Ok a very close friend of mine was recently in an accident. He had gotten off at the wrong exit and was at an odd intersection. He thought it was a 4-way stop, it wasnt.
The accident was only a mild fender bender, but he was on a restricted liscence (can only drive to work and back and at certain times). The sherrif at the scene said that it should be a 4-way stop and that there had been many worse accidents there in the past.
Does this history of accident at the intersection remove some blame from the driver? What info would he need to prove that its a dangerous intersection? Can the city/county be charged for allowing a dangerous condition to perpetuate at this intersection?
This is in Ohio, although comments from anyone are welcom and appreciated.
I’m afraid he is stuck with what the law was at the time of the accident. Remember someone has to be at fault for insurance purposes. As far as his license maybe the judge will take that fact into consideration.
My sisters (M & K), nephew (J) and I were in a bad accident in Temecula, CA, in 1978. We were going from San Diego to LA and decided to exit at Temecula for something to drink. It was just about sunset, and looking left at the top of the exit’s overpass was a direct look at the sun. As my younger sister M (who was driving) pulled out to turn left, a motorcycle coming from the west (over the overpass) broadsided us in the left passenger door. (My older sister K and I were protected from flying glass by new clothes hanging near that window.) Despite K being a nurse right at the scene, the motorcyclist died of his injuries. M was charged with manslaughter.
(Facts the police didn’t report: motorcyclist was drunk and probably stoned [K saw joints in his backpack], and he was probably going about 70 MPH, way too fast for an overpass like that one.)
The judge in her case gave some lieniency after he himself went to the intersection and noticed the police cleaning up a similar accident to ours. She got suspended jail time for reckless driving rather than anything for manslaughter.
There are two considerations here: (1) the ramifications to a traffic (criminal) proceeding and (2) the ramifications to a civil lawsuit. In any traffic (criminal) court proceeding, for all intents and purposes, the history of the intersection is irrelevant.
Ohio is a comparative negligence state which has waived sovereign immunity for roadway maintainence, and in any civil suit for injuries, improper design or signage may make the entity responsible for maintaining the intersection liable. For example, the other driver may sue your friend and the Ohio Department of Transportation over the accident. The jury would be asked to assign percentages of negligence to your friend and ODOT. If either defendant is found even 1% liable, they are on the hook for the whole loss if the other defendant is insolvent (unless the plaintiff is also partially liable). Even if the plaintiff does not name the entity responsible for the accident in his or her complaint, your friend could file a third-party complaint and achieve the same result.
Your friend could bring suit himself if he was injured, but it would be an uphill battle- he would have to prove that the city/county/ODOT was more responsible than him for the accident. In practice, this rarely works out, and I wouldn’t expect a lawyer to take the case unless there were very serious injuries.