Road safety, maintenance and claims for damages : lessons from cases and investigations

Abstract

Paper presented at the 33rd Annual Southern African Transport Conference 7-10 July 2014 "Leading Transport into the Future", CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa.

Engineers and road safety experts widely recognise poor road condition as contributory factor to crashes. Claims against road authorities have escalated since the capping of the Road Accident Fund payouts. Authorities are reluctant to disclose the number of claims and the cost involved. They frequently settle claims to avoid legal precedents. Road engineers thus do not learn from these claims. Claims for damages reduce the funds available for roads. The aim of this paper is to sensitise road authorities and engineers involved in road management to the legal perspectives on road safety and claims for damages. It gives an engineer's view of aspects of the law that affect road safety management. It discusses the legal duty (duty of care) of road authorities and gives an overview of the principles of Law of Delict. Recent judgments and investigations are discussed to illustrate the lessons to be learnt. Lessons learnt include the society’s expectation of high engineering standards, safe facilities including sidewalks and the need to warn of specific hazardous conditions. The general approach is that ‘’A duty of care towards road users should apply to the controlling public authority unless there is a valid basis for its exclusion. ‘’ Where this legal duty is breached and negligence is proven, damages will be awarded. Typical road failures are surface failures such as potholes and edge drops. However, the failure of services in the road reserve and violated expectation in the road environment can also cause crashes. The paper concludes that road authorities and engineers must understand the legal implications of hazardous road conditions. These often develop due to inadequate systems for inspections and lack of proactive maintenance management. It recommends that all road authorities and engineers involved in design, maintenance and management acquire appropriate legal knowledge, understand the importance of road safety and seek adequate funding to mitigate hazardous conditions instead of paying claims for damages.