Should they be held reaponsible?

There are a lot of resources concerning parking lot safety and traffic flow. Today, parking lot traffic flow is done by the numbers. Argo insurance company publishes a good deal of literature on parking lot design. I am pointing to that reference because they published their work in easy to read non-technical language what you. What you need to do is compare the local ordinances industry standards and actual design of the parking lot and you should be able to determine if the design feature that caused your difficulty meets the industry standards or local ordinances. Also, look into the American Association of State Highway and transportation officials they publish comprehensive design manuals for roadways and Facilities like parking lots focusing on safety geometric design and traffic flow. While you're at it you might also want to look into the federal highway administration they publish guidelines, best practices, and research reports on managing traffic flow including design consideration controlled access facilities. In my practice I've used all of these resources.