tree, completely separating it from the ground, over a flower bed, and into the wall of someone's house. so basically, i'd go with the 5 ton boulders--mere trees don't seem to cut it here in tacoma, where people are serious about the car crashing abilities.

Comment by kalvyn @ 10:36 - Monday, May 19th, 2008

May 5: Woman flips car and crashes into house

I was caught up in the traffic snafu on 74th that resulted from the above crash, and at the time I wondered what had happened. Now I know!

I concur with lklawitter; 5 ton boulders are the way to go. It's reading articles like the ones Cole linked above that make me glad we moved to a dead-end street in a quiet neighborhood!

Comment by goddesslunacy @ 02:30 - Tuesday, May 20th, 2008

Yes age...your peepers go bad when you spend too much time on this earth, or staring at a computer screen for most of your waking hours. Or intoxicating substances, sleep deprivation/narcolepsy, stress induced rage, texting, amnesia, and muscle spasms.

A moat would be perfect...a new modern green and clean version of course. Can't have the stench of rot and excrement interrupting your weekend barbecue.

Comment by nitsuj @ 13:18 - Tuesday, May 20th, 2008

meth?

Comment by Savvy_Reader @ 14:30 - Wednesday, May 21st, 2008

Not to mention the one that hit the Marcato. A car hit my house ca. 2000 or so. The 15 year-old girl knew how to start the car, but not how to steer. After she hit another car, I found “her” car around the corner with pieces of my porch in its grille. (A relative of hers was good enough to fix the porch.) Another cause of local accidents have been people who blast straight through uncontrolled intersections, which a traffic engineer years ago told us were safer than intersections with stop signs. I love the ideas so far. I’ve acquired a bunch of pockets gophers to construct my own Maginot line.

Comment by John L. from the woods at Titlow Park @ 15:00 - Thursday, May 22nd, 2008

This is what happens when a car goes out of control because it ran out of gas that costs a billion dollars a gallon!

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GritCity

You'll like Tacoma.

Cole Cosgrove
...has lived in Proctor, Stadium, St. Helens and now owns a house with his wife, Kim, in Central Tacoma, near Sixth Avenue. He’s proud to have an “S.” in front of his address. He likes playing at Wright Park at 1 a.m. in the snow, walking along Ruston Way at 5 p.m. in the sun, and trying new bars anytime it rains. To make money, he writes headlines at The News Tribune. You can reach him at cole.cosgrove@thenewstribune.com.

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Kelly Davenport
My life in T-shirts: Ask Me About My Cat - Legalize Frostitution - Death Before Decaf. You get the idea. I enjoy lint-rolling, bons mots, magazine launch parties (if I was invited), paying too much for groceries, and the occasional semicolon. I'm a copy editor at The News Tribune, but I won't correct your grammar at the bar. Contact me at kelly.davenport@thenewstribune.com.

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Laura Gentry
...lives in Seattle (so you don’t have to) with her cat Peanut Zeta-Jones. The self-proclaimed “Webmeister” of TheNewsTribune.com, Laura spends her spare time driving on I-5, sifting through estate sales, writing songs about Miss Zeta-Jones and wishing she was somewhere else regardless of where she is. You can reach her at laura.gentry@thenewstribune.com, but it’s in your best interest not to.

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Niki Sullivan
...is a political reporter for The News Tribune. She likes sunshine, soup and puppies. Beyond that, it gets dicey. Contact Niki at niki.sullivan@thenewstribune.com.

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Bill Hutchens
... is the Tribune's retired video games columnist. Bill just needed a place to vent, and the GritCity whippersnappers were kind enough to take him in. He's old, chubby and usually scruffy. When he's not asleep under his desk, he's probably hiding in a conference room reading comic books or renaming his World of Warcraft toons. You can reach him at bill.hutchens@thenewstribune.com.

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Brian Everstine

Brian "The Intern" Everstine
...has a debilitating fear of children, horses, sauerkraut and mustaches, but an irrational affection for generic cereal. A recent college graduate (WSU) from Spokane, he is a reporting intern at The News Tribune, meaning he has both no money and no confidence. Contact Brian at brian.everstine@thenewstribune.com.

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