How Much of a Liability Risk is Your Parking Lot?
Parking lots are our bread and butter. From parking lot repairs and concrete maintenance to asphalt seal coating and striping, we do it all. Over many years of serving customers in Texas, we have discovered one thing that all parking lots have in common: liability risks.
Whenever you are talking property that the public has access to, whether it be private or government property, there are always liability risks involved. That’s just one of the reasons businesses carry liability insurance. Lots of things can go wrong in a parking lot. Parking lots are generally safe. But when things go wrong, they can go wrong in a big way.
Traffic Creates Liability
Parking lots exist for the sole purpose of giving visitors a place to park their cars. Cars generate traffic; traffic creates liability. So be honest about your parking lot. Does it facilitate a smooth traffic flow? Can drivers move in, out, and around it without much difficulty?
Believe it or not, striping plays a huge role in directing traffic flow. It gives guests well defined places to park. It warns guests to stay away from safety zones, crosswalks, fire zones, etc. If striping is nonexistent or too faded to see clearly, the liability risk goes up.
Pedestrians Create Liability
Pedestrians are part of the parking lot equation by virtue of walking through lots to get from their cars to your building. Mix pedestrian and car traffic together and liability risk goes up. With that said, let’s go back to traffic flow.
One of the reasons we stripe crosswalks, safety zones, and accessible walkways is to separate pedestrians from traffic as much as possible. These designated areas make things safer for pedestrians. They do not guarantee an accident will not occur, but they do reduce the chances.
Along those same lines, the risk to pedestrians goes up if pavement and walkways are not kept in good condition. For example, crumbling concrete can make any sidewalk a hazard. Throw in a little rain or winter weather and that sidewalk becomes even more dangerous.
Remember that courts generally side with plaintiffs when personal injury lawsuits are brought for trip-and-fall accidents. If someone trips and falls because your concrete sidewalk is in poor condition, the chances of you prevailing in court are pretty slim.
Broken Pavement Creates Liability
Speaking of broken concrete, what about the pavement in your parking lot? Whether your lot is paved with asphalt or concrete, broken and crumbling material creates liability for you. The liability comes by way of damage to visitors’ cars.
A piece of asphalt kicked up by one car can break the windshield of a car following behind. Another car could end up with a damaged suspension after hitting a pothole. There is a myriad of ways cars can be damaged when parking lots are not maintained in good working order.
The thing is that concrete and asphalt repairs are less expensive over the long run than the combination of dealing with liability claims and having to rip out a lot and start over. It is like anything else. Routine maintenance is good; letting things go is bad.
Let’s Talk About Your Parking Lot
The last thing we want is for your parking lot to create additional liability issues for your company. Whether your lot needs repair or you are just looking for a company to handle routine maintenance, give us a shout. Let’s talk about what needs to be done to get your lot back into tip-top shape. The sooner we do so, the sooner you can stop worrying about those extra liability concerns.