As a business, whether a mom-and-pop shop in a small town or a corporate powerhouse in a metropolitan setting, being properly insured at your store is common sense. But, for some reason, being properly protected at the same stores isn’t as common sense as you’d think.
According to the Storefront Safety Council, there are over 60 storefront crashes per day in the United States. That equates to nearly 22,000 car-into-building accidents per year, which includes 4,000 people being injured and 500 people being killed from these accidents on an annual basis.
And, as you could imagine, these accidents can be extremely expensive to business owners. But even more expensive to those who are involved in the wreck.
Back in 2010, Kimmy Dubuque (43) lost her life when an SUV struck her and launched her through the storefront of a Cumberland Farms convenience store in Massachusetts before crashing into the storefront itself. This accident was just one of many for the location as, according to The Kansas City Star, Cumberland Farms storefronts (500+ along the east coast) have been involved in an eye-opening 485 “car strikes” between 2000 and 2009.
And the business paid for not taking proper steps to protect its stores and customers with proper bollards as a jury awarded the Dubuque family $32.4 million, plus interest.
$32.4 million is a ton of money for one accident. But it’s just a portion of the amount of money is paid out annually across the country for storefront accidents.
According to WCIA in Champaign, IL., car-into-building crashes cost about $200 million each year to pay for just property damage and medical bills. They also mention how “someone” has to pay for the costs, and that could end up being a group effort as they also reported that, according to insurance agents, the state minimum in Illinois for property damage coverage through car insurance is $25,000. And with crashes normally exceeding that amount, that means the state wide insurance rates would end up increasing for everyone.
WCIA’s report included a video to highlight the estimated costs of storefront crashes.
To add onto the storefront crash cost estimates, the Storefront Safety Council estimated that the cost of a car-into-building crash, that does not include an injury, is $9,100 per crash. And when you add in Fairwarning experts reporting that it would cost less than $10,000 to install proper protective bollard posts, the numbers show everything business owners should need to know:
Being proactive with storefront protection will not only save money, but it will potentially save customer’s lives from horrific accidents.
If you’re a store or business owner, property manager or store manager, looking for more information on how to properly protect your storefront from driver error, pedal error, drunk drivers or any other driving mistake, contact us at Ideal Shield. Our industry leading bollard posts and bollard covers will help protect your storefront while also giving off an aesthetically appealing look (that can be customized to fit branding needs) to make you, your employees, your customers and any other pedestrians passing by feel much safer on a day-to-day basis.
Give us a call at 866-825-8659 for more information today!