New reports show dangers of distracted driving in parking lots

[bobby]

http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/new-reports-show-dangers-of-distracted-driving-in-parking-lots/

 

Quote

 As the holiday shopping season kicks into high gear, a new report finds parking lots are dangerous places. More than 50,000 crashes take place in parking lots each year that lead to more than 500 deaths and 60,000 injuries. Kris Van Cleave reports.

 

[Miss Bea]

Then there is the account of the lady called over the intercom to come in and straighten out her method of payment. Which had been concluded. She was at a gas station. She did go in. On the cameras they'd seen someone enter her backseat. They saw him leave on that very same camera! Lock those doors! 

[rocket]

I emailed this news item to my son. Two days ago he got into a parking lot accident that was his fault. Before pulling out unto the street from the parking lot he cleared traffic from his left but forgot there was a car in front of him waiting to get out onto the hwy.  He hit the gas before looking in front of him.  He said he was sure that car had already pulled out into traffic.  He was only three months from getting to age 25 accident free.   Will loose his accident free deduction and his age 25 deduction.  Another $160.00 a year for at least 3 years for an accident with about $500.00 damage to the other car and no damage to his.  Some lessons are only learned the hard way. 

[Qapla]

Back when my youngest was 17 and had to drive with her learners permit/restricted license (Florida Law) One of the restrictions is they can only drive with a licensed driver who is at least 21 years old who occupies the front passenger seat.

 

She was about a month away from getting her regular license. We had just eaten lunch after the meeting and were headed home - she was driving. We came to the light by the Walmart and she was stopping. I was in the back seat with another of my daughters and my wife was in the front passenger seat.

 

All of the sudden the car shot forward and the back window exploded. We had been hit from behind. To make things worse, it was drizzly raining. Florida law does say that, unless otherwise proven, the person in the back of a rear-end collision is to blame. Well, in addition to Florida law, the guy that hit us WAS to blame.

 

Florida law also says that all drivers' ages 15 to 17 years old must keep their Learners Permit free of points for 12 consecutive months before applying for a full driver's license. They also have to remain accident free, that is, an accident they are to blame for - not if they are the victim.

 

Here's the kicker. The vehicle that hit us was a small pickup truck pulling a trailer. It was being driven by a "young man" (kid) who had less then two weeks before he could get his regular license. At the time of the accident, he was driving. The person with him was his same age. The trailer did not have safety chains (state law) and the lights on the trailer were not working properly (state law). The State Trooper that worked the accident praised my daughter for how well she handled herself. He also told me that the kid that hit us would get at least four tickets and DEFINITELY would NOT be getting his regular license for AT LEAST another year. 

 

My daughter got her regular license right on time.

 

Like Lynn said, some lessons are learned the hard way - glad the one that had to learn that lesson was "the other guy" and not our daughter.

 

By the way, our car was so badly damaged that it ended up totaled.

 

Now, I will agree that, in keeping with the thread title, we were not in a parking lot wen we were hit - but, we were in front of one

Edited November 23, 2016 by Qapla