Mastodawn

Zazzoo 🇨🇦

Sure seems to be a lot of people smashing into buildings with their cars lately. Last month there was that guy who drove into a TD Bank at Billings Bridge. Luckily nobody was hurt in that one.

Today's was much worse with the driver hitting pedestrians and crashing into the mission on Cobourg - 1 person dead and others injured.

The heck is going on? The weather has been snowy and slippery, but I can't see that being an excuse.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-vehicle-building-crash-rideau-cobourg-9.7105141

1 dead, 4 injured after SUV crashes into Rideau Street drop-in | CBC News

One person was killed and four others injured when a vehicle crashed into a drop-in centre at the corner of Rideau and Cobourg streets in downtown Ottawa on Wednesday morning.

CBC

ZenHeathen 🇨🇦Feb 25

@zazzoo There are a lot of people driving who shouldn't be. There are a lot of vehicles on the road which weigh far more than they should, making them harder to stop when something goes wrong. There's a lot of anger out there, and people making stupid, angry choices. Any of these, none of these, other reasons--there's just so much going on.

There's a Shoppers Drug Mart near me that's had their front windows driven through half a dozen times in the last ten or fifteen years. They now have concrete bollards out front, but I think even those have been beaten once or twice. They keep a lot of laptops, PS5s and stuff up in that front section, as well as the cash registers, just sayin'...

Zazzoo 🇨🇦Feb 25

@ZenHeathen Yes, I've been noticing a lot more places with bollards. I guess I know why now 🙄

❄️SnowyIn🇨🇦❄️Feb 25

@zazzoo
Post Covid Brains are racking up points and accident rates due to speeding recklessness

Zazzoo 🇨🇦Feb 25

@SnowyCA You'd think there'd be more cars going into weed shops, but I don't think that's ever happened.

❄️SnowyIn🇨🇦❄️Feb 25

More likely cars going into grocery stores,? I think a bag of weed is cheaper than a bag of pantry staples

Zazzoo 🇨🇦Feb 26

@SnowyCA Hmmm, I think that might literally be true. 🤔

❄️SnowyIn🇨🇦❄️Feb 26

@zazzoo
That is even if you buy weed at a pricey dispensary

@zazzoo I ran past that spot not ten minutes before. This is the second time in a few weeks pedestrians have been injured in this section of Rideau.

It's always the same. Drivers going too fast for the conditions and magically it isn't their fault.

Zazzoo 🇨🇦Feb 26

@WTL Not wearing snow tires, either. Snow tires are a must in our winters. They're law just on the other side of the bridges.

@zazzoo Bit hard for me to tell from the photo if it has snow tires, but I agree, they should be required.

Zazzoo 🇨🇦Feb 27

@WTL The article included a side shot farther down. I mean it still wasn't definitive, but people don't normally put snow tires on alloy rims. Canadian fashion dictates steel. 😃

@zazzoo Reasonable. I'm not really a car person. Now, if it was a bike with snow tires, I'd be able to spot those. Then again, if it was a bike, there wouldn't be all the injuries and the death.

I want this driver charged, but also understand that they probably won't.

Zazzoo 🇨🇦Feb 27

@WTL Surely there will be a charge for this one given somebody is dead....

@zazzoo We'll see I'm doubtful anything will come of it.

I'm very curious as to how fast they had to be going when the roads (and sidewalks) were a complete mess (I ran past there ten minutes prior) and do that kind of damage to the building.

@zazzoo in the past two months I've had two cars skid over a median and very nearly strike me head on with my kids in the van, because they were speeding. One on Riverside, the other this afternoon on the Hunt Club bridge.

The Book of Kels Feb 26

There was a study a couple of years ago that found cars hitting buildings was quite a lot more than people think, and that a lot of jurisdictions don't keep track of them because they don't take place on the road, and are therefore not part of traffic data.

For some reason, in Canada Shopper's Drug Mart seems particularly prone to getting hit.

The Book of Kels Feb 26

Even Fake London's feeling it.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/cars-crash-into-london-buildings-5-times-a-month-on-average-new-numbers-show-9.7031476

Cars crash into London buildings 5 times a month on average, new numbers show | CBC News

Numbers from London, Ont., police show 47 vehicles crashed into buildings in both the years 2023 and 2024, and 50 by October 2025.

CBC

Zazzoo 🇨🇦Feb 26

@Nezchan Damn that one caused a lot of damage.

A driver was facing charges for impaired driving, impaired driving exceeding blood drug concentration and taking a motor vehicle without consent, police told CBC News.

There's the weed factor, possibly. I have nothing against cannabis being legal and sold, but there seem to be an awful lot of people who consume and drive rather than treating it like alcohol.

The Book of Kels Feb 26

I'll be honest, I doubt weed is a big factor in all of this. It's been going on for a long time in all kinds of places, even before weed got legalized. I don't know if there's a correlation between legalization and an uptick at all.

The ongoing problem I think has more to do with poorly designed roads that encourage driving fast, ever more powerful (and poorly handling) vehicles, size of vehicles meaning separation from road conditions, and easy distractions via phones.

Zazzoo 🇨🇦Feb 26

@Nezchan True, it's all just sheer assumption on my part. I'm just triggered by the number of times I've smelled weed emanating from a car in front of me.