Parking Lot Safety
Parking Lot Safety
(OP)
A citizen had an accident at a town owned parking lot. A pedestrian was outside of the asphalt in the grass at dusk and when they walked back to the parking lot they tripped over the edge of the asphalt and injured themselves. There is no curb or painted edge along the asphalt lot, there is some lighting but the parking lot is old and so is the lighting. There were no large cracks or deformations present. We have heard that the town will be sued.
I'd like some help understanding where the blame will be placed in this lawsuit. Will it be the lighting, or the lack of painted edge around the asphalt? I know the people on this forum won't know what the lawyer is thinking but do you all have any ideas? Will they test the lighting levels and compare them to some minimum standard? If so, what is that standard? Does there need to be a painted edge around the asphalt?
This lot is in the United States. What a surprise, another lawsuit in America.
Thanks for any help.
I'd like some help understanding where the blame will be placed in this lawsuit. Will it be the lighting, or the lack of painted edge around the asphalt? I know the people on this forum won't know what the lawyer is thinking but do you all have any ideas? Will they test the lighting levels and compare them to some minimum standard? If so, what is that standard? Does there need to be a painted edge around the asphalt?
This lot is in the United States. What a surprise, another lawsuit in America.
Thanks for any help.





RE: Parking Lot Safety
What is the height difference between the edge of asphalt and the grass? Is it an obvious trip hazard? If so, then special signage, striping or lighting may be applicable.
RE: Parking Lot Safety
RE: Parking Lot Safety
TTFN
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RE: Parking Lot Safety
RE: Parking Lot Safety
RE: Parking Lot Safety
Also, does your state DOT or local government have any illumination standards for this type of facility?
RE: Parking Lot Safety
I found an interesting link to an expert witness discussion about this very topic (see below). May be helpful for you to read to have a better understanding of what an attorney may be looking at.
I didn't read the entire article but I did skim through it. As expected, without a specific standard, it appears that defining a trip hazard is up to attorneys to argue on a case-by-case basis.
RE: Parking Lot Safety
The person who fell must have presumably taken a shortcut across the grass. One must therefore question whether he accepted the risk of tripping by making the detour, and whether it was his own fault for not taking extra caution, given that he must have noticed that he had transitioned onto a grassy surface, and must at some time, transit back to a hard surface to get to his car. If I were the town's lawyer, I would argue negligence and carelessness on the pedestrian's part. One might speculate whether he was engrossed in texting or cell phone usage, which contributed to his lack of situational awareness.
TTFN
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RE: Parking Lot Safety
RE: Parking Lot Safety
I agree with your arguments about negligence and carelessness, IF:
-the area around the hazard had proper lighting
-this area is not a normal pedestrian access location, or
-the hazard was well marked, or tapered between the grass and parking lot to alleviate the trip hazard
If this is a town park and someone is walking between the park and the adjacent parking lot and they trip over an inconspicuous, unmarked, vertical obstacle with improper lighting, there definitely could be some liability on the town's part. However, the town attorney will more than likely claim government immunity.
RE: Parking Lot Safety
What is ridiculous here is that this is no different than a 6" curb height between a street gutter and a planter strip next to a sidewalk. I suppose that the guy trips on these too?
Mike McCann
MMC Engineering
http://mmcengineering.tripod.com
RE: Parking Lot Safety
msquared48, tell me about it.
RE: Parking Lot Safety
RE: Parking Lot Safety