While doing errands this afternoon, came across this accident waiting to happen which Really Burn my Butt.  Two parked delivery vehicles blocking a portion of the main lane in front of Safeway, creating a safety hazard, not just for the drivers loading their vehicles but for pedestrians and other drivers as well.

First, as you can see, there are no cones, signs or other barriers around the vehicles alerting other car drivers in the small crowded area that there are people working around the delivery vehicles which places those drivers at a higher risk of being hit by a moving  vehicle.  Without the safety cones or signage there is also no reminder to the delivery driver he’s in a dangerous area and just one little distraction, like worrying about the score of the Raider game or a sick child makes it easy to forget where you are and walk into a moving vehicle.  In addition to putting the delivery drivers in danger the parked vehicles are also creating several other safety hazards as they drastically reduce the normal space available for the two way traffic to flow down the main lane as well as for cars trying to turn into the main lane from the parking lot.  The parked trucks also created several dangerous blindspots for drivers making it difficult to see pedestrians suddenly appearing from the side of the parked trucks as they try to cross to the supermarket from the parking lot while also creating blindspots for pedestrians to see traffic.

These vehicles were not just in and out of the way, they were parked there for at least a half hour.  Safeway has been in transition with new ownership and while it searches for it’s identity during the process of rebranding their stores with organic produce and food products, looking more like Whole foods, profit margins may not be where they once were and companies unfortunately believe that cutting safety training programs is where to save money.  It appears that safety may not have a place for it’s workers or customers at the new Safeway.