The parking lot is the first impression people have of your business. The parking lot is your company’s first impression. Property owners spend a great deal of time thinking through everything from natural features and greenery to trying to fit as many cars in the parking lot as possible. Whether you use a deck or lot, safety must also an important consideration for your employees and customers. In this article, we want to help business owners make the right decisions to make their parking lots as safe as possible.

What Makes Parking Lots Unsafe

For most businesses, your parking lot is the most dangerous place. What makes parking lots so unsafe?

  • Vehicles and Pedestrians: The combination of cars and walkers moving in every direction and using the same space.
  • Obstructions: From other parked cars to shopping cart returns and trees, there are often numerous objects obstructing lines of sight in parking lots.
  • Distractions: Cars are searching for spaces in which to park, reading signage, and drivers and pedestrians are often using their mobile devices as they navigate parking lots. Distractions make parking lots more dangerous.
  • Hiding Places: For nefarious characters, parking lots often provide hiding places wherein they can hide to ambush employees and customers.

These and other factors make parking lots less safe. Minimizing these factors is key to making your employees and customers feel more comfortable outside your business.

How to Make Parking Lots Safer

Parking lots do not have to be dangerous places. Property owners can change the culture of their unsafe parking lots and garages by following these steps:

  1. Proper Lighting: The darker a parking lot, the more dangerous. Bright LED lighting can illumine your outdoor spaces to help vehicles and pedestrians better navigate it at night while reducing the potential hiding places for would-be criminals. A well-lit parking lot is a deterrent for crime while providing better sightlines for your employees and customers.
  2. Effective Signage: Clear signage will help reduce the time drivers are staring at something besides the pedestrians and vehicles in front of them. With signage, less is often more when it comes to safety.
  3. Directional Information: The more you utilize directional arrows and information; the clearer traffic patterns will be for vehicles and pedestrians.
  4. Reduce Obstructions: Make sure drivers can see pedestrians and other vehicles by reducing the number of visual obstructions. Trees and shrubbery are important for aesthetics and environmental reasons; however, it is vital to make sure they are not preventing people and cars from spotting each other.
  5. Employee Safety Practices: Even in a well-lit parking lot, as much as possible employees should never arrive or leave alone. If possible, avoid habitual practices so that would-be criminals cannot learn your company and employee patterns.

How Victory Lights Can Help

Effective parking lot lighting does not have to be impossibly expensive. Victory Lights provides commercial parking lot lighting solutions for businesses in and around Raleigh, NC, and Nashville, TN. LED lighting will not only make your parking lot or garage safer, it will reduce your energy usage and costs. If you would like to know more about how LED lighting can improve your business, contact Victory Lights. We will give you a free lighting consultation for your parking lot or lighting project.

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