Wrong Way Driver: Is the State to Blame?

Wrong Way Driver: Is the State to Blame?

The state has a duty to construct and maintain its highways in reasonably safe condition and to warn its users of existing hazards. A public corporation may be liable for failing to post signs affording specific and timely warning to motorists where uncommon dangers exist, so long as it has ample notice of the hazardous condition.

In order to recover, a claimant must show that: the public corporation's failure to install warning devices was negligent under the circumstances; this omission was a contributing cause of the mishap; and there was no reasonable basis for the public corporation's inaction.

The posting of warning signs is a discretionary act for which a municipality has limited immunity. A public corporation cannot be found liable for failing to give a warning where there is no evidence that there were hazardous conditions in the area of the accident, that the dangerous conditions were foreseeable, or that the posted signs were inadequate to alert the claimant of the danger. Moreover, a public entity is not liable where the lack of a warning sign, or its placement, even if negligent, was not the proximate cause of the accident.

In Mickle v. New York State Thruway Authority, 182 Misc. 2d 967, 701 N.Y.S.2d 782 (Ct. Cl. 1999), the claimant sued the Thruway Authority after he crashed his car heading in the wrong direction on Rte 787, which is an extension of the New York State Thruway, north of Albany. The claimant alleged that he did not realize that he was traveling in the wrong direction and that the entrance to the highway from the toll plaza where he entered was confusing. He pointed to proof from a civil engineer that indicated that the roadway where the accident happened was particularly confusing because there was almost 15 signs present at the location, only one of which was a "Do Not Enter" sign, coupled with the fact that the unmarked lane of traffic he was supposed to be following veered sharply to the right and there was no jersey barrier separating the northbound and southbound traffic. Thus, the engineer opined that traveling in the wrong direction was a strong possibility and likely under the circumstances. The Court found that the State was 60% at fault for the accident.

In short, it is possible to sue the State (or any local municipality) for failing to adaquetly warn about a well-known danger, such as when a driver enters a highway heading in the wrong direction. The key, however, is show that the danger was so obvious that the State should have done something about it.