Road Design and Safety

[S. Arlington Observer]

I apologize if somebody has already posted this (I did not see it with a quick perusal of the board) but I thought it was interesting. No doubt sovereign immunity would prevent any Virginia locality (or the state) from being held liable for road design. But I think the article is interesting on several levels. I was particularly intrigued with how both speed and length of blocks impact safety.

California Case Study: Are Cities Responsible for Cyclist Deaths?

http://therivardreport.com/could-lawsuit-against-indian-wells-ca-mean-anything-to-san-antonio/

It seems increasingly clear that slowing down vehicles is going to be a major fight in the future.

[mstone]

@S. Arlington Observer 130582 wrote:

It seems increasingly clear that slowing down vehicles is going to be a major fight in the future.

Yup. VDOT is still building high speed stroads, and it will be at least 40 years before those get substantial redesigns.

[scoot]

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a government held financially liable for a bicyclist’s death due to unsafe roadway design. Is the Indian Wells case a first in this regard? Especially noteworthy is that this partial liability was assessed by a jury even in a case where a drunk driver was also responsible. Interesting.

[S. Arlington Observer]

@scoot 130616 wrote:

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a government held financially liable for a bicyclist’s death due to unsafe roadway design. Is the Indian Wells case a first in this regard? Especially noteworthy is that this partial liability was assessed by a jury even in a case where a drunk driver was also responsible. Interesting.

I would not read too much into the municipal liability part of the article. California does not adhere to the contributory negligence doctrine and apparently does not have the sovereign immunity protections for state and local governments like our jurisdictions do.

The more relevant parts of the article are the findings about design – and what makes roads and highways particularly dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists.

[Author]

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