Car Accidents on Hazardous Roadways - Negligence is Often a Factor

Vehicle accidents mostly take place when and where a number of things aren’t right and the victim is in the wrong place at the wrong time. These poor conditions could cause you to lose control of your vehicle, or another person may find themselves in trouble and strike you.

 

Combine poor signage in a construction zone, heavy rains where drainage is poor or potholes deep enough to swim in, along with drivers who are distracted, speeding or fatigued, and you’ve got a recipe for a vehicle accident. Accidents can have many causes, and what may appear to be simple might actually be very complex. It may not be only that fatigued driver that hit you on a flooded road who’s to blame; it may be the government entity responsible for clearing storm drains or the construction company working on the road that are also responsible and are potentially defendants in a lawsuit.

 

 

Potentially hazardous road conditions can include:

 

 

• Potholes
• Uneven pavement
• The presence of road construction equipment and vehicles in travel lanes
• Faulty traffic signals
• Confusing, obscured or missing signs
• Intersections that are dangerous because of poor design
• Insufficient lighting
• Broken, missing or improperly designed guard rails
• Hazardous railway crossings
• Wet, slippery leaves in the roadway
• Accumulations of snow, ice or water because of improper maintenance or design.

 

 

Special requirements for suing a government entity

 

 

Depending on the facts and law of the particular state, you may or may not be able to sue the responsible party for damages or injuries. Before any lawsuit could be filed, an investigation needs to be completed to try to determine the cause of the accident. Based on those facts, a decision on the applicable law would have to be made. Laws vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and local law may make it difficult or practically impossible for successful legal action to be filed against a government entity or contractor responsible for a roadway.

 

 

Most local and state government agencies have a degree of immunity from lawsuits, which means that they cannot be sued (this is called “sovereign immunity” when it is applied to state governments and “governmental immunity” when a city, county or other smaller government entity is involved). There may be an exception to that immunity if the agency was negligent in maintaining a roadway. These laws vary from state to state.

 

 

Every type of personal injury lawsuit has a statute of limitations based on state law. This is a deadline for filing a lawsuit; and if it’s missed, unless you can show a very compelling reason to excuse missing it, the legal action will be dismissed.

 

If you’re suing a government entity, in addition to the statute of limitations there are notice requirements. You would need to inform the entity that it might be sued and why, within weeks or a few months of the accident, so acting quickly is very important in these types of cases. Failing to provide adequate, timely notice could lead to the dismissal of your lawsuit.

 

Proving a roadway was negligently maintained, constructed or designed

 

 

If under the law you have a good chance of success and decide to file a legal action, you would generally have the burden of proving road conditions were the sole or partial cause of the accident and that those conditions were the result of negligence. If the government agency or company responsible for the road failed in its duty to provide a safe roadway or they failed to adequately warn drivers of a potential hazard, they could be found to be negligent.

 

 

Poor maintenance may be a prime suspect for dangerous road conditions. Roads are usually maintained by cities, counties and states. Sometimes these entities share responsibilities, so while one is in charge of snow plowing, another may fill potholes.

 

 

Just because something bad happened on the roadway doesn’t necessarily mean negligence was the cause. A negligence claim against a government agency would need to prove they failed to act reasonably and prevent foreseeable dangers that caused the accident. They either failed to act to prevent the problem or what was done was improper or insufficient.

 

 

A key to a successful personal injury lawsuit is the ability to prove that under the law and factually the defendant’s negligence caused the accident that resulted in the injury.

 

 

• If your car was struck by a vehicle driven by a driver distracted by a smartphone who spun out after travelling over a large body of standing water on the roadway, the defendant transportation agency will probably blame the distracted driver.
• If you struck a vehicle at an unmarked, unlit intersection at night, is the party at fault the agency who designed and built the intersection or the other driver who failed to yield to your right of way, or both?
• If you were injured after striking a large object in the roadway, if it was part of an unsecured load in the back of a commercial truck, that truck driver and his or her employer may have acted negligently. If you struck it moments after it fell off the truck, the government agency responsible for the road wouldn’t be liable. If the agency was told of the object in the road but hours or days passed without any action before your accident, it may have been negligent.

 

 

Road conditions are an important factor in vehicle accidents. Whether or not a government entity or construction company performing road work can be held responsible depends on the facts of the accident and the applicable laws in your state. There are potentially many moving parts to these kinds of cases, so talking to an attorney soon after your accident is a good idea, especially in light of notice requirements. It’s better to be safe and consult an attorney than sorry that you failed to act in time to protect your rights.