Latest Crash Puts Cortlandt NY Deli Out of Business

A recent crash featured in our March 21, 2011, roundup claimed another casualty: the business that was hit.

Peekskill-Cortlandt Patch editor Liz Giegerich reports that the owner of Lou's Corner Deli in Cortlandt, New York—74-year-old Jack Toia—decided to close his doors permanently following the March 17, 2011, crash into his store.

Toia's son, Guy, notes that this crash was the fifth time the deli had been hit by a vehicle—and apparently the second time in recent years when the damage was severe enough that the Town of Cortlandt required the building to be closed until structural repairs were made.

Giegerich's story includes an important take-away for prevention-minded businesses on bollard placement: "The parking spaces also had about 4-foot high concrete posts in the center of each spot, but [the driver in the latest crash] managed to drive between the posts, which were more than a car's-width apart."

Ouch.

I hope to connect with Mr. Toia in the near future to see what advice he might be up for sharing with other businesses based on his multiple-crash experience.

Thanks to Giegerich, too, for her reporting. (Full story link: http://peekskill.patch.com/articles/car-crash-into-lous-corner-store-closes-it-for-good)