Prepare for Black Friday with parking lot right-of-way rules

Back Friday is one of the biggest shopping days of the year. Countless Connecticut residents will be heading to their local shopping malls in order to snag the best deals.

However, a day devoted to saving money can quickly turn very expensive if a parking lot accident occurs, especially if you are at fault. In order to help avoid letting a fender-bender ruin your shopping bender, keep these parking lot right-of-way rules from InsuranceHotline.com in mind:

Drivers in the thoroughfare have the right-of-way over drivers coming out of feeder lanes. Thoroughfares exit to the street and are the main arteries of the parking lot; feeder lanes are narrower and begin and end at the thoroughfares. Before coming out of a feeder lane, you must stop and wait for cars driving down the thoroughfare. 

Drivers who are backing out of parking spaces must yield to drivers who are driving down the lanes. This is when many parking lot accidents happen so make sure to double check that the lane is clear before backing up. Think of it as waiting to back out of your driveway until the road is clear.

All drivers must obey stop signs and yield signs in parking lots. Sometimes these signs can seem silly or like a waste of time, but they must be obeyed just like the signage on the main roads. You can receive a ticket for blowing through a stop or yield sign, even in the mall parking lot.

Don’t forget to watch for pedestrians. Pedestrians often walk right out in front of cars without looking in parking lots, so keep a watchful eye for people stepping off of the sidewalks and popping out from behind parked cars.

Hopefully, knowing these rules ahead of time will help keep your Black Friday accident free. However, if you are involved in a parking lot collision, the rules can also help you determine who was at fault and may be liable for damages. Also, consider our tips on what to do after a car accident.