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.
