Residents in Columbus are increasingly focused on a peculiar trend: vehicles crashing into buildings.
The phenomenon has inspired social media accounts such as the Instagram page “Columbus Carikaze,” which documents these incidents. Paul Meara, who created the account, said he was motivated by a crash in the Short North neighborhood that caught his attention.
“I would joke with my roommate, Phil Cook, who also helps run the account, ‘Should I start the Instagram account?’” Meara wrote in a message to NBC4. “Then, with the Char Bar incident in September, I finally did — and here we are.”
Meara attributes the public’s fascination to the mystery surrounding many of the crashes.
“Most of the time, we never know or find out what actually causes the accidents,” Meara said. “Most of the ones we do know about are due to a car malfunction, like a stuck accelerator or brakes going out, or a medical emergency while driving. So we just kind of marvel over why.”
The account, which asks in its profile, “Why does this keep happening?” has received widespread support, with users frequently sending tips and eyewitness accounts.
“I do notice that people want to help us,” Meara said. “We often get messages from people who witnessed or know someone who witnessed a crash. It helps us a lot with building our posts and doing some of the initial research needed to report on these.”
While the comment section often features dark humor, Meara said the account recognizes the real consequences for businesses affected by the crashes. Many face prolonged closures and costly repairs.
The first documented crash of 2025 occurred Jan. 2 at Vow Studio + Salon on West 5th Avenue near Grandview Heights.
“New year, new crash,” read the post. “Vow Studio Salon in Grandview is the latest victim of a building-related vehicle crash in the Columbus area after a car drove up a hill, a small flight of stairs, and plowed into the front of the business.”
Salon owner Sam Antics said the business has been closed since the accident, with workers unable to access tools due to the building being “deemed unsafe to enter.”
“We’ve been at the mercy of weather, insurance, and contractors in hopes to reopen soon,” Antics wrote to NBC4.
Columbus Division of Fire Battalion Chief Jeffrey Geitter previously reported that the department responded to 102 vehicle-building collisions from January 2024 to June 1. By the end of the year, the total had risen to 139 incidents, down from 313 in 2022 and 279 in 2023.
“As you can see, we are down in those incidents compared to previous years,” Geitter said.
Meara hopes his account brings attention to the issue and inspires action.
“In my opinion, the only way to lessen these accidents is simply getting vehicles off the road by providing legitimate and effective alternative modes of transportation,” Meara said. “Columbus is a mid-major city in a country addicted to driving cars, so it really isn’t an anomaly that this is happening.”
The trend isn’t unique to Columbus. A Reddit user noted that Pittsburgh residents track similar incidents on the subreddit r/yinzhittinbilldens.