University of Southern Maine officials issued a campus-wide warning after 16 accidents were reported inside the school's Portland parking garage over three weeks. The notice went to students, faculty and other regular garage users.
The count was reported by WCYY, which said USM sent the email in response to the spike. The station also reported the university's comparison that some garages do not see 16 reported accidents in a full year.
What's Driving the Crashes
USM identified drivers taking corners too fast and drivers distracted while navigating the garage as the two main factors in the accidents, according to the WCYY report.
The university said inexperience with garage parking was not the main cause of the surge, the station reported. USM instead pointed to speed and inattention.
Context: A City Squeezed for Parking
WCYY also reported increased use of parking garages overall in Portland. That broader context does not establish what caused the accidents at USM.
USM characterized many of the accidents as likely avoidable, according to WCYY. The university's warning emphasized slowing down and paying attention while driving in the garage.
A limit on statewide comparisons
Maine’s public crash counts are not a like-for-like benchmark for incidents in USM’s garage. The Maine Bureau of Highway Safety and MaineDOT user notes say the counts cover crashes coded to Maine public roads and exclude crashes in parking lots, driveways and private roads. Those totals therefore do not include the type of location involved in USM’s reported accidents.
What USM Is Asking Drivers to Do
For now, the university's ask is straightforward: anyone involved in an accident at the USM parking garage is being asked to contact university police, according to the WCYY report. With the semester still underway, USM appears to be betting that a direct appeal to drivers' attention spans — more than any lesson on garage-parking technique — is what will bring the number down.
