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Bill Van Beers can't help but be extra vigilant when he sees drivers passing his home on Adelaide Street in central London.
His home is one of at least 50 buildings hit by vehicles in 2025. The number is so high that security advocates call it shocking.
“Shocking. “What's shocking is that the number is actually 50,” said Angelo DiCicco, who heads the Ontario Safety League. “I was expecting at least five, but 50 is a huge number.”
Figures obtained through a Freedom of Information request to the London Police showed that 47 cars crashed into buildings in 2023 and 2024.
In the first ten months of 2025, that number was 50. That's an average of five cars entering buildings every month in London.
“In my experience, these failures are caused by simple mistakes that many people shake their heads at,” DiCicco said. His non-profit organization provides safety training to local residents and professional drivers to reduce the number of preventable deaths and injuries in the province.
An accident near Van Beers' home on Oct. 5 destroyed the porch.
“I heard a loud bang,” Van Beers said, “I saw one of the hydraulic lines swing and I thought they had just hit the hydro pole. I didn't realize they hit the house and did that much damage.”
The driver has been charged with driving while intoxicated, high blood levels of drugs and driving without consent, police told CBC News.
Months after the incident, Van Beers is keeping a close eye on drivers near his home while he organizes repairs.
“Everyone is always rushing by,” he said. “I see a lot of distracted drivers. You see quite a lot of people on their phones, texting and doing whatever. It's definitely a problem.”
There is no single reason why London drivers crash into buildings, London Police Acting Sgt. Greg Pearson from the Road Safety Division. Impaired driving, navigation failure and pedal confusion are the culprits, he said.
“Ultimately we would like to see zero [crashes into buildings]”,” Pearson said. “I think that's the goal of every police service in the country. But it's going to be hard to get there.”
Instances of pedal or gear confusion are less likely to result in serious driver injury because many of these cases involve less speed and momentum, Pearson said. However, there is always an increased risk to unsuspecting pedestrians and building occupants.
The biggest pedal tangle Londoner may remember occurred in 2014, when a woman hit the gas instead of the brake outside a London Costco, plowing into a family, killing a six-year-old child and seriously injuring her mother, who was pregnant. The unborn child also died.
According to DiCicco, pedal confusion often occurs due to inattention and distraction. It's also possible that new drivers haven't had the same testing experience since the COVID-19 pandemic, he added. They may not have received any driver training or developed low-speed maneuvering skills before getting their license, DiCicco said.
Professional drivers should be retested every three to five years, he said, while others should undergo self-tests, reassessing their cognitive and mechanical abilities to drive safely, at least every 10 years.
“The reality is that distraction is the No. 1 leading cause of incidents we see here at the Ontario Safety League,” DiCicco said. “Multitasking is a lie.”
In Waterloo Region, 63 cars crashed into buildings in 2024. There were 67 such crashes in 2025, the Waterloo Regional Police Service said.
