Skip to Content
Streetsblog Los Angeles home
Log In
Streetsblog USA

Map: Where Buffalo Drivers Smash Into Buildings (Hint: Everywhere)

2:08 PM PST on February 10, 2014

Cynthia Van Ness, a librarian and host of BuffaloResearch.com, put together the above map, showing the nearly 150 sites where drivers crashed into buildings in the Buffalo region and made the news since 2006.

The map includes links to the media coverage of the incidents, and Van Ness points out how reporters and editors tend to implicitly forgive the drivers involved in these crashes:

Let others fume about "jaywalking." This is a map of "jaydriving." About 150 crash sites marked! Each placemark has a link to a news story. Note how often the car is blamed instead of the driver.

A September 2010 incident where "a van crashed into a senior citizen's apartment complex" was referred to by WGRZ as a "minor accident." The article notes that the driver was an "older man," that "alcohol was not a factor" and that "no one was injured." No harm, no foul, apparently, since no one had the misfortune of standing in his way!

In all likelihood, the map captures only a fraction of all the vehicular bricks-and-mortar mayhem in the region, since it relies on news coverage, not comprehensive public records.

Van Ness calls Buffalo "the world capital of drivers crashing into buildings," but this seems to be a common occurrence all over America.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog Los Angeles

Metro September 2023 Board Committee Round-Up: C Line, 91 Freeway Widening, and More

Transit ridership and freeway funding are up. $14 million for MicroTransit was postponed. South Bay C Line extension draws both controversy and support. Law enforcement, Taylor Swift, bus lanes, and more!

September 23, 2023

Input Meetings Starting This Weekend for Ballona Creek “Finish the Creek” Extension Study

Learn more and give your ideas for extending the Ballona Creek bike/walk path upstream through Culver City and into Mid-City Los Angeles

September 21, 2023

Guest Opinion: Metro Should Treat Walk and Bike Projects with the Respect They Deserve

Prioritizing true first mile/last mile infrastructure isn’t somehow optional; it’s how your customers get to and from the transit stations.

September 21, 2023
See all posts