Season for carpark bingle bills
Christmas is a time for giving . . . giving each other carpark dings, it seems.
Insurer SGIO has revealed a 14 per cent surge in carpark collisions in WA in December, a direct link to the sometimes chaotic scenes in carparks in and around Perth's suburban shopping centres every festive season.
The SGIO data showed that Fridays and Saturdays were the most common days for carpark collisions.
SGIO spokeswoman Mariana Cidade said traffic on roads and in shopping centre carparks was heavier in the lead-up to Christmas.
"We understand that Christmas and the holiday period is already a busy time, so it's important drivers remain calm at the wheel and courteous on roads and in carparks," Ms Cidade said.
"Stress can affect your concentration and losing focus for even one second puts you at a greater risk of having a collision.
"Typical parking collisions involved reversing into other cars, runaway shopping trolleys and scrapes with pylons and poles."
An analysis from car insurer AAMI last year found that one in four accidents in WA involved dings to parked cars.
This compared with the national average of one in five. And it was shoppers at Morley, Joondalup and Midland who were the worst.
AAMI spokesman Reuben Aitchison said most of these accidents were at shopping centres where motorists often had to cope with tight turning circles.
"We know shopping centre developers try to squeeze in as many parking bays as possible, so there's probably not as much room as there used to be," he said.
