Many drivers assume that “right before left” is the general rule, even in large parking lots or in multi-storey car parks. This is often suggested by the signs on which the operators of the parking spaces draw attention to the fact that the Road Traffic Act (StVO) applies on their premises. There, the basic right-of-way rule is that “right before left” is always used when there are no traffic signs, traffic lights or the police controlling the traffic. But not in parking lots, as many drivers mistakenly think.
The Frankfurt Higher Regional Court (OLG) recently made this clear in a judgment (of June 22, 2022, Az. 17 U 21/22), to which the Goslar Institute for consumer-friendly insurance, supported by HUK-Coburg, refers. According to this, the right-before-left rule does not necessarily apply to private parking spaces.
The Frankfurt Higher Regional Court has now decided in a legal dispute that the priority rule “right before left” only applies if lanes are clearly recognizable and marked as roads. If, on the other hand, it is a matter of so-called tramlines, the standard “right-before-left” right-of-way rule does not apply. What’s the difference? According to the judges, who also represented the Munich Higher Regional Court in 2020 in a similar judgment (Az.: 10 U 6767/19), lanes are involved if they are used solely for entering or exiting a vehicle. serve as a multi-storey car park and are also comparable to regular streets from the outside. The rule here is right before left, according to the judges. A lane between marked parking rows, on the other hand, does not constitute a carriageway with street character if it is used to handle shunting traffic entering and exiting parking spaces.
In the case that the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court had to decide, two vehicles collided in a parking lot. Several driving lanes led from the right to a driving lane leading to the exit of the parking area. There were parking boxes in both the side lanes and the exit lane. The plaintiff drove on the exit lane, the accused came from one of the right-hand lanes – the two vehicles collided in the junction area of the lanes. According to the operator’s instructions, the road traffic regulations applied on the site. A dispute over claims for damages ensued. One of the parties involved argued that his right of way as someone coming from the right had been disregarded by the other driver. In the proceedings, the regional court called upon recognized the defendant’s liability of 25 percent.
However, the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt did not agree with this assessment. Rather, the judges divided the liability quota in half, at 50 percent each, on appeal by the plaintiff. Reason: The defendant could not claim a right of way because lanes in parking lots did not represent roads serving the flow of traffic and therefore no right of way was to be granted. The court found that the rules of the StVO are generally applicable to publicly accessible private parking spaces. However, “if two lanes of a parking lot that are used to search for a parking space intersect … the principle of mutual consideration applies to the approaching vehicle driver … ie every vehicle driver is obliged to drive defensively and to seek understanding with the other vehicle driver”. determined the court. Therefore, the drivers would have to share the damage caused because each of them was equally to blame for the collision.
The Higher Regional Court in Munich had previously reached a comparable judgment in another case. In the case of an accident involving two drivers and which also occurred at the intersection of two lanes in a parking lot, they also considered a sharing of liability to be appropriate. The requirement of mutual consideration in a parking garage or on a private parking lot was also emphasized in this judgment. Incidentally, insurance companies also assume this, emphasizes the Goslar Institute. (awm)