A driver crashed into a building on 6th and H Streets NE. Image from DC Fire and EMS

In October, the driver of an SUV slammed through the brick wall of a vacant retail space at Sixth and H Street NE.

In November, a motorist barreled through the window of Tacqueria Rosticeria, a restaurant at 7th and H Street, around 2 pm on a Tuesday afternoon.

And in December, just before Christmas, a three-car collision resulted in a car smashing into the Atlas Performing Arts Center, damaging the lobby and a Joy of Motion Dance Center studio.

Three cars. Three buildings. All along the H Street Corridor. The cluster of similar incidents is sparking calls for change.

Cars hit buildings more often than you think

H Street’s cluster of cars hitting buildings may be notable, but H Street isn’t alone — even being inside a building isn’t enough to guarantee you won’t be injured by a car. Streetsblog reported in February that drivers crash cars into buildings as much as 60 times per day on average in the US, killing hundreds of people and injuring thousands each year.

The Storefront Safety Council, an advocacy group working to limit vehicle-into-building collisions, has tracked more than 30 instances of cars crashing into businesses, government buildings, and bus stops in the region in 2020 alone. Other car-into-building collisions have damaged property and hurt pedestrians in the region just over the last few months.

A few examples: On December 1, a driver crashed into Whole Foods in Fairfax. The driver of an SUV tore through a wall in Congress Heights on December 9, with a man inside the room narrowly escaping serious injury. In October, a motorist crashed into an apartment building in Bladensburg, causing structural damage and displacing 18 residents. And further north, in the Baltimore suburb of Parkville, 35-year-old Deanna Jean Allik was killed when a driver crashed through the front window of a restaurant, possibly after accidentally hitting the gas pedal.

Making H Street safer

Mark Sussman, a longtime street safety advocate and Hill East resident (and past GGWash contributor), said H Street has had traffic safety issues for years.

Cars driving into buildings aren’t the only traffic safety incidents on H Street. More than 30 other collisions have taken place along the H Street Corridor since October, DC traffic data shows, resulting in at least 12 injuries to drivers or passengers as well as some pedestrians. A pedestrian sustained major injuries after crash on September 15 on H Street near 5th Street, according to DC crash data, and another pedestrian was injured on August 17 near the intersection with Florida Avenue.

The issue of safety on H Street goes back years: In 2018, 19-year-old bicyclist Malik Habib was killed on H Street after his tire got stuck in the tracks of the streetcar that opened in 2016. Pedestrians were killed on H Street in 2015 and 2017. And dozens more have been injured in the past decade.

The problem, Sussman said, seems to be twofold. First, H Street serves as a shortcut for drivers coming from highways to get into downtown, even though it is a street with concentrated business and residential use and speed limits of 25 mph. That section of H Street saw an average of 22,000 cars pass through daily in 2018, according to estimates from the District Department of Transportation.

Second, he said, is the fact that sidewalks along the corridor are narrow, without a lot of space between vehicles and storefronts and pedestrians. Then came the pandemic, and Sussman said emptier roads people can fly down are a “perfect recipe” for collisions.

It’s not clear what caused the building crashes this year; GGWash has filed a FOIA request with the Metropolitan Police Department for the crash reports.

After the December crash, Sussman worked with two local ANC commissioners to organize a letter signed by businesses along H Street asking DDOT to make the following safety improvements:

  • Bus/streetcar-only lanes;
  • Wider sidewalks; and
  • Replacing long-term street parking with pickup/drop-off zones

The group plans to send the letter to DDOT next week. GGWash has reached out to DDOT for comment.

In a statement, Joy of Motion Dance Center said they plan to advocate for more safety measures in the future.

“The teams at Atlas and Joy of Motion will be working together to clean up, rebuild, and advocate for measures that will ensure the safety of our H Street community in the coming weeks,” the statement said.

As of January 5, 14 businesses had signed on to Sussman’s letter, and he said the response from business owners has been largely positive. Many people assume business owners are attached to street parking, but Sussman said many of them recognize the importance of prioritizing customers who travel by foot, bicycle and transit.

“We need to stop assuming businesses are against urbanist goals of placemaking and safety on our streets,” Sussman said.