The hustle and bustle of the holiday season is here. With the number of days to finish Christmas shopping being less everyday, we may not see the joy of the season in shopping mall parking lots. They can be a hotbed for auto accidents this time of year. And unfortunately, the Grinch could be hiding out to steal gifts from your car.

Not everyone will be on Santa’s ‘nice list’ for their parking lot driving. Please remember these easy tips that should keep you, your vehicle and your property safe and off the ‘naughty list’:

• Lock purchases and electronics in your trunk to avoid break-ins. Out of sight, out of mind.
• Use turning signals, even in parking lots.
• If possible, drive through your parking space to the one in front. Then, when you go to leave, you will turn right out into a feeder lane.
• If you can’t pull through a space, it’s best to back into the spot. Be sure to signal and look around as you back in.
• However you leave your parking space, yield to drivers in the feeder lane.
• If you’re in a feeder lane, yield to drivers in the thoroughfare.
• Stop at mall crosswalks, allowing pedestrians to cross.
• Watch for pedestrians and little elves walking out from between parked cars. They can appear out of nowhere.
• And please….DON’T HIT SANTA!!! (There will be some very disappointed children and reindeer!)

Please take care this Christmas shopping season. We hope you make it home safely and avoid a run-in with Scrooge!

P.S. – If you don’t know:

A thoroughfare means a main road for passage into, through or out of a parking lot.

A feeder lane means a road in a parking lot other than a thoroughfare.