Dangerous Roads

In a serious car accident, it’s easy to blame the other driver, but many traffic collisions can be caused by a number of factors, including unsafe road design and poorly maintained roads. When you’re injured in a car collision, it’s useful to consult with a Westchester County car accident attorney, who can investigate your accident and find all liable parties. Pursuing all liable parties can give you a better chance of securing fair compensation that covers more of your losses.

If you’d like to discuss your car accident and injuries, you can do so by contacting The Law Office of Mark A. Siesel for a free, confidential consultation. Our law firm has extensive resources, including a network of engineers, accident reconstruction experts, private investigators, and other professionals who can establish exactly what caused your accident. We also get results. Just ask us in your free consultation and we’ll be happy to share the kinds of results we’ve gotten for other clients.

How Do Dangerous Road Accidents Happen?

Dangerous roads can contribute to car accidents by creating conditions that make it harder for drivers to navigate safely. Unsafe roads can increase the risk of multi-car collisions but can also create conditions for single-vehicle crashes.

Poor road design is one of the main factors that can create dangerous roads. Sharp turns, steep inclines, poor visibility, insufficient signage, and narrow lanes can all create dangerous conditions. It is expected that engineers create safe roads by taking into consideration the road’s users and needs. When engineers place a road near a large natural obstruction, such as a hill, creating a blind turn, or when they create sharp turns or steep roads, they may be creating the risk of more accidents. Poor road design can especially be visible on intersections. When intersections have poor lights, sharp turns, or inadequate room, they can become “high collision” areas, where accidents happen regularly.

Another critical factor is road surface conditions. Potholes, cracks, and uneven pavement can cause a vehicle to lose traction or can cause a driver to lose control of their car, particularly in adverse weather conditions. Wet, icy, or snow-covered roads are also hazardous because they reduce tire grip, causing accidents even at lower speeds. It is expected that municipalities will choose surface materials that provide adequate traction in all seasons.

It is also expected that municipalities will hire companies to make sure roads are correctly maintained. Poorly maintained roads can accumulate debris, such as rocks, branches, or tire fragments. This debris can obstruct traffic, cause tire blowouts, or force drivers to swerve unexpectedly, increasing the risk of collisions. Poor maintenance can also lead to potholes and other road surface problems that can cause damage to cars and even crashes.

Another big part of road safety is signage and lighting. On unlit roads, especially at night, visibility can be severely limited, making it difficult to spot pedestrians, animals, or other vehicles. Inadequate or faded lane markings can also confuse drivers, leading to wrong-way driving collisions. Insufficient signage or malfunctioning lights can also cause confusion among drivers, leading to collisions.

What Do I Need to Know About Dangerous Road Claims?

If your injuries were caused in part by dangerous roads, you will want to work with an experienced attorney because these cases can be much more complex. Governments, including municipal governments that are responsible for roads, enjoy added protections under the law. To sue a government in New York state, you need to file a “notice of claim” within 90 days of the accident. The notice of claim outlines the details of the accident, your name, how you have been injured, and the names of your lawyers. 90 days is not very much time to file, so it is very important to contact a car accident attorney immediately if you suspect your accident was caused by road design issues.

Another challenge with these claims is that there are often multiple liable parties. Most municipalities hire separate contractors or construction companies to complete road work, design roads, perform road maintenance, and clean roads. These companies may also be liable parties in your claim. An experienced attorney can review the details of your case to determine how much each party is responsible for your injuries and aggressively pursue each party to secure fair compensation in your case.

How Dangerous Are Roads in New York?

In New York State and throughout the country, the highways and local roads are frequently in a significant state of disrepair, leading to numerous serious car crashes and many fatalities. Further, many of the roadways in New York were built 50 or 75 years ago, when cars were smaller, slower, and traffic was much less congested. For example, the entrance and exit ramps on the Saw Mill River Parkway and Bronx River Parkway are simply not built for modern traffic. They were constructed in the early 20th century and completed by the 1950s, long before the advent of cars that can travel at speeds over 120 mph, driven by aggressive and distracted drivers texting and on their cell phones.

The roads in New York State, and particularly so in Westchester County where our offices are located, are often under construction, adding to the dangers motorists confront. Construction sites are not properly designated, and slow moving construction vehicles are not sufficiently illuminated to warn drivers that they need to slow down to avoid accidents. There are insufficient guardrails, and inadequate barriers and shoulders (or sometimes no shoulder at all). Many roads in New York have inadequate signage or safety markings leading to many serious personal injury accidents.

Another major problem on the highways and local roads are aggressive, distracted, and inexperienced drivers, who are often driving while they are on cell phones or texting, and are following too closely, weaving in and out of lanes at high speeds, attempting to groom themselves while driving, or more recently paying attention to their GPS devices rather than the road in front of them. Distracted driving is an unfortunate fact of life in the 21st century, and this worsening problem is causing serious accidents and deaths on the roadways.

Contact The Law Office of Mark A. Siesel Today If You’ve Been Injured

At The Law Office of Mark A. Siesel in White Plains, New York, we have the experience, knowledge, background, and resources to fight the insurance companies to obtain the maximum possible compensation for our clients by way of settlement, mediation, arbitration or trial. We prepare each of our cases as if it will be litigated through trial, but seek to resolve our clients’ cases as expeditiously as possible so that the client is compensated fairly and completely for their injuries, lost earnings, past and future medical and hospital bills, and loss of enjoyment of life. Our founder, Mark A. Siesel, upon commencing his legal career in 1986, litigated many hundreds of cases for defendants as well as plaintiffs before representing only injured plaintiffs in the late 1990’s. Thus we have the advantage of knowing how insurance companies evaluate cases, how they “reserve claims” (meaning how they place a certain value on a claim from the moment it is initiated), and how insurance companies will often evaluate a case as much on the experience and reputation of the attorney as on the fault of their insured and the injuries suffered by the plaintiff. Our firm has the reputation that if a fair offer is not made to compensate our clients for all of their injuries, we will take that case to trial.

Our White Plains, New York law firm office provides dedicated, aggressive, and comprehensive representation to make sure our clients obtain all the maximum possible compensation. If you are injured as a result of a distracted or aggressive driver, or due to a dangerous or defective roadway, before you sign or settle anything with an insurance company, please contact our firm. Contact us online or call us at (914) 428-7386 to set up a free consultation. Our offices serve White Plains, Westchester County, and all of New York.