No one was injured when a Buick LeSabre crashed into the laundry room of a home at 104 Everest Circle at about 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, April 26, 2016. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Two vehicles hit two homes in Oak Ridge in the past week, and one car crashed into a brick landscaping wall at the new drive-through at ORNL Federal Credit Union.
In the most recent crash, a four-door Buick LeSabre crashed into the laundry room of a home at 104 Everest Circle at about 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.
No one was in the laundry room at the time, and no one was injured, authorities said. A dog and cat in the house were also reported to be okay, according to a neighbor.
The cause of the single-vehicle crash had not been determined.
A towing company removes a car that crashed into a house on Everest Circle on Tuesday morning, April 26, 2016. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
The house is down a small embankment from Everest Circle, which is in northeast Oak Ridge off East Drive, and it’s on a curve in the road. Authorities said the Buick was driving toward the house at the time of the crash.
“I heard it,” said neighbor Duane Craig, who lives at 107 Everest Circle. “It just sounded like a loud dump truck dumping something out.”
He thought it might be a load of gravel, but when he looked out his window, he realized someone had run into his neighbor’s house.
“Oh (no),” he said, “someone ran into Debbie’s house.”
After the crash, the driver of the Buick crawled back into the car to turn off the motor, Craig said.
“About the same time, she (the neighbor) came out,” Craig said. When he realized she wasn’t hurt, Craig said, “I said thank goodness.”
Smoke came out of the car, but there was no active fire, according to firefighters.
The city has shut off power to the home, and neighbors are helping the woman who lives there.
The crash destroyed the wall of the laundry room facing the street as well as a door, and it appeared to damage the washer and dryer inside.
No one was injured when this vehicle crashed into a home at 538 West Outer Drive on Friday afternoon, April 22, 2016. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
The other crash into a home occurred at about 4:35 p.m. Friday. No one was reported to be injured in that crash either.
That single-vehicle crash was reported at 538 West Outer Drive, a curvy, hilly road in north Oak Ridge. Authorities hadn’t determined the cause as of Friday afternoon.
It wasn’t clear if concrete blocks scattered across a driveway near the road were related to the crash.
In the first crash in the past week, a car appeared to jump a concrete curb and a grass median and crash into the brick landscaping wall next to the new drive-through at ORNL Federal Credit Union on Rutgers Avenue on Wednesday morning.
The single-vehicle crash was reported at about 10:22 a.m. Wednesday. Witnesses said a female driver had been parked in a disabled parking spot in front of the new banking branch when she backed out, stopped, started going forward, and went across the median, according to the Oak Ridge Police Department.
The driver of this Toyota Camry had non-life threatening injuries after crashing into a brick landscaping wall at ORNL Federal Credit Union on Rutgers Avenue on Wednesday morning, April 21, 2016. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
The unidentified female driver had non-life threatening injuries, the ORPD said Wednesday.
No other vehicles or people were involved.
That was the third crash into a commercial building or commercial property in the past three months. A Volkswagen Beetle crashed into Dunkin’ Donuts on Oak Ridge Turnpike in February, and a landscaping truck crashed into the Taco Bell on South Illinois Avenue in March.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
Pictured above after a car crashed into the laundry room of a home on Everest Circle on Tuesday morning, April 26, 2016, are, clockwise from left, firefighters Austin Keathley and Darrell Mull, and captains Ray Burney and Jordan Alcorn. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
The Oak Ridge Police Department and Oak Ridge Fire Department both responded when a Toyota Camry crashed into a brick landscaping wall at the drive-through at ORNL Federal Credit Union on Wednesday morning, April 21, 2016. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Oak Ridge Fire Department Captain Jordan Alcorn, left, and Firefighter Darrell Mull remove a destroyed door from a home on Everest Circle after a car crashed into it on Tuesday morning, April 26, 2016. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
More information will be added as it becomes available.
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johnhuotari says
I’ve been a reporter here for a dozen years, and I don’t recall any previous string of crashes into buildings and homes quite like this. This makes five that I know of since February.
One of the customers who was at Dunkin’ Donuts when the VW crashed into it in February said her sister in Florida said it happens all the time there.
Kay Williamson says
no one going to admit to talking on the phone or texting while driving
Angi Agle says
I agree, John. I’ve lived here all my life, and it has always been a very occasional thing — once every few years (usually associated with snow or heavy rain). Five in three months is just crazy!
Trevor Frith says
It is called the right foot braking epidemic. See Left Foot Braking Method for explanation.Hope this helps.
Mark Caldwell says
Driver-less cars cannot get here soon enough.