Dangerous Roads • Government Liability
Dangerous roads occur when there is a bad design, poor maintenance or failure to correct a dangerous condition. Police investigations rarely indicate a dangerous road is a cause of an accident. Whenever there is a severe injury or fatality occurring in an accident on a roadway, an inspection of the roadway should be promptly undertaken by knowledgeable highway design experts.
Our law firm has extensive experience and an excellent track record of outstanding results in proving public entities liable for dangerous roads and unsafe conditions of public property. We have achieved successful recoveries for our clients against the State of California, the City and County of San Francisco, and several counties including Alameda, Contra Costa, San Joaquin, Sacramento, Stanislaus and Merced counties. We have achieved successful results against many California cities including Oakland, Berkeley, San Leandro, Hayward, Fremont, Pleasanton, Livermore, Walnut Creek, Vallejo, Stockton and Tracy.
We have won significant verdicts and settlements for dangerous conditions involving:
- Failure to install traffic signals
- Lack of guardrails
- Inadequate shoulders
- Poles and objects next to roads
- Overhanging trees and vegetation reducing visibility
- Improper banking of curves
- Faded centerlines and missing reflective markers
- Unsafe pedestrian crossings
- Insufficient warning signs
- Poorly designed merge lanes
- School district negligence
- Unsafe swimming and recreational facilities
If you are involved in a severe vehicular accident, you should promptly contact an experienced roadway design lawyer to determine if a cause of the accident was a bad roadway design, maintenance problem or dangerous condition. The physical evidence at the accident site must be documented and preserved. There is an entire body of the law relating to public entity cases and proving government liability is legally complicated. Contact us to learn how we can help you obtain compensation for your injuries and damages against a public entity.
Examples of our successes:
Failure to warn of lane reduction – $1,000,000
An abrupt lane reduction occurred on a busy City of Stockton street, causing vehicles to merge and make unsafe lane changes. A mother with her 11 year old daughter attempted to avoid a vehicle making an unsafe lane change and crashed into a light pole located on the median, causing traumatic brain injury to her child who was a passenger. We contended the road was in a dangerous condition because of inadequate warnings of the lane drop and merge. The warning signs were not in accordance with Cal Trans Traffic Manual requirements and the median failed to comply with City standards requiring a minimum height for a median. The settlement funds have allowed the mother to provide appropriate medical treatment and care for her daughter.
Dangerous Intersection – $8,470,000
A total of five persons were killed and one person received permanent brain damage in three accidents occurring between August 1999 and November 2000 at the intersection of Eleventh Street and Lammers Road located in the City of Tracy and the County of San Joaquin. The intersection had no overhead lighting, no left turn lanes, and was controlled by stop signs on Lammers Road. As the City of Tracy grew in size, the traffic increased and the speed of vehicles in the intersection increased. The intersection was located on the main road out of the city westbound toward the Bay Area where many Tracy residents worked. The intersection was especially dangerous when it was dark in the morning when commuters shared the intersection with big rig trucks delivering products to nearby warehouses.
In the first case, we represented the families of two Tracy Defense Depot workers who were killed when their Honda Civic went under a semi truck trailer making a left turn across Eleventh Street in the dark. The truck driver had to wait for traffic to clear before completing his turn which left the trailer completely blocking the lane in which the Honda was traveling.
The City of Tracy began the design process to improve the dangerous intersection after the first accident in August 1999. However, the construction did not start for 16 months during which time two more deaths and a traumatic brain injury occurred because the City failed to take any interim safety measures or warn motorists of the dangerous intersection. In the next fatal accident, we represented a Tracy resident who was killed on his way to work at night when he attempted to make a left turn onto Eleventh Street and was struck by a speeding van that did not see his vehicle in the dark.
Tragically, the last accident occurred on November 10, 2000 only a few days before construction started on the intersection. In an accident similar to the first accident, three brothers, who were cement construction workers traveling in a Nissan pick up truck on their way to work in the darkness, went under a big rig trailer blocking Eleventh Street killing the driver and causing traumatic brain injury to a passenger. The case went to trial and settled thereafter in 2005 for $5,550,000. As a result of these accidents and the successful litigation by our attorneys, the intersection was finally improved to include speed controls, traffic signals, street lighting and left turn lanes
City failed to install left turn lane -- $3,300,000
In the largest out-of-court settlement in its history, the City of Fremont, California paid $3,300,000 to a 17 year old boy who was paralyzed when he was thrown from a pick-up truck that was rear ended by another vehicle when it was stopped to turn left. We alleged the City knew for over two years before the accident that the busy intersection was in need of a left turn lane.
Failure to Install Guardrail – $3,000,000
A 32 year old homemaker was driving her pick up truck west on Altamont Pass Road, a two lane Alameda County rural road, when sunlight shone into her eyes as she entered a curve causing her pick up truck to keep going straight through the curve and down a steep embankment. We contended the curve was in a dangerous condition for failure to install guardrails, confusing curve warning signs, insufficient shoulder and improper banking of the curve. Although there had never been any prior accidents at the curve, we were able to prove through cross examination of the defense expert that a guardrail was warranted at the curve because of the embankment. The case settled at the start of the trial.
Pedestrian injury at intersection – $3,400,000
We represented a young boy struck by an uninsured motorist while crossing a busy Oakland, California intersection. The boy had the right of way, but a curved approach to the intersection prevented the driver from seeing the boy in the crosswalk. The City of Oakland failed to install traffic signals which would have prevented the accident. The settlement from the City provided lifetime medical and living expenses for the boy.
Dangerous levee road – $1,000,000
A 30 year old Oakland restaurant owner riding as a passenger at night in a Porsche on Brannan Island Road in the Delta area of Sacramento County was killed when the car failed to negotiate a curve and went off the raised levee road. We contended that the road was in a dangerous condition for failure to install guardrails, failure to warn of the curve and lack of super-elevation in the curve. The car was operated by a well known Oakland Raiders football player. We represented the wife and children of the deceased restaurant owner.
Cal Trans maintenance truck causes freeway collision – $750,000
A Cal Trans maintenance truck working on a freeway shoulder on Highway 4 near Antioch, California, negligently entered the travel lanes, causing a teenage driver’s vehicle off the road. The Cal Trans truck driver started to pick up speed on the shoulder area of the freeway in order to merge into the travel lanes, but misjudged the distance to an overcrossing, forcing the truck to abruptly move onto the freeway in the path of a teenage driver. We proved the teenage driver was not responsible for the accident, although the State contended he had been speeding. The settlement included an annuity providing lifetime payments.
