’Tis the season — for car crashes in shopping-mall parking lots.
A typical mall parking lot has dozens of collisions every year, says ICBC. More happen in December than in any other month. Most occur between noon and 3 p.m., on a Friday or Saturday.
“The closest spot is not always the best spot,” said Chris Foord, Capital Regional District traffic safety commission vice chair.
“Walk an extra few feet. It’s good for your health and much easier to probably find a better spot and one that will allow you to exit the parking lot a little easier.”
Foord also suggests backing into parking stalls. “Professional drivers will always back into a parking spot. Probably half your readers fear backing up, but the fact is if you can go into a pull through — when you see two empty spots pull straight through — so when you exit the parking spot you’re going forward, that minimizes your chances of coming into conflict with another vehicle or somebody else coming into conflict with you,” he said.
ICBC offers a number of tips for navigating parking lots during the Christmas season.
• On private property, the rules of the road still apply. Drive only in the appropriate lanes, avoid cutting through diagonally. Don’t use your phone while driving.
• Park your car so that the front faces the driving lane.
• If you can, park farther away in an area with fewer cars. You’ll avoid a high-traffic area where you’re more likely to collide with another vehicle or hit a pedestrian.
• Slow down and be on alert.
• Pay attention to arrows and stop signs.
• Don’t block traffic: Waiting for someone to load their car, buckle up and leave, jams up traffic behind you and likely takes you much longer than if you had just found a spot farther away. Sitting idle in a lane can leave you vulnerable to a collision, and you could be blocking other drivers who are trying to leave.
• Let it go: No sense in having a meltdown with another driver for a parking spot.
ICBC says about 150,000 crashes happened at or near parking lots in 2017, causing about 5,400 injuries.
While most parking-lot crashes happen at low speeds and only result in vehicle damage, dealing with the aftermath of a crash could certainly take the shine off the holiday season.
