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Slow-moving car causes serious injury in McDonald’s parking lot

Any resident of Edmonds who has walked through a parking lot at a drive-in restaurant or a big box retail store can attest to the obvious risk of being hit by a moving vehicle in such places. The possibility of suffering a serious injury in a parking lot accident, however, is often ignored. The fact that two women were recently hit by a car in a McDonald’s parking lot demonstrates how a minor injury can be transformed into a serious injury.

The two women, both in their 40’s, were walking through the parking lot of a McDonald’s restaurant in Auburn shortly before 7:00 p.m. A slow-moving car struck both women. One suffered only minor injuries and was treated at Auburn Hospital. The other woman fell to the pavement and struck her head. When police arrived at the scene, they ordered her to be airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. The hospital said that the woman was in serious condition.

The driver told police that he did not see the two women. He opined that he may have been blinded by the setting sun. Police have said the man cooperated with their investigation and did not appear to be impaired.

The driver appears to be clearly at fault for the injuries suffered by both women, but there are still questions to answer. What was the driver’s exact speed just before the collision? Did the driver have special vision problems that limited his ability to drive? This case shows how even a relatively simple pedestrian-vehicle collision can raise a number of important questions that will bear upon the final assessment of liability.

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