滨迟鈥檚 a cruel kind of torture, driving up and down aisle after parking lot aisle looking to find a spot to park.
Everyone else seems to have the uncanny sense of anticipating when a vehicle is about to leave.
They rush over and plant themselves to 鈥渃丑别谤谤测 辫颈肠办鈥� the spot.
Then there are those with the unfair 鈥渇辞辞迟 蝉辞濒诲颈别谤鈥� advantage, the co-shopper who runs over to a spot and stands there while the driving co-shopper makes it around the isle. I would love for there to be established rules of etiquette, giving everyone an equal chance at finding a spot.
The reality is the rights-of-way in a parking lot are the same as on any other highway.
The granddaddy of rules of the road, the Motor Vehicle Act, chapter 318, provides those rules with reference to highways.
Section 1 of that act defines the word highway to include 鈥渆惫别谤测 road, street, lane or right of way designed or intended for or used by the general public for the passage of 惫别丑颈肠濒别蝉.鈥�
滨鈥檓 not being terribly helpful to most drivers, because it seems that most are horribly unaware about the rules of the road. 罢丑别谤别鈥檚 the added complication, recognized at paragraph 41 of De Abreu v. Huang, 2013 BCSC 398, that 鈥溾赌丑别 rules of the road historically established by the Motor Vehicle Act R.S.B.C. 1979, c. 288 and by the common law may not always translate to parking lots, which may have configurations different from public 丑颈驳丑飞补测蝉.鈥�
Laneway intersections in parking lots seldom have stop, yield or other signs indicating who has the right of way.
We all know that at an uncontrolled intersection you yield to the right.
What about where 迟丑别谤别鈥檚 a much wider thoroughfare through a parking lot, complete with a yellow line down the centre?
Does a vehicle coming out of one of the many laneways to your right have the right of way?
I suspect that most uninformed people would assume, like the plaintiff in Blake v. Gill, (1996) B.C.W.L.D. 2590, that they have the right of way travelling down that yellow-lined thoroughfare.
Ms. Blake was confident in her assumption. Rather than yield to the driver heading up the laneway from her right, she pressed on and honked her horn. The court helped Ms. Blake understand the rules of the road, finding her negligent for failing to yield.
The other driver was also found to share liability, though, for failing to notice Ms. 叠濒补办别鈥檚 vehicle approaching the intersection.
罢丑补迟鈥檚 谤颈驳丑迟鈥攅惫别苍 if you have the technical right-of-way you have an obligation to keep a lookout and avoid collisions if you can.
The 箩耻诲驳别鈥檚 conclusion on this point: 鈥淢谤. 骋颈濒濒鈥檚 negligence was that of inadvertence: he failed to see what he should have seen. Ms. 叠濒补办别鈥檚 negligence was conscious: she saw the risk and did not take precautions.
鈥泪苍 these circumstances, I attribute 60 per cent of the fault to Ms. Blake and 40 per cent to Mr. 骋颈濒濒.鈥�
So assume nobody knows the rules of the road and always ensure that every movement you make can be made safely.
