Parking can be a nightmare in Washington, D.C. While the most injurious car accidents tend to happen at higher speeds, we regularly handle DC parking lot accidents. While slower speeds may make it easier to control your car, visibility is frequently an issue in parking lots and parking garages. Moreover, fitting your car into tight spaces can be challenging, particularly in the smaller parking lots of a large urban environment like Washington, D.C. This can be contrasted with sprawling suburban parking lots that may be available in neighboring states like Maryland or Virginia. Accordingly, with the constant flow of pedestrians and traffic, unique challenges frequently present themselves in parking lots, and accidents occur.
Moreover, parking lots in DC lack clear signage, traffic lights, or lanes. While there may be the occasional stop line or stop sign, they are not always well-marked. Sometimes, these are privately owned. This may mean a lawsuit against the business that owns the premises could be filed. However, you are far better off making a claim against a negligent driver. Just because it is more difficult to follow the traffic flow in a parking lot does not mean you do not have a duty to do so. Additionally, we see many cases where a car is pulled over with its hazard lights on next to a grocery store or some other store, and another car crashes into the parked car. Determining liability in these cases can be complex without a thorough understanding of Washington, D.C. Codes and relevant caselaw. Contact our personal injury lawyers today for a free consultation.
Car accidents in DC parking lots or garages can cause just as much injury as an accident elsewhere. Some drivers speed in parking lots, and many drive negligently. While we have handled countless DC parking lot car accidents, the list below covers the most common causes we encounter in our practice.
Many drivers have their guard down in a parking lot. It is possible they do not believe any dangers await them until they rejoin traffic on the road. Or, they may still be focusing on setting up their navigation, buckling their seatbelt, or wrapping up a phone conversation with a friend. Whatever the case is, drivers are more prone to distraction while in the parking lot. When a driver’s attention is diverted from the road, it is difficult to see a parent and child walking in front of your car and not paying attention. You also might miss a car pulling out of a spot. Or, the car in front of you might come to a sudden stop, causing you to rear-end them, in which case you are at fault.
Speeding is a relative term in a car accident context. A parking lot or garage’s speed limit may be five miles per hour. Thus, anything faster than that is speeding. While that sounds slow, these limits are in place for a reason. Parking lots and garages are confined spaces. Whether you are trying to beat another car to an open parking spot or trying to get out of the lot in a hurry because you are late for an important reason, speeding leads to many car accidents in parking lots. Not only does speeding increase the likelihood of a car accident, but the impact’s severity is also worsened. Speeding is a problem for several reasons.
The biggest reason is it leads to a breach of the duty owed by all drivers, to maintain control of your vehicle. When you are speeding, it is harder to stop. That means you are more likely to rear-end a car in front of you as much as it means you will hit a car head-on, coming around a blind spot.
Parking lots and parking garages often do not follow the traditional rules of the road. In some, you drive on the left side of the road rather than the right. This is particularly true in Downtown garages such as Colonial Parking garages. When a driver does not obey signage in a parking garage or not, accidents may occur. When all drivers are driving on the left side of the road, and an unknowing driver drives in on the right side, particularly if he is speeding, an accident is likely to occur.
If there is inadequate signage, then you may be able to make a claim against the garage. But garages like Colonial are unlikely to make this mistake. Without strict adherence to this signage, disorder will erupt as drivers will be interspersed in all lanes going in various directions. Strict adherence to these rules is crucial for maintaining order and safety.
A reversing accident in a DC parking lot occurs when one car reverses out of a parking spot and hits another. The party responsible for this type of accident will depend on the facts of the case. In general, the car exiting a parking spot has a duty to yield to oncoming traffic. Thus, this party almost never will be able to make a recovery. The question becomes whether the car in traffic that collided with the exiting car may make a recovery. Ultimately, it depends. As car accident lawyers, we conduct our own investigation, independent of who the police report blames, to determine who is responsible.
We determine responsibility in these cases by examining the property damage on the car exiting the parking space. If it is on the side of the car near the rear, the car likely has a good case. However, if the side collision is closer to the front of the car that was exiting, that may indicate that the car in traffic had sufficient time to come to a stop before hitting the exiting car. Witness testimony may be able to supersede this evidence, but the defense may have a strong contributory negligence defense. In Washington, D.C., you cannot make a personal injury claim if you are even 1% negligent in your accident. Thus, if you collide with an exiting car despite having enough time to avoid the accident, you might be found to be at least 1% contributorily negligent.
Blind spots are very common in parking garages in Washington, D.C. While many have circular mirrors, and some have traffic lights within the garage, blind spots are still ubiquitous in DC garages. Moreover, determining fault for a blind spot car accident in a garage can be difficult without decades of experience. Contact our office if you would like clarification.
Pedestrians can be unpredictable. Many do not walk in the crosswalk in parking lots in DC. They may walk behind your car as you pull out or jump in front of your car off the curb as you begin to drive. Pedestrian traffic intermingling with vehicular traffic in a parking lot can be overwhelming.
Speak with a Washington, D.C. personal injury lawyer if you need assistance handling your accident claim. Whether you are looking to settle or file suit, we have handled thousands of cases like yours. We offer free, no-obligation consultations to anyone in Washington, D.C.