Parking Lots Are More Dangerous Than You Think

There is a general feeling that parking lots are safer places to drive, or to walk. Cars drive slower, meaning most accidents are just “fender benders.” There are no traffic lights to run through. And drivers expect pedestrians to be walking, so presumably, drivers watch out for them more than they would on an ordinary roadway.

But parking lot accidents can be just as serious as any other kind of accident—especially when it comes to pedestrians.

No Traffic Control

One major problem with many parking lots is that they simply don’t have the traffic control devices that public roads have. How many times have you been in a parking lot where two roads intersect, and there is no stop sign, no traffic light or even any demarcation on the road itself, as to who does and does not have the right of way?

Many parking lots aren’t even well maintained—if there are lines on the road to say who has the right of way, they may be old, faded, and not very clear to drivers or pedestrians.

That means that when there is an accident, it isn’t always so clear who is at fault. Nobody can point to one driver or the other and say “he ran the red light.” This can create a lot of he said/she said liability issues, in parking lot accidents.

Pedestrian Dangers

The same goes for pedestrians. We generally know that pedestrians are supposed to cross at designated crosswalks, when they have the walk signal. But parking lots have none of this—people walk in the middle of the road, cut through parking aisles, or get out of their car into traffic, without even looking.

It is true that cars in most parking lots drive slower than they do on outside roads, but that isn’t always the case. It isn’t uncommon for a car to drive up and down, looking for a parking space, at 35mph or more—this is the same speed as many outside, public roadways.

Worse, many of these drivers aren’t looking for other cars or pedestrians, they’re looking for parking spaces. That means that parking lots are an army of distracted drivers.

Pedestrians can also get injured in a parking lot, when cars open their doors—this is also called a “dooring” accident,” as many drivers will just open their car door once parked, without looking to see what the door may be hitting.

Some Benefits for Victims

One advantage that victims of parking lot accidents have is that because it’s private property, a lot may have more video surveillance than a public road. The property owner can be asked to turn over this surveillance, and often, video is the primary way to see what was, and who was not at fault.

If you do truly believe that the design of the parking lot was faulty—for example, that there should have been a stop sign and there wasn’t, or that lines in the lot were faded and hard to see—the property owner may also be liable to a parking lot accident victim as well, giving victims another avenue of recovery.

Schedule a consultation with our Tampa personal injury lawyers at Barbas, Nunez, Sanders, Butler & Hovsepian today for help after your accident if you were injured in a parking lot or on a private roadway.

Source:

nsc.org/road/safety-topics/distracted-driving/parking-lot-safety