Legally Who Is Liable When Road Conditions Causes An Accident?

Government workers must follow certain rules. For instance, road workers should do their best to keep the roads reasonably safe. That means that certain poor conditions need to be fixed as soon as possible.

Examples of poor road conditions

• An excess number of ruts or pot holes in roadway
• A road’s shoulder drops off at severe angle: The danger linked to such a shoulder increases, if no barrier has been places along the roadside.
• Oil or chips remaining on a street, following a spill
• Insufficient barrier in a construction zone: This increases the chances that some motorist might drive into some section of a street that contains a drop off or other hazard.
• Roadway retains an icy or wet surface; roadway not cleared of snow.

Is the government liable for such conditions?

Government workers must be aware of such conditions before any one of them can be corrected. Governmental authorities normally learn about such conditions in one of two ways. Either someone reports the existence of such a hazard, or the hazard got noted at the time of a survey. Naturally, if someone reports a poorly-maintained roadway at the time when the road workers are headed home, the repairs must wait until morning. Of course, those that work on the roadways should be told in the morning to get working on the reported section just as soon as possible. In that way, the government can diminish the chances that it might be held liable for any accident.

There are times when a construction project on a highway does get carried out, during the night. Even then, the government makes every effort to warn motorists ahead of time and to block off the area under construction. No one expects any street or highway to get fixed immediately, once the existence of poor conditions has been reported.

Steps to take if government appears to have been negligent

Collect all the vital information: the exact location of the hazardous spot, including the side of the street on which motorists are in danger, or the direction of your travel, when you came across the dangerous stretch of roadway.

• Get the names and contact information for any witnesses.
• Estimate the size of the damaged area, or take measurements if possible.
• Find out how much time governmental authorities had in which to take action. Ask this question: When was the problem reported?

If you feel that the repairs had been delayed for no obvious reason, then you may have grounds for a lawsuit. Still, if you find that no one has taken the time to report that specific problem, then you should take on that particular responsibility. Otherwise, it would seem useless to initiate a lawsuit with the help of Personal Injury Lawyer in Oakville.