NORTHAMPTON – Police are reminding drivers to use extra caution when parking after officers responded to seven crashes in three hours Monday.
Five of the seven crashes occurred while motorists attempted to pull into or out of parking spaces in parking lots and driveways. No one was injured in any of the incidents.
“Even when operating in parking lot areas, people should use caution and slower speeds to create a safe traveling area,” Northampton Police Capt. John Cartledge said Tuesday. “When pulling into parking spaces, allow yourself enough room to pull in without striking other vehicles, objects or people.”
Police received their first report of a traffic collision at 8:44 a.m. at the Pride Gas Station on King Street. One car hit another as both vehicles were attempting to back-up in the parking lot, Cartledge said. The collision caused minor damage to the vehicles.
An hour later at 9:42 a.m., police were called to Cooley Dickinson Hospital parking lot. A motorist attempting to pull into a parking spot took the corner “too wide” and hit a parked car, Cartledge said.
Two minutes later at Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Church, a car backed into parked vehicle.
Just before 10 a.m., police were called to a motor vehicle crash on Mount Tom Road that turned out be in Easthampton. Northampton Police did not have details of that incident.
At 10:14, a vehicle attempting to park in the area of 22 Atwood Drive struck a parked vehicle, according to Cartledge.
Thirty minutes later, a car attempting to make a U-turn in the Cancer Connection Thrift Store parking lot on South Street hit a concrete pillar, Cartledge said.
Around noon, two cars waiting at a red light at the intersection of Jackson Street and Bridge Road collided after one driver told police their foot slipped off the brake causing their car to bump the one in front of them, Cartledge said. No damage was reported.
When police arrived at Scotti’s Drive-In and the Meadowcrest Golf Range on Haydenville Road around 12:34 p.m., the driver of a vehicle that backed into a parked motorcycle had already exchanged information with the motorcycle’s owner. It was the last reported motor vehicle collision of the day.
Emily Cutts can be reached at ecutts@gazettenet.com.