CLARKSVILLE, Tenn.--Forget the banking industry. Dismiss IRR. Don’t even think about the compliance burden. No, the biggest threat to America’s credit unions in 2014 is clear—it’s America’s drivers.
Credit union facilities have been struck by more than a dozen vehicles this year, some just glancing blows; in other cases, drivers missed the drive-thru and instead drove-through the lobby. The damage has been significant, but fortunately, there have been few injuries and no loss of life.
The most recent assault upon a credit union took place on Madison Street in Clarksville, Tenn., when an SUV crashed through a branch of Fort Campbell Credit Union, entering the building completely. While repairs were under way, members were directed to the CU’s other branches.
In Edinburg, Texas, an elderly woman driving a 2012 Legacy Subaru is believed to have stepped on the gas rather than the brake and drove into the lobby of Edinburg Teachers Credit Union on West University Drive. Police reported one person was transported to Edinburg Regional Hospital after being injured in the accident.
A driver hitting the gas instead of the brake is also the suspected culprit in a car crash that struck a branch of Onpoint Credit Union in Cedar Hills, Ore. In that case, the woman drove over the sidewalk before crashing into the facility.
Police & Fire Needed at Police And Fire
On Oct. 21, perhaps ironically, a car crashed into the building that’s home to Police and Fire Credit Union in South Philadelphia. In that case, the car had hit a front brick pillar by the entrance, before toppling it onto its hood. There were no injuries. Police, who were likely nearby, said they were investigating that accident.
The crash at Police & Fire Credit Union is not alone in being an ironic target of a driver and resulting injuries. In LaCrosse, Wis., two people were hospitalized after a car crashed into the office of Mayo Employees FCU, which was formed to serve employees of the Mayo Clinic.
Police said a driver suffering from a medical condition crossed over four lanes of traffic, jumped a curb, hit a bicyclist and then crashed into Mayo Employees’ office at 605 West Avenue South. The bicyclist, a female student, had minor injuries according to police. In a statement, the La Crosse Fire Department said the accident had destroyed the front of the branch, and that its Urban Search & Rescue team had shored up the building until repairs could be made.
The driver was cited for driving with a suspended license.
In Oswego, N.Y., a truck driver ran a red light and collided with another truck before crashing into the Oswego County FCU’s facility at East Fourth and Bridge streets. According to police, the 2001 Ford F-250 pick up truck broke the gas main and electric meter at the CU’s main branch, resulting in what city firefighters called a “dangerous” natural gas leak combined with damaged electrical services.
Both vehicles in the accident ended up in the credit union’s lawn, and both drivers were sent to the hospital for minor injuries.
Meanwhile, in Thousand Oaks, Calif., Victoria Bohn was arrested by police earlier this year on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs after she drove her car over a curb and right into a branch of Kinecta Federal Credit Union in a shopping center.
In the car with Bohn was her 11-year-old son, which led to an additional charge of child endangerment. Neither person was hurt, nor was anyone injured in the credit union. Bohn later told a local publication, The Acorn, that the fault was with her Jeep. “The car just surged into the building. I had both my feet on the brakes,” The Acorn quoted her as saying. “It was like (the Steven King novel) ‘Christine.’ The engine was still revving while I was pressing on the brakes.”
Other credit unions struck by vehicles so far in 2014 include:
- Concho Educators FCU in San Angleo, Texas, which was hit by a pick-up truck that crossed a median and a frontage road before crashing into the east side of the building and partially exiting the south side of the building. According to local reports, bystanders helped extract a male passenger before emergency responders arrived to remove the male driver. The accident took place around 9 p.m. Both passenger and the driver were transported to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Engineers were called in to assess the integrity of the building before the pick-up truck was removed.
- It isn’t just branches that are in danger from America’s drivers. In Otay Mesa, Calif., a woman crashed into an ATM belonging to Navy Federal Credit Union. The woman told police that she had become so disconcerted after backing into a pole that she surged forward and crashed into the ATM. In the process she barely missed a person who was using the machine and who had to jump out of the way to avoid being hit.
- In Poway, Calif., a woman drove her car into a branch of San Diego County Credit Union on Stowe Drive. Like other drivers, she said she mistakenly hit the gas pedal rather than the brakes. There were no injuries.
- In Erie, Penn., firefighters had to be called after a car began burning in the drive-through at the Erie Federal Credit Union location on Zuck Road. The fire crews arrived to find the car engulfed in flames, which also caused some damage to the roof of the drive through. No one was injured.
- In Tallahassee, Fla., the credit union’s branch wasn’t struck but it’s sign was destroyed when a Chrysler 300 with three occupants drove through a white fence and plunged 12 feet into the back parking lot of Envision Credit Union, where the vehicle lay upside down. Bystanders attempted to help to remove the three women trapped inside before firefighters used the jaws of life to open the car’s doors.
- In Longview, Wash., a mother and her adult son had to be taken to a hospital after their vehicle crashed into the corner of a Red Canoe Credit Union branch. According to police, the woman was attempting to park her light blue GMC Astro van in a disabled parking space when the vehicle accelerated and jumped the parking curb, striking a parked, black 2006 Jeep Commander, which was pushed into a building. The woman then reversed her van into the Red Canoe building. The Jeep was owned by an employee of the credit union. No one inside the CU or the other building was injured.
An International Conspiracy?
It isn’t just credit union in the U.S. that are being targeted, suggesting it may be an international driving conspiracy. In St. Catherines, Canada, a member is also suspected of mistakenly pressing on the accelerator rather than the brake after pulling into what was described as an “inaccessible parking spot” and then crashing into a branch of Meridian Credit Union.
A receptionist at the branch, Wilma Vanderzwaag, told a local newspaper that she could see the Toyota Corolla coming. “I ran,” Vanderzwaag told the paper. “I thought the roof was coming down.”
Just minutes before the crash, she said a member had been sitting in a chair right by the plate glass window. Despite the damage, and people being “shaken up,” the branch remained open.