Parking Lot Safety 1

[TOHSEngineer]

A citizen had an accident at a town owned parking lot. A pedestrian was outside of the asphalt in the grass at dusk and when they walked back to the parking lot they tripped over the edge of the asphalt and injured themselves. There is no curb or painted edge along the asphalt lot, there is some lighting but the parking lot is old and so is the lighting. There were no large cracks or deformations present. We have heard that the town will be sued.

I'd like some help understanding where the blame will be placed in this lawsuit. Will it be the lighting, or the lack of painted edge around the asphalt? I know the people on this forum won't know what the lawyer is thinking but do you all have any ideas? Will they test the lighting levels and compare them to some minimum standard? If so, what is that standard? Does there need to be a painted edge around the asphalt?

This lot is in the United States. What a surprise, another lawsuit in America.

Thanks for any help.

 

[civilman72]

Parking lots are generally not required to have a painted edge.

What is the height difference between the edge of asphalt and the grass? Is it an obvious trip hazard? If so, then special signage, striping or lighting may be applicable.

 

[TOHSEngineer]

Thanks civilman72. The asphalt is anywhere from 2-6" above the field elevation. It could be perceived as a trip hazard. Can you point me to any references/standards that would be in effect for trip hazards?

 

[IRstuff]

Seems to me that it would have a large dependence on what the person was actually doing, and what familiarity that person had with the facility. The sidewalk has a height difference between it and the road surface, and I doubt if anyone could successfully claim that it was a hazard.

TTFN
faq731-376

 

[TerryScan]

Where a sidewalk abutts paving, there is an expectation of a curb dropoff. I do not think the same is true where asphalt abutts grass. To me, a 0-2 inch drop off in such an area may be typical. If there is an excessive drop off (6 inches), it should probably be graded along the paving edge.

 

[TOHSEngineer]

I understand that there is an issue here with the parking lot but what I'm really looking for are standards that have not been met. Specifically for lighting or trip hazards. I'm not sure if these standards exist and was hoping to find out more.

 

[bridgebuster]

You could try the AASHTO Guide for Park & Ride Facilities. Section 5.8 discusses lighting.
Also, does your state DOT or local government have any illumination standards for this type of facility?

 

[civilman72]

Besides the "change in level" defined for ADA accessible routes, I don't think you'll find any more specific standards.

I found an interesting link to an expert witness discussion about this very topic (see below). May be helpful for you to read to have a better understanding of what an attorney may be looking at.

I didn't read the entire article but I did skim through it. As expected, without a specific standard, it appears that defining a trip hazard is up to attorneys to argue on a case-by-case basis.

 

[IRstuff]

One should point out that the citation of the ADA is not relevant, given that the grass to sidewalk transit was never intended to be a normal traffic mode. Since those people covered by the ADA would not intentionally go off the pavement onto the grass and then back to the pavement, there ought not be any ADA requirements imposed on the border.

The person who fell must have presumably taken a shortcut across the grass. One must therefore question whether he accepted the risk of tripping by making the detour, and whether it was his own fault for not taking extra caution, given that he must have noticed that he had transitioned onto a grassy surface, and must at some time, transit back to a hard surface to get to his car. If I were the town's lawyer, I would argue negligence and carelessness on the pedestrian's part. One might speculate whether he was engrossed in texting or cell phone usage, which contributed to his lack of situational awareness.

TTFN
faq731-376

 

[bridgebuster]

IR - spoken like an attorney; good theory

 

[civilman72]

IR - ADA was mentioned not because it's applicable to this event, but because I believe it's the only standard that defines any type of potential trip hazard.

I agree with your arguments about negligence and carelessness, IF:

-the area around the hazard had proper lighting
-this area is not a normal pedestrian access location, or
-the hazard was well marked, or tapered between the grass and parking lot to alleviate the trip hazard

If this is a town park and someone is walking between the park and the adjacent parking lot and they trip over an inconspicuous, unmarked, vertical obstacle with improper lighting, there definitely could be some liability on the town's part. However, the town attorney will more than likely claim government immunity.

 

[msquared48]

Best fix would be just to put a sloped gravel infill from the edge of the paving to the ground below.

What is ridiculous here is that this is no different than a 6" curb height between a street gutter and a planter strip next to a sidewalk. I suppose that the guy trips on these too?

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering

http://mmcengineering.tripod.com

 

[TOHSEngineer]

Civilman72, thanks for the report you posted that is exactly what I was looking for. It was a huge help.

msquared48, tell me about it.

 

[daOwenator]

I second (or third) the notion that this was not purposed as a pedestrian route. The only argument against this notion is that if it's a large athletic field or something next to the paved area which would obviously attract foot traffic between the grassed area and the asphalt. Many times in these instances parking areas will be fenced, even with a wooden guard rail, to direct where pedestrian traffic enters/exits the pavement. This fencing also keeps kids from running onto the asphalt in random locations.

 

[cnstengineer]

In Pennsylvania, government agencies have sovereign immunity where they are basically immune from tort liability. There are however exceptions to this for negligent acts, etc. and there are limitations to the amount of recoverable damages. The town will have to prove that they did not create a dangerous condition where a foreseeable risk of injury was possible. I believe that the argument about the grass area not being an intended pedestrian route is a strong argument to be made. It would be different if there was a sidewalk or walkway coming up to this type of hieght difference. The only thing the parking lot should have protection for is dropoff for vehicles and I would think your states requirements for this would be much more than 6".