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Liability for dead man's curve: was your client's off-road accident caused by simple driver error, or did a roadway design defect contribute to the crash? Public agencies in charge of roadways may be liable if the road is unsafe.

Article Excerpt
Studies show that 20 percent of all fatal accidents involve single automobiles running off the road. (1) It is easy to write these cases off as examples of driver error, but in many instances, the government agency that designs and maintains the roads must share or shoulder the blame.

These cases are difficult. Not every off-road crash leads to government liability, and investigating a road's engineering and accident history can be expensive. A connective-tissue case, for example, may not warrant the time and expense these cases require. The defendants' recurring theme is driver error, and these cases rarely settle.

Understanding what constitutes a defective roadway will enable you to perform a thorough case analysis and investigation. If you do take a case, you may gain not only fair compensation for your client, but also an improved roadway that will be safer for others--a noble pursuit.

Defining the problem

The singing duo of Jan and Dean popularized the phrase "dead man's curve" in a chart-topping song in 1964. The dead man's curve in the song was along Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles. Mel Blanc, the voice of Bugs Bunny and hundreds of other cartoon characters, was the most famous victim of this dangerous stretch of road. In 1961, Blanc was driving east on Sunset Boulevard and collided head-on with another car while negotiating the curve. Blanc had to be pried from the wreckage, unconscious. He suffered severe head trauma, a broken pelvis, and two broken legs, and he spent two weeks in a coma.

Years later, in a court proceeding, the city engineer testified that the curve had been the scene of 26 serious accidents in a two-year period. (2) The Los Angeles Board of Public Works approved changes to the banking of that portion of Sunset Boulevard to lessen the danger its steep downhill curve posed. Nearly every American city or town has a dead man's curve--a winding and/or steep stretch of road where accidents have claimed the lives of unknowing drivers and passengers.

The agencies that design and maintain roads and highways have a duty to ensure that they are safe for motorists exercising reasonable care. Inevitably, cars will skid, slide, be cut off, or run off the side of curved roads, and drivers will fall asleep or be distracted and lose control of their vehicles. Government agencies must design roads for such foreseeable events.

Roadways need recovery zones, so that an inattentive driver who goes off the road can return to it, or guardrails to redirect errant vehicles if the fall-off of the land or impediments such as poles or trees make recovery impossible. Road and highway agencies must create curves that can be navigated even if drivers exceed the posted speed limit, and they must bank curves so that even poor drivers can navigate them without falling victim to centrifugal forces. They should provide crash attenuators, such as guardrails or rumble strips or grooves, and give adequate warnings of hazards in the form of signage along the roadway where necessary. If the appropriate agency does not adhere to these design principles, it may be liable.

Overcoming government immunity

You must first determine whether sovereign immunity statutes in your jurisdiction prevent...

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