Dangerous Conditions and Car Accidents

Maryland

According to a study of the Washington beltway area by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, over 97 % of people involved in crashes identified roadway design and maintenance as a major crash cause, more than speeding, aggressive driving, inattention, and unsafe lane changes. If you have been involved in an auto accident or large truck accident, it is just as important to identify roadway factors that may have contributed to the accident as it is to identify which drivers were at fault.

In pursuing an accident claim, especially against commercial drivers, many victims want to get an unsafe driver off the road. A dangerous roadway defect can be just as lethal as a dangerous driver, and if it is not identified and corrected, it can continue to lead to many more accidents, injuries, or deaths. Many times, a dangerous intersection or on-ramp has a record of accidents. In this case, the responsible parties may be found negligent for their failure to conduct the often-simple changes necessary to make the intersection, ramp, or roadway safer. If so, these parties are unlikely to correct the dangerous conditions until they have been penalized in court.

Roadway defects that are commonly responsible for accidents include:

• Intersections with poor visibility
• Poorly maintained roads
• Debris left on roadway
• Changes or drop-offs in shoulder, often without notification
• Excessive gravel or oil
• Insufficient or unclear signage or signals
• Malfunctioning signals or obscured signs
• Insufficient notification of construction zones
• Poorly designed merge lanes or intersections
• Inappropriate road surface material

Because most roadways are maintained by federal, state, county, or city governments, these lawsuits are very different from lawsuits involving only private individuals or businesses. The statutes of limitations, notification procedures, and record keeping requirements are more rigorous. The experienced accident lawyers at Chaikin, Sherman, Cammarata, and Siegel P.C. know all the different requirements and are prepared to meet them.

Although our governments are supposed to have our best interests at heart, many governments do not rush out to correct a dangerous defect for fear that doing so will constitute an admission that the roadway design or maintenance has been responsible for many accidents that occurred there. Ironically, the only way to get these agencies to correct the problem is to prove that they are at fault.

In order to prove the existence of a dangerous defect, and that it contributed to your accident, it is necessary to collect a record of the road conditions as they were when your accident occurred. Contact the accident attorneys at Chaikin, Sherman, Cammarata, & Siegel P.C. right away so we can collect the necessary evidence right away.

Print this page