Most crashes occur because of driver actions. Speeding, tailgating, and failing to signal cause the vast majority of motor vehicle accidents annually in Pennsylvania.
However, a small percentage of car accidents result from environmental conditions, including road defects. Although road defects in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, cause only a small number of crashes, the consequences can be dire.
If you have been in a car accident due to a road defect, a Harrisburg car accident lawyer from Marzzacco Niven & Associates can help. We have 120+ years of combined experience and have recovered tens of millions of dollars.
Contact our law office at (717) 231-1640 for a free consultation.
How Marzzacco Niven & Associates Can Help After A Car Accident Due To A Road Defect In Harrisburg, PA
Following a crash stemming from negligence, our Harrisburg car accident attorneys will assist you in the following ways:
- Analyzing your accident and injuries
- Preparing your case by collecting records, witness statements, and other evidence
- Filing a claim and negotiating to resolve it quickly and fairly
- Taking your case to court if a fair settlement cannot be reached
Road defect cases in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania may call for lawsuits against the government or other powerful parties. Contact us for a free consultation with a Harrisburg personal injury attorney to learn how we can stand up for your rights.
Common Road Defect Scenarios In Harrisburg
Defective roads can cause or contribute to crashes in the following ways:
- Inadequate structural strength to support vehicles
- Missing or incorrect road signs, such as absent one-way signs
- Broken traffic signals
- Confusing road designs
- Damaged road surfaces
For example, a weather road surface could damage your vehicle’s suspension, which, in turn, could lead to a crash. Similarly, a pothole or rut might cause you to lose control of your vehicle and collide with another car or a fixed object. Another vehicle could even throw broken pavement toward you, damaging your vehicle or causing you to swerve and crash.
Other scenarios result from poor maintenance and repair — missing signs or broken traffic lights can leave intersections uncontrolled, and drivers might be misled into applying the wrong right-of-way rules, leading to an intersection collision.
The state’s car accident statistics don’t identify how many road defect crashes occur. The annual Pennsylvania Crash Facts & Statistics report only identifies weather-related surface conditions, like snow or ice, that may have contributed to incidents; it doesn’t identify other unsafe surface conditions, like potholes or broken guardrails.
What To Know About Liability For Harrisburg Road Defect Crashes
In many cases, the primary contributing factor for a road defect crash was outside the control of any road user. In other words, it’s possible that no one driver is at fault for a road defect crash.
Instead, the liability might fall on the party responsible for building, repairing, or maintaining the road, which can include the following entities:
Private Parties
Some road defect crashes occur on private land. For example, a collision in a parking lot, parking garage, or housing development might fall into this category.
In these cases, you can pursue a negligence claim against the party responsible for the road, such as a homeowners’ association, building owner, or parking structure manager. These parties have a duty to provide reasonably safe premises for guests. When they fail to do so, they may be liable for any resulting injuries.
Government Agencies
Under most circumstances, the government has sovereign immunity from lawsuits. This means that ordinary people are usually barred from suing the government for injuries.
However, Pennsylvania waived its sovereign immunity for injuries resulting from potholes and other dangerous road conditions. Therefore, you can pursue a case against the state or its agencies for natural potholes, sinkholes, or other hazardous conditions.
That said, your attorney must prove that the condition resulted from a reasonably foreseeable risk, and that the agency had knowledge of the dangerous condition and failed to address it.
In other words, agencies in Pennsylvania aren’t obligated to inspect roads for defects that could cause accidents, but they do have a legal duty to repair road defects once they become aware of them.
Drivers
Drivers may also be responsible for crashes resulting from road defects.
For example, suppose that road work caused a road defect, such as a seam in the pavement, and the construction crew places a sign warning of the bump in the road. A driver who ignores or fails to spot the sign and crashes into another vehicle when they hit the bump may be liable for any injuries they cause.
Contact Our Harrisburg Car Accident Lawyers For A Free Consultation
Road defect crashes can lead to injuries that endanger your health and financial stability. Contact Marzzacco Niven & Associates today for a free consultation to learn more about your right to pursue compensation for injuries resulting from defective roads. Our Harrisburg car accident attorneys will provide you with comprehensive legal support.