DAYTON — Dayton has the second-highest number of crashes involving cars into businesses in Ohio.
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According to News Center 7’s unofficial count, 79 cars have hit businesses and homes so far this year.
A car came just inches from crashing into a Chick-fil-A on East Stroop Road on Saturday.
Robert Reiter, co-founder of Storefront Safety Council, said these crashes happen a hundred times a day.
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Reiter said he keeps track of how many cars crash into commercial buildings.
In Ohio, Cleveland ranks No. 1, and Dayton ranks No. 2.
Those statistics don’t account for cars that crash into people’s homes.
“The reason is people are ... mostly not reported,” Reiter said.
He said crashes into buildings can happen in an instant and be deadly.
“We lose something like 2600 people to fatalities, and we have 16,000 people seriously injured, so it’s not a little thing,” Reiter said.
He said most crashes into buildings start with something going wrong in the parking lot, whether that’s driver error, speeding, distracted, or drunk drivers.
He said businesses putting poles that surround the building can help prevent a car from crashing through the business.
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