On January 14, 2018, at approximately 5:30 a.m., a motorist speeding north on French Street in Santa Ana hit the raised center median on 17th Street2. The impact launched the white Nissan Altima into the air, sending it across three lanes and more than fifty feet horizontally before it slammed into the second floor of a dental office building5. The driver later admitted to using narcotics at the time of the crash1.

The Orange County Fire Authority posted a photo of the wreck to Twitter that morning, and the image immediately looked unreal. Capt. Stephen Horner of the OCFA told reporters that "this is not a situation that happens every day"1. Both occupants were extracted from the vehicle by firefighters from Los Angeles County and the OCFA while the car's front end was still lodged high in the building2. Twitter user @KHOLMESlive also posted video footage of the aftermath the same day4.

The crash itself drew attention to road safety issues on 17th Street in Santa Ana. Streetsblog California used the incident to highlight that the street is over 102 feet wide from curb to curb, and that the city had already been planning a road diet to reduce travel lanes and add protected bike lanes5. The fact that the car crossed three lanes before hitting the median and still had enough momentum to reach a second-story building illustrated the dangers of wide, high-speed urban roads.

Inverse noted that vehicle-on-building collisions are more common than people think, with an average of 60 cars crashing into retail stores, office buildings, and restaurants every day in the United States, killing over 500 people annually according to Ameriprise Auto and Home Insurance3. This crash stood out because of the second-story angle, which turned a common type of accident into something visually extraordinary.