Midtown Neighborhood Gets Improved Pedestrian, Cyclist Safety
Atlanta just approved a plan for a new bike and pedestrian corridor, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. The project to prevent car accidents would widen sidewalks and improve intersections in the Midtown neighborhood. The changes would affect Juniper and Spring streets between Ponce de Leon Avenue and 14th Street. Intersections will get new crosswalk signals, repainted crosswalks and anti-skid surfacing.
Cyclist Deaths on the Rise
Juniper Street will also receive a barrier-separated bike lane, The number of lanes on the street will be reduced from four to two. Many of these improvements are intended to improve safety for cyclists. They need all the help they can get: according to the National Highway Transit Safety Administration, over 700 cyclists died in car accidents in 2013, and over 48,000 were injured. Bicycle fatalities increased every year from 2011-2013.
Savannah Cyclist Survivors Sue City over Road Conditions
If dangerous road conditions lead to a bicycle accident, who is responsible? It may be the city. A cyclist’s family sued the city of Savannah last month after dangerous road conditions lead to an accident that killed the cyclist. Her bicycle hit a crack in the road that caused her to fall off of her bicycle onto the road, where she was run over by a dump truck, WSAV Savannah reports. The driver was following the rules of the road, and did not face any criminal charges.
Cities Might Be Liable for Bad Roads
In Georgia, the law requires government entities to exercise reasonable care to prevent injury. However, they are immune from liability as long as they are fulfilling their duties as described by the law. However, Georgia courts have previously held that a government agency may be held liable if they fail to carry out their duties as described by law. Specifically, if a state agency fails to maintain roads to specifications in the Georgia Code, they may be liable for damages in a negligence lawsuit. This means that in some cases, the city or state may have to pay damages for an accident caused by poor road conditions if they failed to maintain the roads as the state law requires.
The Georgia Code provides a specific immunity for state and city governments against lawsuits that seek to hold the government liable for road designs that lead to car accidents. For the government to benefit from this immunity, they need to prove that the road was designed according to generally-accepted engineering principles. If they fail to do so, they might be liable for a road redesign that leads to accidents.
Get Legal Assistance
If you or someone you know has been in a car, bicycle or pedestrian accident, you need legal advice. Get in touch with a car accident attorney at Williams Elleby Howard & Easter today and get the compensation you deserve.
