Cheap and deadly: Why vehicle terror attacks like the Bourbon Street ramming are on the rise

Cheap and simple vehicle-based attacks have rapidly become one of the deadliest forms of terror assaults worldwide, killing and injuring thousands of people internationally since they began becoming more frequent after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Experts say a combination of factors have increased the number of vehicle attacks in recent years, notably the increased focus on outdoor events after the pandemic, ease of access to trucks or cars, and the uncomplicated nature of the approach itself.

Early Wednesday, an armed man deliberately drove a truck into a New Year's crowd on New Orleans' famed Bourbon Street, killing at least 10 and injuring more than 30 before being shot and killed by police. The attack raised fears about copycat incidents at multiple events around the country later in the day, including the annual Rose Bowl Parade in Pasadena.

James Alan Fox, a professor of criminology, law and public policy at Northeastern University, said that while vehicle rammings remain relatively rare among mass-casualty incidents in the United States, "they can be quite deadly" in contrast to a gun attack.

"In the U.S., at least with the prevalence of high-powered firearms compared to other nations, I suspect that rammings will remain a small share of incidents," Fox said. "Of course, if possible, barriers and street closings to protect crowds from vehicles would help, but in most situations that may not be practical."

Just last month, a Saudi psychiatrist deliberately drove a rented BMW SUV through a German Christmas market, killing five and injuring more than 200. His motive remains under investigation, according to authorities.

New Orleans officials in 2017 began installing bollards along Bourbon Street to limit vehicle access and protect crowds, citing the risk from vehicle attacks. Contractors are removing and replacing those original bollards with a new design, according to city officials.

In 2016, vehicle attacks internationally represented more than half of all terrorism-related deaths that year, according to one researcher's analysis of the open-source Global Terrorism Database

"The accessibility of vehicles makes this a widespread threat (for) any gathering of people, whether for a New Year’s celebration or just a normal weekend on Bourbon Street," said Ryan Houser, a terrorism and mass-casualty-attack researcher and consultant who wrote a 2022 study on such attacks.

Houser said vehicle attacks are on the rise internationally because they work.

"Vehicle ramming attacks have the ability to further democratize terrorism as a successful attack that merely requires a willingness to kill and can be completed by only one actor," he concluded in his study. "The increased prevalence of outdoor activities and gatherings in a post-COVID-19 world will further expose large numbers of people to potential vulnerabilities within security that place them at risk of being the victim of vehicle-based terrorism."

And though Europe has seen many similar attacks ? including a truck attack in 2016 that killed 86 and injured 434 - the United States has also seen multiple incidents before Wednesday's attack.

According to the Associated Press/USA TODAY/Northeastern University Mass Killing Database, before the New Orleans attack there had been three intentional and indiscriminate vehicle rammings since 2006, including the Nov. 21, 2021, attack on a Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin, that killed six and injured 62 others. Federal officials noted three other vehicle-based attacks in the United States in 2020 alone, although with fewer fatalities.

Houser, the terrorism and mass-casualty researcher, said vehicle attacks are a concerningly easy way to rapidly kill and injure a large number of people because the attack starts and finishes within seconds. That makes it hard for police to respond, he noted.

"A single vehicle has the potential to cause a large mass casualty incident that overwhelms local and mutual aid resources," he wrote in his analysis. "Additionally, the traumatic injuries that result from a vehicle ramming incident have the potential to overwhelm the medical capabilities of emergency and operating rooms."

Federal security experts have long warned about the risk from vehicle attacks and typically recommend a "layered" approach to preventing them during large gatherings like parades, concerts or street parties. Those measures usually include barriers across roads and sidewalks ? cities often use trash trucks or snowplows ? along with jersey barriers to create an s-shaped approach to limit vehicles' speed.

Bourbon Street is a long, straight and narrow street lined with bars. At night when the bars are crowded, police usually bar vehicle access, allowing patrons to spill out onto the street. New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said the driver in Wednesday's attack swerved around barricades to reach the crowd.

"He was hell-bent on creating the carnage and the damage that he did," Cantrell said at a news conference. "This man was trying to run over as many people as he possibly could. It was not a DUI situation."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Terror attacks using vehicles are on the rise. Here's why.