While most motor vehicle accidents are caused by negligent drivers, some accidents are caused at least in part by unsafe roads. Roadways can be poorly designed or inadequately maintained resulting in a high risk of collision that may cause catastrophic injuries or wrongful death. Personal injury lawsuits involving dangerous streets, highways and interstates pose special litigation challenges because the defendant in most dangerous road cases is a public entity. Governmental entities may protected by sovereign immunity that protects them from litigation for personal injury. However, most jurisdictions have passed tort claims acts that waives this sovereign immunity at least in part provided claimants comply with special procedures and timing requirements. The Mississippi Tort Claims Act is a set of statutes, codified collectively, that explains when, how and whether someone can bring a lawsuit against a governmental entity or political subdivision.
The Mississippi Tort Claims Act imposes the following limitations or conditions when pursuing a claim against a government entity or subdivision including:
- All damages when aggregated are capped at $500,000
- Bar on punitive damages
- The Statute of Limitations is only one year from the date of incident resulting in injury
- Trial must be by judge not jury
These limitations combined with the virtually unlimited resources that public entities have to defend personal injury lawsuits makes it essential to retain a law firm with extensive experience handling lawsuits against public entities if you are involved in a Mississippi car accident caused by a hazardous roadway. There are many types of road hazards that can contribute to a serious motor vehicle accident including:
Construction Zones: Construction zones are dangerous and confusing for motorists. There may be misplaced barriers, heavy equipment obstructing travel and debris in the roadway. Many construction projects involve detours that can be confusing particularly because there are so many visual distractions in most work zones.
Edge of the Road Drop-Offs: Many roads have dangerous unsafe drop-offs and lack barriers like guardrails to keep vehicles from dropping off the edge of the roadway. Deterioration of the edge of roadway can cause the pavement to collapse under the tire of a motor vehicle.
Faulty Intersection Geometry: This essentially refers to design defects that may impair visibility or negotiation of turns at an intersection, such as extremely narrow roads or sharp turns.
Unsafe Slopes and Dips: Slopes and dips in the road can impair visibility and sometimes cause a loss of control causing serious collisions.
Visual Obstruction of Intersection: Many times the design or maintenance of a vehicle can result in impaired visibility at an intersection, such as overgrown foliage.
Water Pooling from Poor Road Design: Sometimes road design does not permit proper drainage of rain from the roadway so that water pooling may occur and cause a vehicle to hydroplane. Hydroplaning occurs when a vehicle loses traction with the roadway and floats across the pooled water.
This is a representative list of the types of dangerous road conditions that may cause a motor vehicle accident in Mississippi, but there are many other types of road hazards that may cause serious Mississippi car accidents. If you or a close family member is injured in a Mississippi auto accident, it is important to conduct an investigation and determine the following:
- How long has the unsafe road condition been present?
- Have there been prior accidents caused by the road hazard?
- Were complaints made by other motorists about the hazard?
At Barrett Law, we carefully investigate our client’s accidents so that we can develop the best possible litigation strategy. We invite you to contact Barrett Law so that we can evaluate your Mississippi pool or spa accident claim and advise you of your rights and options. Call us at 662-834-2376.
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