Dangers of parking lot crashes ahead of the holiday rush
Posted November 22, 2016 7:50 am.
Last Updated November 22, 2016 7:51 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – The holiday shopping season is upon us and you’re bound to visit a mall or two but are you aware just how dangerous the parking lots at those shopping centres can be?
The US National Safety Council finds hundreds of people die in parking lot crashes every year in that country.
Most collisions happen when the driver is somehow distracted. “There’s a little less attention given because they may assume that because they’re going at a slower rate of speed, they’re able to take their eyes off the road or they don’t anticipate something. But that’s the very thing that gets them into a situation where they’re in a fender-bender,” explains Sharlene Brooks with Delta Police, which is responsible for the new Tsawwassen Mills mega-mall.
One in five traffic accidents in the US happen in parking lots.
And even though people tend to drive slower, parking lots can still be dangerous says West Vancouver Constable Jeff Palmer, who covers busy Park Royal Mall. “A vehicle is still so much larger and so much heavier than any pedestrian. Really, any contact between a vehicle and a pedestrian has really high risk potential.”
Mark Milner with ICBC agrees, and says we do see similar parking lot chaos here in BC. “When you think about it, there are a lot of cars in a relatively small space. There is also a lot of pedestrians in those spaces and people are paying more attention to finding a parking spot than to what is going on around them.”
He adds drivers treat them with a different mentality than a road. “Parking lots breed the same sort of false sense of security people have at intersections when they’re stopped at a light as far as using their phones and things like that. You need to make sure you’re leaving things alone.”
Pedestrians walking though parking lots have to do their part too and many will stroll along while completely distracted.
Both ICBC and police warn people not to suddenly walk out from between vehicles in parking lots and to always be paying full attention.
