Add These Markings When You Get Your Parking Lot Painted

When you own a business and have just had your parking lot paved, your next step is to hire a painting service to put down the painted stripes that will encourage your customers to park in an orderly fashion. When you think about parking lot striping, you probably imagine a series of lines that designate individual parking spaces, as well as stop lines and center lines where motorists will be driving. However, there are many other types of parking lot marking that you'll want to consider to give your lot a professional look, as well as make it safe and easy for people to navigate. Here are some ideas to talk to the painting service about.

Crosswalks

While crosswalks have a place on roads, they should also appear in parking lots. This is especially true with parking lots that are larger. You don't want your customers parking their vehicles and then crossing in front of traffic wherever they please; this could increase the probability of someone getting hit. Your painting service should mark one or more crosswalks coming from the main parking area of your lot to the front of your business. You can then erect signage that encourages people to walk in the designated area.

Fire Lane

It's also important to designate a fire lane immediately in front of your building. Without this painted marking, customers may leave their cars in this area while a passenger runs into your business. This can not only clog up the flow of traffic moving in and out of your parking lot but can also prevent emergency vehicles from getting close to the building if they're needed. Diagonal lines and wording that indicates the presence of a fire lane are integral to keeping this part of your parking lot free.

Traffic Flow

For customers to park their vehicles, they must first drive through your parking lot. You don't want the vehicle traffic in the lot to be a free-for-all — this can add an unpleasing element of confusion to your customers' experience and increase the risk of collisions. Your painting service should put down arrows that designate the proper flow of traffic. For example, some parking lots have areas in which the traffic should only move in one direction, but unless this rule is evident to motorists, there could be trouble. Arrows and appropriate wording on the pavement can make the flow of traffic evident.

For more information, contact a company like Stripe-A-Lot.