10 Commandments of Parking Lot Safety
There are two sides to parking lot safety: the behavior of the people using the parking lot and the property owner responsible for maintaining it. If you are a property owner, you can’t control who’ll be coming and going. But you can take steps to ensure the safest environment.
In the following article, we’ll be discussing a plan of action to protect you from liabilities while making your lot a safer environment for everyone.
Common Dangers in Parking Lots
To adequately prepare a parking lot for safety, you must first consider the things that can go wrong. We’ll be covering each of these factors before getting into the 10 commandments of parking lot safety. So let’s have a look, starting with:
Criminals
Criminal activity in parking lots is pretty common, unfortunately. The likeliest perpetrators will be burglars hoping for a car filled with purchases, parked in a poorly-lit location, unlocked.
It’s not as uncommon to find these easy targets as you may expect either. They simply walk from car to car trying door handles until they hit the jackpot. From there, it’s a quick trip to the pawnshop.
Crimes like these often happen due to victim negligence. Not your problem, right? Wrong!
If criminals often find success in your parking lot, the reputation of your business being unsafe will start to grow. And that can affect how much support you receive from the community.
Speeding
Criminal activity isn’t the only thing that you’ll need to be on guard for. Speeding is another crucial factor that presents the threat of injury or death to pedestrians.
As we move into the 10 commandments of parking lot safety, we’ll be discussing some of the steps that you can take to cut down on this activity or at least make pedestrians more aware. And that brings us to:
Lack of Awareness
Lack of awareness is a deadly sin for everyone who walks or drives through your parking lot. On the driver side, it takes the form of distracted driving, going too fast, and not being aware of the other cars or pedestrians using the parking lot.
On the pedestrian side, it can come in the form of distracted walking. Now that we all have smartphones, we tend to be more focused on that than our surroundings. And if it causes us to wander out in front of a speeding car, it can lead to tragic results.
Now that we know the dangers, it’s time to look at what you can do to fight back against them. Here are some actions you need to be taking if you haven’t already.
The right type of signage gets people’s attention. It may not prevent an accident or crime from occurring, but it’ll at least be a proactive tool you can put in place to make parking lot users reconsider their behaviors.
And yes, that can save lives even though you may never be able to prove a sign alone is responsible. Look at adding signage to your lot with relevant PSAs for things like:
- Distracted driving
- Watching out for pedestrians or other motorists
- Locking your car and making sure no valuables are showing
Parking tips like these remind people to get out of their own little world. It tells them to accept the responsibility they have in it.
- Make It Friendly for Pedestrians
Another helpful parking tip for every lot is to make it as pedestrian-friendly as possible. That means making sure there are plenty of crosswalks and measures in place to control speeding. For larger lots, map signage is a good idea because it keeps the pedestrian from getting confused or lost and becoming a victim. 
- Protect the Storefronts
Cars in a parking lot may not always stay in the parking lot. And that’s a concern for business owners, customers, and pedestrians of all types.
Reckless driving is what we’re getting at here. While rare, you never know when a motorist may lose control of their vehicle and tear through the front of a store loaded with customers.
Preparing your parking lot in advance with sidewalk bumpers and steel posts can stop a reckless driver before they have the chance to inflict the most damage. It also offers business owners peace of mind.
- Devise an Effective Cart System
Cart availability gives your customers convenience but can also create some obstacles for motorists and pedestrians to navigate. Make sure you have a system in place to clear these from the roadways. This can include:
- Enough personnel to round up the carts shortly after they’ve been used
- Plenty of cart corrals to encourage customers to police themselves
- An alternative incentive plan like Aldi’s quarter system
Cart policing makes parking and walking a lot more user-friendly. And it’s one of the parking lot safety tips that property owners too often overlook.
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Install Many Ingress and Egress Points
Ingress and egress are the engineering terms to enter and exit. Having multiple points where cars can get in or out will help with the parking lot design and the unimpeded flow of traffic. The fewer log jams, the safer the parking lot will be for everyone.
- Make Paint Lines Visible
Paint lines that are badly faded or chipped create parking, driving, and walking hazards. Walk your lot frequently and stay on top of well-worn areas. It’s a lot cheaper to manage repainting costs if you do it as you go and as needed.
- Include Speed Bumps and Tables
Speed bumps or their more prominent cousins will make motorists think twice about exceeding the speed limit in your lot. While they can be annoying when you’re behind the wheel, that’s not your focus. And they serve as an important reminder to motorists that there will be consequences, one way or another, for reckless driving.
- Prioritize Lighting
A parking lot light pole is essential to the safety of your lot. That’s because criminal activity and vehicle-versus-pedestrian accidents can both be avoided with better visibility.
Most lighting options today focus on LED lighting. They’re energy-efficient, longer-lasting, and much brighter than previous options. And it’s this last point — the brightness — that can make a safety difference for your customers.
- Discourage Illegal Parking
Illegal parking causes frustration among the users of your parking lot. It can also create road hazards and affect the reputation of your site. You can combat it by building raised islands in areas where someone might make their own spot.
- Keep Lookout
The last commandment of parking lot safety is to always be vigilant against the types of hazards we’ve discussed above. You can do this by installing surveillance cameras and addressing problems as they arise. You also might want to hire security guards to deter improper use and criminal activity.
Parking Lot Safety Will Prevent Crimes, Injuries, and Liabilities
Parking lot safety should not be overlooked. Lack of it can negatively affect business, cause property damage, and put your customers in jeopardy.
Using the commandments presented here will help you avoid the drama.
