Improving Pedestrian Safety in a Parking Lot Environments

Over 50,000 injuries occur annually in parking lots in the US, causing thousands of drivers and pedestrians to face potentially life-long effects that could have been avoided through better safety.

As a property or parking lot owner, you have a legal responsibility for your lot and those utilizing it, and neglecting this factor can lead to disastrous consequences for your business.

Why Does Pedestrian Safety Matter in Parking Lots?

Most importantly, pedestrian safety is important because lives are at stake. In 2024, 7,148 people were killed walking after being struck by a driver in the US.

Pedestrians are the most vulnerable road users, especially in confined spaces with high-traffic like parking lots.

At 25kph, a vehicle can still cause severe injury, and even death in certain circumstances. Leg, neck, and back injuries are common trauma from vehicle accidents.

Therefore, the main aim in prioritizing pedestrian safety is to save lives, as well as reducing short- and long-term suffering created from accidents. 

Parking lots are high-risk environments, with vehicles constantly maneuvering and reversing into parking space whilst pedestrians walk over to their desired destination or back to their vehicle at the same time. 

The unpredictability of both drivers and pedestrians make spaces like parking lots higher risk than other locations due to the sheer volume of people and vehicles moving at one time. 

Low-speed collisions are common accidents, especially when drivers are reversing, where view is often more restricted.

And as a property and/or business owner, you must consider the financial and legal liability associated with these risks. 

Neglecting pedestrian safety can lead to lawsuits, insurance claims, and reputational damage, with one incident alone potentially costing you tens of thousands of dollars. 

This includes covering settlement costs, legal fees, and increased insurance premiums, only worsening if multiple incidents were to occur. 

Discover Ways to Make Your Parking Lot Safer

Common Safety Risks for Pedestrians in Parking Lots

Understanding the common risks for pedestrians in your parking lot helps establish the main points of focus you should be targeting when it comes to safety improvements. 

Whether it’s a retail parking lot or a campus resident parking facility, these risks are common amongst all lots, no matter their size or purpose:

• Vehicles Reversing and Backing Out - Reversing provides limited visibility to drivers, so when backing in or out of spaces, there’s increased risk in striking a pedestrian.

• Poor Visibility - Parking lots with poor lighting, early mornings, and late nights reduce driver visibility which leads to more vehicle accidents. 

• Distracted Drivers - Most vehicle accidents occur due to driver distractions like being on their phone, looking for a space, and using their GPS.

• Faded Crosswalks and Road Markings - Lack of clear pedestrian clearways means people are likely to go off path and into dangerous paths where vehicles are.

• Aggressive Driving - Low speed, high-traffic parking lots can lead drivers to become impatient, leading to dangerous driving and placing pedestrians at risk.

• Weather-Related Hazards - Wind, rain, snow and ice can all reduce traction for both drivers and walkers, as well as obstruct visibility through fog and icy windshields.

• Blind Spots on Vehicles - SUVs, trucks, and vans create significant blind spots, especially with children or young adults walking nearby.

• Distracted Pedestrians - As well as distracted drivers, shoppers and employees can also be distracted such as carrying shopping, pushing carts, and texting, making them less aware of their surroundings. 

Parking lots pose serious risks for pedestrians, whether it’s reversing vehicles, poor visibility, or distractions. 

Taking a multi-layered security approach by combining smart technology, traffic control, and pedestrian awareness can significantly reduce accidents. 

This helps to protect lives, but also build trust and reassure parking lot users of the safety your property provides to them.

Tips to Improving Pedestrian Safety at Your Parking Lot

Ensuring pedestrian safety at your parking lot requires more than a few warning signs and lowering speed limits, you need to incorporate a blend of measures that manage the various risks presented to it. 

Below provides our 6 top tips on how to improve pedestrian safety at your parking lot:

Consider Your Parking Lot Layout

The design and layout of your parking lot plays a critical role in pedestrian safety. Having a poorly planned lot creates blind spots, unsafe walkways, and complex traffic flow.

Whereas, a carefully considered parking lot layout helps to reduce risks to both drivers and pedestrians, minimizing the chance for accidents to occur. In turn, creating fewer liability claims for your property or business.

There are several considerations you should keep in mind when deciding the layout of your parking lot:

• Where will pedestrians walk? - Create clear pedestrian pathways that separate vehicle traffic from foot traffic. This removes any confusion, providing a safe route throughout your lot. 

• Where will crosswalks be placed? - Crosswalks should be near entrances and exits to prevent pedestrians crossing at random points.

• How will traffic flow work? - Consider a one-way traffic flow to reduce confusion and minimize any conflicts.

• How will parking be positioned within your parking lot? - Consider whether angled or perpendicular parking works best for your lot. Angled parking does help to improve visibility in many cases.

• Do you require signage and road markings? - Painted arrows, speed limits, directions, and crossing signs encourage safe behavior with pedestrians and drivers. 

• How will you ensure your parking lot complies with accessibility laws? - From curb ramps and walkways to ADA-compliant spaces must be incorporated in your parking lot.

If you have recently taken possession of a parking lot or are facing issues currently, the first step will be to complete a review on the existing layout. 

You may find there are adjustments you could make with your layout to significantly reduce the dangers presented to pedestrians safety. 

Create Clear Walkways and Marked Crossings

As mentioned, clear walkways and marked crossings help remove confusion for pedestrians and drivers by setting out clear guidelines and directions for them to follow. 

In all instances, parking lots should have low speed limits in place as there's a much higher risk of injury and/or death with fast-moving vehicles. However, just as importantly, this needs to be communicated with any drivers at your parking lot. 

You can do this through signage upon entry to the lot and by painting markings, this reminds them of the speed limit throughout your full parking lot. 

Painted markings can also be used to create pedestrian lanes, crossings, and define parking spaces, all of which helps to further protect unnecessary collisions.

Implement Adequate Lighting Throughout the Parking Lot

Implementing lighting is one of the most simplistic, yet critical measures for parking lots, however, most will overlook this. 

It provides various benefits, from removing blind spots and providing vehicle visibility to pedestrians to reducing the risk of trips, falls, and even criminal activity.

You need to ensure strong, even lighting across the lot, otherwise areas of darkness will still create dangers to pedestrian safety.

Lighting can also help increase employee safety, provide peace of mind, and prevent crime like theft and violent attacks.

Add Speed Bumps and Flow Control

Although parking lots are designed for low-speed driving, many accidents occur because drivers still choose to drive over the speed limit or cut across lanes, endangering any pedestrians in their path. 

Installing speed bumps and incorporating flow control measures encourages slower speeds and sensible driving habits, creating a more predictable, safer parking lot environment.

These features physically force drivers to slow down and direct them down specific routes that minimize encounters with pedestrians.

Speed bumps also help to reduce your lot becoming a target of parking lot takeovers. 

This is because large, flat parking lots are perfect locations for this and by adding speed bumps, it removes that element, making it more difficult to drift and carry out dangerous maneuvers. 

Educate Drivers and Pedestrians on Safe Practices Through Signage

As an owner, you can only provide so much. Even with a good parking lot layout, signage, and security measures in place, education remains essential to ensuring pedestrian safety.

Clear signage can serve as an ongoing reminder of the behaviors and steps that should be taken to keep everyone safe, drivers and pedestrians alike.

Examples of how signage can be used to educate pedestrians and drivers on parking lot safety procedure:

• Speed Control Signs - ‘Slow - Pedestrian Crossing’

• Pedestrian Right-of-Way Signs - ‘Watch Out For Pedestrians’

• Directional and Flow Control Signs - ‘One Way’

• Pedestrian Guidance Signs - ‘Use Crosswalk’

• Parking Space and Zone Markers - ‘No Parking - Pedestrian Access’

• Safety Reminder Signs - ‘Look Both Ways Before Crossing’

• Enhanced Visual Signs - Adding LED lighting to any signage

Having this education in place also allows you to protect your property or business from liability claims as you’re providing additional support for pedestrians and drivers to follow.

Install Parking Lot Surveillance Cameras

Mobile surveillance cameras are one of the most effective ways of enhancing pedestrian safety within a parking lot.

Their overt presence deters dangerous driving behaviors, reduces criminal activity, and stores valuable evidence to support in any legal proceedings or as protection in any claims.

They also provide pedestrians with reassurance on their personal and vehicle safety, especially during evenings or in remote locations where there’s increased vulnerabilities.

However, with so many suppliers offering surveillance solutions nowadays, it can be difficult to gauge what you should be looking for in parking lot surveillance cameras to maximize pedestrian and driver safety.

The top 10 features your parking lot surveillance solution should include are:

• 24/7, day-to-night coverage
• Remote monitoring services
• Visible and audio deterrent features
• Complete power autonomy
• Relocatable design
• Durability against harsh weather conditions
• Remote connectivity
• Live monitoring and recording
• Easy-to-install
• Customizable cameras

These features ensure all-year-round protection, particularly when you need it most, protecting you at every phase of day. 

Parking lot accidents can easily become your problem as a property or business owner, so having an effective parking lot surveillance solution capturing events in real-time, not only can you react in that moment, but utilize it as future evidence. 

The Benefits of Mobile Surveillance with Pedestrian Safety

Surveillance cameras play a large role in parking lot safety and security, but for most, traditional, static systems no longer suffice.

Unlike fixed cameras, mobile parking lot surveillance solutions like the LotGuard PRO Surveillance Trailer can be deployed exactly where and when you need it most.

Whether it’s at a busy crosswalk, at pedestrian walkways, or at entrances and exits, their flexible, easily relocatable design makes them adjustable to your security needs whilst remaining cost-effective for your business.

We’ve outlined the key benefits mobile surveillance camera solutions offer to pedestrian safety in parking lots in comparison to fixed systems.

Features	Mobile Surveillance Systems (e.g LotGuard)	Fixed Surveillance Systems
Coverage	Can be easily deployed and repositioned to cover high-risk zones, peak time, and emerging threats.	Limited coverage due to being permanently mounted to a fixed location. Costly to relocate.
Deterrence Visibility	Often large, visible units that act as strong deterrents to unsafe driving and criminal activity.	Tend to be smaller, therefore, often go unseen by drivers, creating minimal deterrence.
Deployment Speed	Installation of around 20-minutes for basic setups.	Long waiting and installation times due to the wiring, mounting, and permanent work required.
Adaptability	Can be scaled easily across a parking lot based on seasonal demands, traffic flow, or event needs, and expanded over multiple sites.	Costly to expand as further permanent installation will be required to add further cameras for additional coverage.
Evidence Gathering	Gather high-quality video that captures incidents from the best angle.	Only provides footage of that camera angle, meaning blind spots may exist.
Cost-effectiveness	Saves significant money in comparison to security guards. Avoids expensive construction and low-cost scalability.	High upfront costs for installation and infrastructure, plus expensive to move if required.
Remote Connectivity	Provides cellular connectivity for you to watch live video feed and review past footage, providing complete parking lot oversight.	Requires an internet connection, and does not guarantee access via this. Most tend to simply record incidents.
Out-of-hours	Enhances both pedestrian and property safety 24/7, especially in underutilized or remote areas.	Provides after-hours coverage but only in fixed zones, leaving some areas vulnerable.

Access Our Complete Guide on Parking Lot Security

Take Action to Secure Vehicles and Pedestrians With LotGuard

It’s unavoidable not having vehicles and pedestrians in the same location with parking lots as they are shared spaces, creating constant contact between them. 

Without the correct measures in place, the risks of pedestrians are high, and the consequences are likely to be just as great to your business or property. 

From security lighting to clear walkways, every improvement you make will reduce accidents, improving safety for drivers and pedestrians in your parking lot.

However, to fully protect your lot and its users correctly, you need to ensure you have a solution in place that can adapt to changing conditions, prevents dangerous driving, and provides 24/7 oversight to you as an owner. 

That’s where LotGuard can help. Our rapid deployment, live monitoring, and high visible parking lot surveillance units support in strengthening every part of your parking lot whilst boosting upon any existing measures. 

It not only helps protect pedestrians and vehicles but also gives property owners peace of mind knowing their lot is secure at all times.

Interested in learning how we can support your parking lot with pedestrian safety? Contact us today!