Oooops! You're driving in a one-way lane in a parking lot and suddenly see another car rushing the wrong way at you.

You jam on the brakes. So does the other driver. Fortunately, he's seen you in time to stop.

There's no accident this time. But it might be another story the next time around. Parking lots and garages are hardly safe off-street havens. They can be filled with perils.

"I've found myself suddenly facing another car's grille in parking areas because the other driver was going the wrong way in a one-way lane. And a head-on collision is absolutely the worst kind to have," says Terry Earwood, a top auto racer and chief instructor at the Skip Barber Racing School, based in Canaan, Conn.

Earwood, whose main job is teaching the school's students how to safely control race cars at high speeds on tracks, at first chuckled when asked about driving in public parking areas.

"But, come to think of it, driving in parking lots and garages can be more dangerous than motoring on the street," he says.

Why can parking lots be treacherous?

"Partly because many have narrow lanes and are loaded with cars trying to quickly get in or out. They also contain people walking carelessly to and from cars," says Bob Bondurant, a former auto racing great who owns and runs the country's oldest performance driving school, the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving in Phoenix, Ariz.

"Moreover, many indoor garages are dark and thus give drivers entering them from bright sunlight a reduced vision problem until their eyes adjust," Bondurant says.

"One major problem is that many motorists let driving awareness drop the instant they leave the street and enter a parking area. When people get off work and drive from parking areas, they're often tired, irritable and in too big a hurry to get home."

Either situation could set them up for a bad accident.

Often, motorists make it difficult for other drivers in parking areas just because of the way they park, says Patrick Ohale, assistant manager at the System Parking garage at 111 W. Wacker in downtown Chicago.

"I see that many drivers, who are either lazy or have poor perception, don't park between the lines that define their parking area," Ohale says. "They also park in areas alloted for handicapped drivers, and they put big cars in areas specified for compact cars.

However, Shevket Dardovski, director of operations for System Parking, which operates 30 parking facilities in this area, says motorists aren't entirely to blame for accidents in some parking areas.

"Directional arrows or stripes painted on the surface of lots sometimes fade, making it hard or impossible for drivers to tell which direction they're supposed to drive," says Dardovski, who's also parked thousands of cars for System Parking.

"If arrows or stripes are faded, look at the direction in which cars are parked to see if you're driving the right way in a one-way lane. You're going the wrong way if the grilles of parked vehicles are slanted toward you."

Here are other tips for safe driving in parking lots and garages:

Slow down. Don't exceed 5 m.p.h., even if there are no posted speeds. Slower speeds are needed to navigate around parked vehicles and in narrow traffic lanes and to allow time to react to ever-changing traffic conditions.

Expect the unexpected. Watch left, right, in front and behind. You need a sharp sense of what's happening around you. People in cars and on foot often are more concerned about going shopping or getting to work than thinking about good driving.

Prepare yourself for delays. There's a good chance you'll be delayed if you're parking during heavy traffic periods, but don't let frustration lure you into taking risks. Adjust your attitude for delays when entering a parking lot or garage. Recognize that parking areas are filled with a variety of drivers, some of whom aren't familiar with the facility's layout.