As we move through the joyous time of year it’s hard not to reflect on some of our best annual holiday traditions - eggnog, mistletoe and parking lot mayhem. That crowded and sometimes dangerous asphalt jungle should be a concern to drivers at the best of times, but as Christmas approaches and the fixation on the perfect gift or that last minute deals grows, parking lots become a “centre of excellence” for inattentive and aggressive drivers.
One reason you pay so much for car insurance is because of parking lot mishaps - where a staggering 150,000 collisions occur in BC every year. Annual holiday fever is undoubtedly a big part of the problem.
While nothing can be guaranteed against the foibles of your fellow driver there are a few strategies which lessen the risk of the parking lot fender-bender.
Like any other aspect of safe driving, your safety increases by slowing down. I often see people going as much as 10 or 15 km/h too fast in crowded parking lots. Ten or fifteen km/h doesn’t seem like much in general, but in a parking lot that level extra speed has robbed you of most of your reaction time as well the ability to maneuver quickly.
The rules of the road apply equally in any parking lot and those rules require drivers to proceed at a speed which is reasonable for road and weather conditions regardless of the posted limit.
Try to park early. I’m not referring to the time of day because the professional gate crasher will always beat you to the door anyway. What I mean here is to find a parking spot as quickly as possible. Avoid driving in endless circles looking for that perfect space 10 metres from the main door. Less driving lowers the chances of conflict. There also tends to be less traffic around the outer edges of large parking areas. An extra five minute walk will seem easy compared to 2 or 3 hours on the phone with ICBC sorting out a collision claim.
While it is tempting to move from A to B in the quickest and straightest possible line, avoid cutting through open spaces and across driving lanes in a parking lot. Remember that you’re not alone out there, especially at this time of year. There’s a good chance that those driving near you have anything but driving on their minds. The last thing they are expecting is for another car to appear from nowhere.
Most experts will advise drivers to back into parking spaces. It’s the best and safest method because when it’s time to leave you have given yourself a way wider field of view when you are driving out facing forward.
But it’s Christmas time and you need access to the trunk or rear gate to store all that plunder. That’s a fair consideration. In that case reverse with all the care you can muster. Many driving instructors advocate that your head should be on a constant swivel any time you’re reversing. Even using your passenger, if you have one, to step out and guide you during back-up is not unreasonable.
It’s also not a bad idea to avoid shopping cart storage areas. For some people poor driving habits don’t stop with their motor vehicle. Then there’s the ones who abandon their carts right at their parking stall. I have on occasion seen self-driving carts zipping through parking lots all on their own looking for that perfect car door to smash into.
Ever notice how time slows to a stand still when you try and wait for a person to vacate their parking space. That’s why parking lot management often exhorts you to keep moving to an open space. Being jammed up behind someone waiting for another driver to exit their spot is one of life’s great frustrations. If there’s no one behind you by all means hang in there but if it’s busy think about keeping things moving.
You should be constantly scanning for obstacles. Urban designers today seem to have a particular fixation on weird and wonderful streetscapes within parking lots which offer up yet even more challenges to Christmas parkers. Last week in Saanich I saw an unfortunate elderly woman hopelessly “high-centred” over a concrete abutment intended to force vehicles into a specific, but counter-intuitive, direction in a mall parking lot. The result was an entire lane of Blanshard Street traffic blocked while the mess was sorted out.
Defensive driving, avoiding all distractions like cellphones and being patient, are the best methods to park safely during the busy holiday season. Give yourself a gift by avoiding that Christmas parking lot fender bender.
