In our last couple of blog posts about car accidents, we have looked at who has the right of way in a parking lot and how common parking lot accidents can be. The general conception of these accidents is that they are trivial. However, that is not always the case. Some of them can be quite significant, especially when the victim is elderly or a child.
Unfortunately, these victims are likely the most likely to get hit in a parking lot accident.
Parking Lot Accidents Cause More Injuries and Deaths Than Expected
According to one study, one out of every five car accidents happen in a parking lot, causing around 500 fatalities and 60,000 injuries every single year.
These numbers show that parking lot accidents are generally far less severe than other types of crashes. In 2020, for example, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) found that there were 38,824 roadway fatalities and an estimated 2.28 million injuries overall. This would mean that, in spite of accounting for 20 percent of all motor vehicle accidents, parking lot crashes only caused 1.3 percent of roadway deaths and 2.6 percent of all injuries.
However, these low percentages do not completely cover up the fact that hundreds of people are killed and tens of thousands are hurt in parking lots every year.
Victims Tend to be Elderly or Children
A disproportionate number of those victims are likely to be elderly people or young children.
People over the age of 55, particularly those who are not agile or mobile, are more likely to get hurt in a parking lot accident because they are unable to get out of the way in time. In fact, their efforts to get out of the way of a car in a parking lot may even make the situation worse – by trying to move faster than they are able to move, they can fall down. This not only puts them at more danger of suffering a serious injury because they are underneath the vehicle’s fender; it also makes it less likely that the driver will see them and stop the car in time.
Children, especially young children under the age of four, are also more likely to get hit by vehicles in parking lots. They are less likely to appreciate the dangers of vehicles that are moving in the lot or backing out of parking spaces. They are also less likely to react appropriately to those dangers – instead of getting out of the way, they may stand firm. To make matters worse, young children are often too short to be seen by vehicle drivers, especially those that are backing out of a parking spot.
The Car Accident Lawyers at the Smith Law Office Represent Victims in Missouri
If you were hit and hurt by a negligent driver in a parking lot, you need legal representation to recover the compensation you deserve. The personal injury lawyers at the Smith Law Office can help in Kansas City, Springfield, St. Joseph, or the rest of western Missouri. Contact them online or call their law office at (816) 875-9373.