Parking lot accidents can difficult cases depending on the facts of the case. Insurance companies try to avoid liability by stating that there is not right-of-way in a parking garage or parking lot. Even with a slow speed parking lot collision a driver or their passengers can sustain serious injuries to their neck and back. When parking lots, parking garages, and parking facilities become crowded and people start fighting to get a limited number of spaces available it causes a rise in parking collisions to occur. When drivers are searching for a parking spot many will try to stake a claim to the spot.

If your car has been hit in a parking lot, you should address this accident like any other car accident. If your come back to find that your car has been hit in a parking lot check with the garage or shopping center to see if they have cameras or video to capture what happened. Just because you were not around when the accident occurred does not mean that a video did not capture who backed into you. Hopefully, there will be a video and you will be able to get the license plate of the vehicle that hit you. The most common type of parking lot accident occurs when someone is backing out of a space. Drivers will start backing up and have an obstructed view from the side angles. The other vehicle both is not paying attention and crashes right into the backing up driver.  In a NHTSA report from 2007, it is estimated that each year there is over 14,000 people who are hurt and 221 people killed in back over collisions. Many parking lot accidents take place in residential areas that are crowded like mall parking lots, football stadiums, and other crowded locations where people are searching for parking. Furthermore, some parking lot accidents occur when a motorist is driving too fast in the parking lot aisle to try and get a parking spot. Many parking garages have speed limit signs posted at 5 to 10 mph. When people ignore these signs and drive to fast for the parking lot, serious injuries and accidents can occur.

Parking lot accidents can be avoided if drivers drive cautiously, slow down, and avoid distractions. Parking lots can be filled with dangerous drivers especially during the holiday seasons or the release day of some new product. Make sure to provide space between you and other vehicles. Speeding to a spot is one of the most common ways that parking lot accident occurs. Drivers see a person leaving in another lane and they try to speed over to get that spot before anyone else grabs it. However, on their way over they are driving too fast and fail to notice that another person is trying to leave in front of them, or they turn in front of another driver who is also rushing to grab that spot. One of the biggest risk one faces in a parking lot will come from other drivers. By driving cautiously one can be on the lookout for other drivers and have a better opportunity to avoid them and prevent a parking lot collision from occurring. Make sure to use your traffic signals while in parking lots. Traffic signals let other drivers know where you are going. If the parking lot or parking garage is dark make sure to use your headlights to see other people or drivers. Many new cars come with back up cameras to help reduce the number of parking lot accidents from occurring. While one should not use the camera exclusively. Backup cameras can help drivers see what is behind them in some obstructed view situations and therefore can be a benefit to the driver. Often times these cameras will have an alarm feature that will let you know if you are getting to close to another vehicle, person, or obstacle while backing up.