A new California law provides an incentive for commercial property owners to install barriers to protect outdoor diners.
The law enables insurance companies to offer discounts on commercial property policyholders’ premiums if they install safety barriers. The legislation came after outdoor dining and similar streetside venues became commonplace during the Covid pandemic.
As outdoor dining increased, so did deaths and injuries from vehicles crashing into diners and pedestrians, according to the Storefront Safety Council. “These tragedies happen all around the U.S. when property owners fail to protect outdoor diners and others from errant drivers,” says storefront safety expert Rob Reiter, who co-founded the Storefront Safety Council. “It just takes one crash to end a life—and put a restaurant or small retailer out of business.”
According to the Council:
- Storefront crashes occur more than 100 times per day in the U.S.
- Nearly half (46%) of all storefront crashes result in injury, and 8% result in a fatality.
- Each year in the U.S., as many as 16,000 people are injured and as many as 2,600 are killed in vehicle-into-building crashes.
These figures are based on more than 10 years of data collection by the Council. Its national database of compiled storefront crashes numbers over 24,000 incidents, with additional confirming data on more than 15,000 other vehicle-into-building and related incidents.
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
Nation's first set of green building model codes and standards announced
The International Code Council (ICC), the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), and the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IES) announce the launch of the International Green Construction Code (IGCC), representing the merger of two national efforts to develop adoptable and enforceable green building codes.
| Aug 11, 2010
More construction firms likely to perform stimulus-funded work in 2010 as funding expands beyond transportation programs
Stimulus funded infrastructure projects are saving and creating more direct construction jobs than initially estimated, according to a new analysis of federal data released today by the Associated General Contractors of America. The analysis also found that more contractors are likely to perform stimulus funded work this year as work starts on many of the non-transportation projects funded in the initial package.
| Aug 11, 2010
Broadway-style theater headed to Kentucky
One of Kentucky's largest performing arts venues should open in 2011—that's when construction is expected to wrap up on Eastern Kentucky University's Business & Technology Center for Performing Arts. The 93,000-sf Broadway-caliber theater will seat 2,000 audience members and have a 60×24-foot stage proscenium and a fly loft.
| Aug 11, 2010
Citizenship building in Texas targets LEED Silver
The Department of Homeland Security's new U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services facility in Irving, Texas, was designed by 4240 Architecture and developed by JDL Castle Corporation. The focal point of the two-story, 56,000-sf building is the double-height, glass-walled Ceremony Room where new citizens take the oath.
| Aug 11, 2010
Carpenters' union helping build its own headquarters
The New England Regional Council of Carpenters headquarters in Dorchester, Mass., is taking shape within a 1940s industrial building. The Building Team of ADD Inc., RDK Engineers, Suffolk Construction, and the carpenters' Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee, is giving the old facility a modern makeover by converting the existing two-story structure into a three-story, 75,000-sf, LEED-certif...
| Aug 11, 2010
Wisconsin becomes the first state to require BIM on public projects
As of July 1, the Wisconsin Division of State Facilities will require all state projects with a total budget of $5 million or more and all new construction with a budget of $2.5 million or more to have their designs begin with a Building Information Model. The new guidelines and standards require A/E services in a design-bid-build project delivery format to use BIM and 3D software from initial ...
| Aug 11, 2010
News Briefs: GBCI begins testing for new LEED professional credentials... Architects rank durability over 'green' in product attributes... ABI falls slightly in April, but shows market improvement
News Briefs: GBCI begins testing for new LEED professional credentials... Architects rank durability over 'green' in product attributes... ABI falls slightly in April, but shows market improvement
