Auto Accidents and Liability in Parking Garage Collisions

The auto accident lawyers of Silverman, McDonald & Friedman represent clients throughout Delaware who have been hurt in auto accidents in parking garages, parking lots or anywhere else. We have offices located in Newark, Wilmington and Seaford, and we guide you through the process of making a claim for compensation after a serious personal injury.

Americans who live in cities and densely populated suburbs are often surrounded by parking garages and parking lots. Parking garages solve a huge problem of storing vehicles for their owners while they attend to work, school, shopping and travel. Given the massive number of parking structures and the number of people using them at a given time, the odds are good that accidents will happen.

Parking garage accidents and injuries

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration developed the Not-in-Traffic Surveillance system (NiTS) to track injuries and fatalities from non-traffic motor vehicle crashes. Non-traffic crashes are predominately single vehicle crashes that occur on private roads, two-vehicle crashes that take place in parking garages or lots and collisions with pedestrians in private driveways. The NiTS system reported that 1,621 people were killed each year in non-traffic crashes and 91,000 were injured between 2008 and 2011. Thirty-nine percent of those people were non-occupants of vehicles, such as pedestrians.

Parking facility owner’s responsibilities

Parking garages and lots are usually private property, however the owners have a legal obligation to keep the premises in a reasonably safe condition if they are going to make it available to the public. If an accident should occur that was caused by a dangerous condition in the parking structure, the owner must have been given notice of the problem, and they must have been given sufficient time to repair the condition. If they fail to do so, they may be held liable for the injuries caused by the dangerous condition.

Common parking garage accidents

Here are some examples of accidents and injuries that can occur in parking structures in Delaware:

• Pedestrian accidents involving motor vehicles
• Two car collisions such as rear-end crashes
• Slip and fall on wet, snowy, or icy pavement
• Slip and fall in the dark due to poor lighting
• Back-over collision with a pedestrian

Determining liability in a parking garage collision

Depending on the nature of the crash, the parking facility itself could be liable for injuries and property damage in a crash in a parking facility. In other circumstances, another driver’s negligence could be the cause of the crash. Here are some examples of common causes of crashes in parking garages:

• Inadequate lighting
• Poor design of the structure that creates blind spots
• Negligent maintenance of the structure and pavement
• Improperly designed traffic patterns
• Inadequate signage or pavement markings

In a parking garage, it can be tricky to determine who has the right-of-way with vehicles coming and going in such a tight space. The general rule is that vehicles moving in the main lanes have the right-of-way, and those moving in and out of parking spaces must yield the right-of-way to those driving in the main lanes. Vehicles exiting a parking garage must also yield the right-of-way to vehicles already in motion on the street they are attempting to enter, after first making sure that there are no pedestrians trying to cross their path.

The best way to avoid a crash in a parking structure is to drive with caution. Slow down and look around. While you are keeping your eyes peeled for that perfect parking spot, remain alert for people exiting their cars and walking back towards their vehicles.

If you have been injured in an auto accident that was caused by another person’s negligence, you are welcome to schedule a free consultation with an experienced auto accident attorney from the Silverman, McDonald & Friedman law firm. You may give us a call us at 302.414.5553 or fill out our quick contact form to schedule a free consultation to discuss your auto accident case. Our offices are conveniently located in Newark, Seaford and Wilmington and we are proud to serve clients throughout Delaware.