Parking lots and garages are misleading spaces. This serene sea of cars, seemingly harmless, conceals a stark truth. Instead, they present an illusion where the slow-moving and non-moving cars constitute a safe place. In fact, “over Parking lots and garages are misleading spaces. This serene sea of cars seems harmless, yet conceals a stark truth. They present the illusion that these slow-moving and non-moving cars constitute a safe place. In fact, “over 50,000 car accidents occur in U.S. parking lots and garages annually, resulting in more than 500 deaths per year and 60,000 injuries each year.” (1)
These are mind-boggling numbers, especially because today’s vehicles have back cameras and high-tech sensors.
Human behavior is at play here, too. Who are the players?
- Pedestrians who have just parked are heading toward their destination. They have an agenda to take care of and are impatient to get it done. Most likely, they are not paying attention to what’s around them.
- Shoppers heading towards their cars, loaded with shopping bags, tired and anxious to get home, often with little ones dragging behind.
- Kids walk behind parked cars, oblivious to the imminent danger when those pull out.
- Distracted drivers are more focused on locating a spot or eager to leave than paying full attention to their surroundings.
We do not know what happened to the two-year-old, who was hit and killed by a car in a parking lot in Fremont, CA, in August 2023. (3)
Was it preventable, like the other 500 such tragedies that happen annually?
- https://blog.gitnux.com/accidents-in-parking-lots-statistics/#:~:text=Parking%20lots%20and%20garages%20are,and%2060%2C000%20injuries%20each%20year.
- https://www.nsc.org/road/safety-topics/distracted-driving/parking-lot-safety
- https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/vehicle-hits-kills-toddler-in-fremont/
