Posted by I stepped out of my car today in the East Avenue Wegman’s grocery store parking lot. I traversed the aisle toward the entrance to the store, dodging a car backing up, an oncoming truck searching for a parking space, and another driver who was just in too much of a distracted hurry to bother making sure the pedestrians around them were safe.
The parking lot is one of the only socially acceptable places where pedestrians and drivers share the same space with no sidewalks, signaling or road markings. You are simply expected to exit your car, navigate the car-centric environment of the parking lot and hope that those who are piloting the two-ton-plus vehicles around you care at all about your safety.
When you Google pedestrian safety in parking lots, the most frequent search returns are from law firms and personal injury attorneys. Not a progressive social movement to make the intersectionality between our need to purchase goods and services and our desire to not be injured or die in the process. Pedestrian injuries and fatalities in parking lots is not something we are actively trying to prevent, but rather legally attempting to challenge retrospectively.
One might say that slow speeds are a staple of the parking lot, given the inherent automobile congestion. But parking lots play host to 60,000 injuries and 500 deaths per year in the U.S.
Steps can be taken to make parking lots safer for pedestrians. Marked and protected sidewalks through busy lots can create a sort of “channel” for pedestrians that, at least to some extent, provide a bit more security, and in this case can add to the aesthetic experience. The parking lot of Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania features an excellent example of this.
Whole Foods opened their Brighton, NY location in the last few years. The grocery giant made a decent attempt to prioritize pedestrians in their parking lot.
These parking lot pathways also connect pedestrians to and from the street where there is a nearby bus stop, and with the nearby bike path that connects to Brighton and nearby Pittsford neighborhoods. This is a terrific example of planning for practical connection with multiple modes of transportation.
The Salt City Market in downtown Syracuse shows this same concept on a smaller scale.
So it can be done, with the necessary desire to envision a safer and stress-free pedestrian vs. parking lot experience. Perhaps you’re reading this and are thinking “this is a reach.” But next time you navigate the parking lot of a busy grocer or superstore on foot, take note of how heightened your awareness has to be as you dodge cars backing out, turning from another aisle, or simply trying to find a space. And as a driver, think how much nicer it would be to know that dodging pedestrians in the same parking lot was not an issue?
I’ve said this before, but The Urban Phoenix today is going to be more about my day-to-day observations that, when connected, can create better communities. If we are all aware and conscious of how these elements can create change on the small scale, we can channel the vision for better design on the grander scale, community wide.
***I am an urbanist influencer and do not have a formal degree in urban planning. While I am deeply passionate about urban design, trends, issues and topics, I believe in this time of undisciplined media to be honest and transparent regarding my lack of any kind of formal journalism or urban planning education. I still believe in my ability to present my viewpoints on interesting topics, but I fully admit that I have not been trained in the higher-educational rigors of expertise on such perspectives. My goal is to challenge people to think differently, not to be the the cited source of unquestionable truth. This footer will now accompany every Urban Phoenix piece, and I am proud to offer this transparency in a time when opinion is often coveted over rigorously-tested fact.***