A driver slammed his Jeep into the Days Inn by Wyndham on Wake Forest Road in Raleigh on Thursday, damaging several motel units and prompting police to say they expect to charge him with driving while impaired. No one was evacuated from the property, and officials did not deem the motel structurally unsafe following the impact.
The man told officers he had pressed the gas pedal instead of the brake, according to WRAL, which first reported the crash. Raleigh police said the man had been staying at the motel, located at 3201 Wake Forest Road near Interstate 440, when he drove his vehicle into the building. He was arrested on suspicion of DWI, and law enforcement seized the Jeep at the scene.
The property itself, per HotelPlanner, completed a full renovation in January 2025 and sits along a busy commercial stretch near Duke Raleigh Hospital. The corridor is one of several in the area that regularly sees heavy traffic, with Wake Forest Road and the nearby I-440 Beltline among Wake County's busiest routes, according to Carolina Law.
A Common but Dangerous Mistake
The driver's account of hitting the accelerator instead of the brake describes a recognized and closely studied crash pattern. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates pedal error causes roughly 16,000 preventable crashes nationwide every year, according to Claims Journal — nearly 44 incidents a day, most during low-speed parking maneuvers. North Carolina is notable as the only state that systematically tracks pedal misapplication in its police crash reports, and NHTSA research cited by the outlet found that drivers under 20 and over 65 experience these mix-ups roughly four times more often than other age groups. About half of all such events happen while drivers are turning or reversing at low speeds, per the same research.
But because Raleigh police suspected impairment, the crash carries far heavier legal weight than a routine parking-lot mishap. Under North Carolina General Statute § 20-138.1, driving while impaired applies to any “public vehicular area,” a category that explicitly includes commercial parking lots like those at hotels and motels, according to the Powers Law Firm. That means operating a vehicle while impaired on private motel property carries the same legal weight under state law as doing so on a public roadway.
Why the Jeep Was Seized
North Carolina General Statute § 20-28.3 requires officers to immediately seize a vehicle driven by someone charged with DWI if that driver's license was already revoked for a prior impaired-driving offense, or if the driver was unlicensed and uninsured, per the North Carolina Judicial Branch. It remains unclear which of those statutory triggers applied in this case. If a court ultimately orders the Jeep forfeited following a DWI conviction, state law requires it be transferred to the local county board of education for sale, with proceeds deposited into the public school fund, according to the Roberts Law Office. North Carolina law also allows a seized vehicle to be sold before trial without a court order if accumulated towing and storage fees exceed 85% of its fair market value, or if an unclaimed vehicle worth under $1,500 sits impounded for 90 days.
Impaired Driving's Toll in Wake County
The crash adds to a grim statewide tally. North Carolina Department of Transportation data shows 361 people were killed and 7,227 injured in alcohol-impaired driving crashes across the state in 2024, according to NC Vision Zero. Raleigh itself has recorded 446 alcohol-related crashes in a single year, resulting in 293 injuries and three deaths — ranking second among North Carolina cities behind Charlotte, according to Tatum & Atkinson.
The incident is the latest in a string of impaired-driving crashes into Raleigh buildings this summer. Hoodline previously reported on a crash near NC State's dumpling shop and a party bus that struck a historic Oakwood home. Raleigh police have not released the driver's name, and it remains unresolved whether his license was valid at the time of the crash.
