For many years, I have understood that while the traffic control signs (such as stop or yield signs) in mall parking lots look the same as those on public roads, they are merely guidelines for proper behaviour and cannot be enforced by police. Is this understanding correct or just some delusional folklore? – David, Kitchener, Ont.
In Ontario, that stop sign in the Costco parking lot is just a suggestion – but experts suggest obeying it anyway.
“If you run a stop sign on private property, you can’t get a stop sign ticket because that particular law doesn’t apply on private property.” says Sean Shapiro, a safety consultant and former Toronto traffic officer. “But you should do what’s safe because you want to avoid injury and avoid property damage.”
The Ontario Highway Traffic Act (HTA) generally only applies to public roads and not private property, including parking lots – even if that property is accessible to the general public, Shapiro says.
That means that nearly all provincial traffic laws including speed limits, requirements to obey traffic signs, lines on the road and rules against using devices while driving – aren’t enforceable in a parking lot, Shapiro says.
But a few HTA charges, including careless driving and failing to report a collision, apply everywhere – including in parking lots, Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation said in an e-mail statement.
“You won’t be charged with going through a stop sign, but if you don’t stop and you get into a crash, you could be charged with careless driving,” says Sergeant Kerry Schmidt with the Highway Safety Division of the Ontario Provincial Police.
Ontario’s stunt driving law also applies in parking lots, Shapiro says.
“So if you’re in a parking lot doing donuts … or if someone is hanging onto the roof rack while you’re driving … then stunt driving charges are appropriate,” Shapiro says.
Police can also charge you in parking lots with offences under the Criminal Code of Canada, including impaired driving and dangerous driving, Shapiro adds.
What if there’s a stop or yield sign as you’re leaving the parking lot and entering a road?
“If the sign is on private property, it’s not enforceable, but [the HTA says] you must yield to traffic when entering a road from a private drive,” Shapiro says.
What’s allowed in other provinces
While the rules vary by province, Ontario is the only province where most rules don’t apply in parking lots. In other provinces, most or all of the rules apply on private property as long as it’s accessible to the public.
In British Columbia, for example, the Motor Vehicle Act applies anywhere the public has access or is invited, including parking lots, Corporal Michael McLaughlin, a spokesman for B.C. Highway Patrol, says in an e-mail.
That means you have to obey traffic signs in parking lots as long as they’re not in contravention of the ordinary rules, McLaughlin says.
In B.C., parking lots are considered laneways and automatically have a speed limit of 20 kilometres an hour. “If a private company puts up a sign that makes the speed limit even less, that’s a grey area.” McLaughlin says.
In Alberta, all traffic rules apply in parking lots, but whether you have to follow signs depends on who put up the sign, Corporal Troy Savinkoff, Alberta RCMP spokesman, says in an e-mail.
If the sign was put up by the municipality (there’s usually a sticker on the back of the sign saying who put it up) police can enforce it. If it was put up by a private property owner, they can’t, Savinkoff says.
Why parking lots can be hazardous
All of these parking lot rules brings up the question of whether there are any Ontario laws keeping drivers from driving on the wrong side of the road or diagonally across the lot?
“They’re not driving like a hot rod at 100 kilometres an hour, [so] it’s not dangerous driving – it’s not even stunt driving,” Shapiro says. “There’s no law against it at all. But it is unpredictable.”
That unpredictability makes parking lots especially hazardous for drivers and pedestrians, says Angelo DiCicco, the general manager of the Ontario Safety League, a Mississauga-based non-profit focusing on driver education.
“There are customary rules of the road that aren’t necessarily being applied in this confined area with high-traffic volume,” DiCicco says. “Many drivers know or assume that the painted road markings and stop signs and yield signs in a parking lot are not enforceable … so they take advantage [of those who follow the rules].”
But you should be driving like all the rules apply, DiCicco says. That includes keeping to the right, obeying signs and posted speed limits and signalling turns.
“This is your chance to demonstrate your personal driving ethics,” DiCicco says.
While the lower speeds in parking lots usually mean crashes are often only fender benders, where drivers and passengers don’t get serious injuries, if you hit a pedestrian they could be seriously injured or killed, Shapiro says.
“You should always be driving with safety in mind,” he says. “You should do the right thing [even if] nobody’s watching. It doesn’t matter whether the law applies or not.”
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