Blog Archives

Wheelstops -- If they do not work and if they cause injuries, why are owners installing them?

10/13/2014

Yesterday I was at a grocery store in town ( a national chain) and saw a sign that made me stop -- a warning to pedestrian approaching the store to "BEWARE OF HANDICAP WHEELSTOP." I have never seen a sign like that before. This seems to be more confirmation that property owners and businesses are experiencing

more and more pedestrian injuries and more and more premises liability claims. Trips and falls cause more injuries in parking lots and parking garages than any other single cause -- and I believe that wheelstops (often hidden, sometimes covered in snow or ice) are the most common cause.

So we are back to the same basic puzzle with wheelstops -- Why do property owners still install them? They do not prevent vehicle incursions, they are a trip and fall hazard, they cause maintenance problems. and they contribute to premises liability claims for pedestrian injuries and for launching vehicles that strike them up onto curbs and sidewalks and into storefronts.

Do any readers have an opinion on installation and specification of wheelstops?

Here is a slideshow I put together showing how ineffective or hazardous wheelstops are. I make no copyright claim for any photo (except the one above) as these were all sourced from image searches and anecdotal media reports.

0 Comments

Maui Marathon Vehicle Incursion -- Watch the Consequences of Failure To Protect Hundreds of Runners and Bystanders.

10/3/2014

0 Comments

We have all seen the headlines time and time again -- a crowd gathers on a street or pedestrian area that has supposedly been "closed to traffic." Suddenly, a vehicle appears and innocent people find themselves in harms way. Who is at fault? Certainly the driver, who has often ignored posted signs or driven around plywood barriers to get into the middle of the mass of people (see our coverage of last summer's Venice Beach and this summer's Hawthorne NJ tragedy HERE.) And often fault also falls on the city or local authority who is putting on or policing the event if it is on city streets -- see our coverage of the tragedy at South by Southwest in Austin Texas HERE.

We have video from the start of the Maui Marathon last month. Thanks to Hawaii News Now, we have excellent video showing exactly what happens when parties responsible for the prevention of vehicle/pedestrian incidents at public events fail to take into account how quickly things can go very wrong. In this case, a bystander was hit and dragged thirty feet when a drunk driver turned down the street and into the crowd at the start line.

See the report and watch the video HERE.

So here is the essential question: who IS responsible for protecting hundreds of runners and bystanders from vehicles suddenly appearing and driving though dozens of people? Is it the city? Is it race organizers? In Austin Texas, the Police Chief said that they had done a good job of protecting the public for 23 years at this event, and that the death of four and maiming of almost twenty was just a fluke. In an eerie echo of that sentiment, we have the comments of the race organizer of the Maui Marathon as quoted in the Hawaii News Now article:

"It was not something, as a race director, you prepare for. It was very disappointing to see something like that happen," said Race Director Rudy Huber.

Now I have no more information than anyone else who read the article and watched the video. But I do know this -- someone who was trained and experienced should have looked over the planning for the race and reviewed the site personally to make sure that any avenue of vehicle traffic that pointed a wayward driver straight at innocent people needed to be blocked off. And not with a sign, or an orange cone, or yellow caution tape. Should that have been the race director? Or city official? Or the police department? I do not know in this case who should have done it, but it is clear than NO ONE TRAINED IN PEDESTRIAN SAFETY MEASURES took responsibility for the safety of every person in that crowd. Everyone assumed it was safe...and we can see the result. If that car was going 10 MPH faster, the whole story might be very very different.

If you put on events that involve street closings, or large numbers of pedestrians present in unprotected areas -- PLEASE ASK FOR HELP. If you are a city and have ultimate liability for any incidents -- PLEASE TAKE ALL NECESSARY MEASURES and ask for help. Every year there are dozens of incidents where "this is how we have done this for years" has failed tragically.

As Sarah Goodyear reported on the Austin tragedy, "We are shamefully bad at protecting pedestrians at events like South By Southwest." And apparently, in a beautiful peaceful place like Maui.
.

0 Comments

Wheelstops -- If they do not work and if they cause injuries, why are owners installing them?

Maui Marathon Vehicle Incursion -- Watch the Consequences of Failure To Protect Hundreds of Runners and Bystanders.

Author

Archives

Categories