Airports seeing trend of cars, drivers ending up on runways

  • Reported incidents at airports have come in last few days
  • Incident at O'Hare deemed an accident with driver getting lost
  • Safety for planes, passengers at risk: NTSB investigator
Airports around the U.S. have had recent incidents of cars ending up on their runways.

A a view of the O’Hare International Airport terminals from the south air traffic control tower in Chicago.

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(NewsNation) — Airports around the U.S. are seeing a recent disturbing trend of drivers finding their way onto runways.

In the last few days, there have been incidents reported at Buffalo, New York’s Buffalo Niagara International Airport and O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois.

The incident in Buffalo saw a man intentionally drive through a fence off of Genesee Street and end up in the grass near a runway, while in Chicago, a DoorDash delivery driver drove miles through a secured and restricted area.

“A lot of very bad things can happen,” said Ben Coleman, a former investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board. “Once they get in there, they really don’t know what to do.”

DoorDash said the incident at O’Hare appeared to be simply a case of a driver getting lost.

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