When people think about slip-and-fall accidents, they often think about the issues with the flooring itself. Maybe it’s a staircase with a broken tread. Maybe it’s a slick spot after a spill on a tile floor. Maybe it’s snow and ice on a sidewalk that no one properly cleaned up.
These are all issues, but you do have to consider other factors, as well. One big one is the lighting. Without proper lighting, almost any surface can become very dangerous. This is especially true, for instance, in parking lots and on outdoor staircases.
How does inadequate lighting play into an accident? A few examples include:
- You’re walking through a parking lot, and you trip over a wheel stop that you can’t see because there’s no lighting, and it’s dark outside.
- You’re walking along the sidewalk outside of a business when you trip in a hole or trip over a crack in the concrete.
- You’re descending the stairs at an apartment complex, in the dark, when you miss a step and fall to the bottom of the staircase.
- You’re walking on exterior stairs after a hard rain, and the treads are very wet, but you can’t see it without adequate lighting. You slip and fall before you realize how risky it is.
As with other premises liability cases, things really get serious when the owner knew about the poor lighting and refused to fix it or should have known about it and negligently did nothing to rectify the problem. You can get hurt in a split-second, and you need to know if you have a right to financial compensation.
