Not Just Drivers Are to Blame for Vehicle Accidents
If you hear the phrase “car accident case,” you may envision situations where a drunk driver, or one who runs a red light or speeds, causes an accident with the victim seeking compensation. Though those circumstances make up most of our cases, there may be other parties whose negligence contributed to the crash.
One of those cases might involve the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH), known for its stunning views and multiple accidents, according to CNN. After enough people are killed on a stretch of road, the government entity responsible for it shouldn’t just look the other way as the bodies pile up.
Recipe for Fatalities: A Highway That’s a Main Road, Add Parking, Mix in Pedestrians, and Top It Off With Vehicles Going 100+ Miles an Hour
In October, a car traveling at 104 miles an hour down the highway struck several parked cars and then four pedestrians crossing the road, killing them. They are Niamh Rolston, Peyton Stewart, Asha Weir, and Deslyn Williams, who were all friends and seniors at Pepperdine University.
The driver is obviously to blame for their deaths, but others may share that blame, too. If you drive on the highway in Malibu, you may notice one of 58 white tires along 21 miles of the roadway. They’re memorials to those killed on that road since 2010. Nine pedestrians were killed just in 2021.
PCH, or US 1, is Malibu’s main artery and one of the few roads through town. It’s described as the town’s Main Street, which also provides parking for beach visitors, and pedestrians cross it while sometimes vehicles drive down the road at about 100 miles an hour. Local residents call the part of the highway where the deaths of the Pepperdine seniors occurred “Dead Man’s Curve.”
One town resident, Michael Shane, complains town residents are complacent and not outraged about the deadly road in their midst. In 2010, his 13-year-old daughter Emily was killed along the PCH. She was waiting for her father to pick her up after a sleepover. CNN states, “Emily was hit with such force that she went airborne, striking a pole and continuing over a fence that lined an embankment along the road.”
Several 911 callers alerted law enforcement to the car, but it was too late for Emily. Shane states he hoped Emily’s killing would cause immediate, significant change to make the road safer (turning the PCH to a slower boulevard with sidewalks and a median), but that never happened.
Shane, a movie producer, created the documentary “21 Miles in Malibu” to bring awareness to the problem. He aims to change California’s fast car culture, often glamorized in other movies, TV shows, and video games. To a certain extent, efforts by activists have stigmatized drunk driving. Shane wants to do the same with speeding.
You Can’t Have Enough Studies
The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is responsible for the highway. It told CNN it synchronized stoplights in Malibu, and a traffic safety study is being done to possibly plan changes to the road. A speed zone safety study is also designed to help determine if speed limits can be lowered while complying with state laws.
The current speed in Malibu is 45 miles an hour, but speeding is rampant. Of the 3,345 vehicle crashes in the past ten years, excessive speed is the most common reason, leading to 865 accidents, almost 26% of the total.
Who’s to Blame? Who Can Be Held Accountable?
In addition to dangerous drivers, our fast car culture isn’t the only problem. Speed cameras could be installed (with a change to state law) to discourage speeding, with violating drivers getting tickets in the mail. They could also provide evidence for criminal and personal injury cases against drivers. Local law enforcement is also understaffed, so speed enforcement isn’t what it could be.
The bigger question is Caltrans’ responsibility. Depending on the facts of an accident on the PCH, potentially, they could be a defendant in a vehicle accident case. Under state law,
- A public entity is liable for injury caused by its property’s dangerous condition
- The property was dangerous when the injury occurred
- That condition is the factual and legal cause of the accident
- The condition posed a reasonably foreseeable risk of that kind of injury
- An entity’s employee’s negligent or wrongful acts, or their failure to act within the scope of their job, created the dangerous condition, or
- The public entity knew or should’ve known, of the hazardous condition in enough time before the injury to have taken steps to protect against the condition
For liability for dangerous roads, the state legislature giveth and taketh away. State law provides a big loophole with design immunity to shelter government entities like Caltrans from liability. It states that:
- There’s no liability if the plans conform to existing standards
- A governmental or legislative body approves the plans
- The government entity has time to improve the situation if they’re on notice it’s no longer up to standards
- Immunity continues if it’s not practical to improve the road or the agency lacks funds as long as the entity adequately warns of the dangers
But this immunity doesn’t last forever, according to the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. In a 2001 decision, it ruled a plaintiff can show the government entity lost its design immunity by proving:
- The plan or design is dangerous because of the changed physical conditions
- The public entity knew or should’ve known of them
- The government entity had a reasonable time to fund and carry out the needed remedial work so the road conforms with a reasonable design, or
- If that wasn’t possible due to lack of funds, the entity failed to reasonably attempt to provide adequate warnings
It would be difficult to sue Caltrans for failing to change PCH’s road design, but perhaps not impossible. The law applies to PCH and all roads maintained by government entities in California. If your accident occurred on a dangerously designed roadway, you may have a case against those responsible.
Aaron Hicks is an Orange County Personal Injury Attorney You Can Trust
If another party causes an injury to you or a loved one, Aaron Hicks at the Hicks Law Firm will help in any way he can. He is an experienced personal injury lawyer who has represented clients with vehicle accident claims throughout Southern California and Orange County, including Costa Mesa, Irvine, Tustin, Newport Beach, and Huntington Beach.
As a personal injury attorney, he has assisted many injured plaintiffs in Orange County and looks forward to helping you, too. Call us at 949-541-9944 or complete our online contact form so our personal injury lawyer may discuss your case.
Aaron Hicks is a civil trial attorney and founder of Hicks Law Firm, based in Orange County with offices in San Diego and Tennessee. His practice includes representing plaintiffs in personal injury cases including motor vehicle accidents, premises liability, dog bites and wrongful death. Mr. Hicks is and AV Rated attorney, Super Lawyer and is currently on the Board of Directors of the Orange County Trial Lawyers Association where he serves as 1st Vice President.
