Construction Site Accident San Francisco Law Firm Dangerous Road Conditions Injury Attorneys

San Francisco Injury Lawyers > Road Construction

There are two types of road construction accidents: Accidents resulting from the actual construction of a road, bridge, off-ramp, etc., and those that arise from a road that was built with no problems but is inherently dangerous.

As for the first type of accidents, with the number of drivers and cars on the road increasing every year, there has been an increase in construction work to fix old, worn-out roadway surfaces, overpasses, and the like, and to expand the roadway to accommodate the growing number of drivers by adding lanes to existing freeways, highways, and roadways. A public entity (that is, the state, a county, or a city) has an obligation ("duty") to design, construct, and maintain its streets and highways in a reasonably safe condition for travel by the public.

Road construction accidents can result from a failure to post necessary warning signs, orange traffic cones, and other signage or systems warning of upcoming construction. The construction work may result in debris being thrown onto the roadway's surface, where it strikes a car and causes injury or poses a hazard to traffic, such as causing oncoming traffic to swerve suddenly and violently at the last moment to avoid the debris. Accidents involving road construction and repair are particularly high at night, when it is less visible.

Injuries resulting from the second type of road construction-defects in the design or condition of the road making it unsafe for motorists, pedestrians, and others using the road-are more frequent than injuries caused by the actual construction of the property. Some of the physical characteristics of a street that can make it dangerous include blind corners, obscured sightlines, elevation variances, or any other unusual condition that makes the road unsafe when used by motorists and pedestrians exercising due care.

A public entity may be legally responsible ("liable") for injuries caused by a dangerous condition on or by its property that causes injury if it meets certain criteria. For instance, the property must have been in a dangerous condition at the time of the injury, the injury must have been caused by the dangerous condition, and the dangerous condition must have created a reasonably anticipated danger ("foreseeable risk") of the kind of injury that was incurred. It must also be proved that either a negligent or other wrongful act or omission of an employee of the public entity created the dangerous condition, or the public entity had actual or constructive notice of the dangerous condition in time to prevent the injury. For a property to be considered in a "dangerous condition," it must create a substantial risk of injury when the property is used safely ("with due care") in a manner in which it is reasonably anticipated ("foreseeable") that it will be used.

However, the public entity can avoid liability if it meets the criteria of the "design immunity" defense. This requires the existence of three elements: (1) there was a causal relationship between the approved plan or design and the accident; (2) there was discretionary approval of the plan by an authorized employee before construction began; and (3) substantial evidence supports the reasonableness of the plan. The purpose of the design immunity doctrine is to prevent a jury from second-guessing the decision of a public entity by reviewing the identical questions of risk that had previously been considered by the government officers who adopted or approved the plan or design.

San Francisco Injury Lawyers > Road Construction

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