Should it take a fatal auto accident to improve road conditions? That is exactly what is happening in the state of Washington.
Last October, a 16-year-old died from injuries sustained when he lost control of his Honda Civic, went off the road, and hit a tree. Two passengers suffered serious head and spine injuries. The final investigative report has not been released, but initially speed was believed to have been a factor.
Single auto accidents usually involve an automobile leaving the road and colliding with a fixed object or rolling down an embankment. Government agencies will often argue that these accidents are the result of driver carelessness or error when a dangerous roadway may have been partially or completely the cause.
In this incident, the stretch of roadway where the accident took place has been the site of several other accidents. In fact, one of the injured victims had gone to the county years ago asking for improvements to make the road safer. The injured teens filed a $50 million damage claim alleging that the county of Snohomish knew the road was dangerous, but failed to take action. The claim stated that the steep conditions and a lack of warning signs were to blame. Winning a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit resulting from a dangerous road accident involves proving the government was aware of a significant roadway danger, but failed to fix it.
It doesn’t appear that these victims had to show much proof; the county plans to begin work this summer to make the necessary road improvements. Until the work is complete, the county has added temporary electronic speed limit signs on either side of the slope which let’s drivers know how fast they are traveling if over the 35 mph speed limit.
Cases like this can directly force changes in dangerous road conditions that can save lives, but again I ask you, should it take a fatal auto accident to improve road conditions especially ones that are known to be dangerous?
Mark Bello has thirty-five years experience as a trial lawyer and thirteen years as an underwriter and situational analyst in the lawsuit funding industry. He is the owner and founder of Lawsuit Financial Corporation which helps provide legal finance cash flow solutions and consulting when necessities of life litigation funding is needed by a plaintiff involved in pending, personal injury, litigation. Bello is a Justice Pac member of the American Association for Justice, Sustaining and Justice Pac member of the Michigan Association for Justice, Member of Public Justice and Public Citizen, Business Associate of the Florida, Mississippi, Connecticut, Texas, and Tennessee Associations for Justice, and Consumers Attorneys of California, member of the American Bar Association, the State Bar of Michigan and the Injury Board.
