Davis Fixing Local Roads in a New Way
The City of Davis is fixing local roads using a new, collaborative reporting method. With newly released funds designated to help mend damaged pavement on community roads, city officials are relying on residents to use social media in order to report the locations of serious potholes. The city hopes that this effort will help them locate the most problematic areas of local roads. By fixing the areas that community members report themselves, the city is aiming to be as effective as possible at reducing damage to vehicles as well as the number of serious accidents in the city.
The Campaign
This road repair campaign is being funded with $60,000 released from the city government’s general fund. The team repairing the roads is made up of four separate crew members who have already spent the last two months looking over city roads to find defective pavement.
Davis officials indicated that the community response over social media was huge after residents were asked to identify the areas of the road they thought most needed repairing. According to the city, over 400 potholes have been identified since the initial post was made.
City official Adrienne Heinig told reporters that, because Davis is a large town, “we don’t necessarily know where all of them (the potholes) are located.”
Pavement Issues and Car Accidents
The quality of asphalt has a big impact on the number of accidents that take place in a particular area. If a pothole or crack is large enough, it can cause a vehicle or bicycle to suddenly veer, resulting in a serious accident. This is especially dangerous for cyclists, who can easily lose their balance if one of their tires hits an obstacle.
In other cases, damaged pavement can cause roadway users to drive more erratically. Avoiding a pothole or large crack often means swerving back and forth or driving in more than one lane of the road for a short period of time. Both of these maneuvers can increase the chance of serious collisions, especially if other dangerous factors are involved.
Roadway Defects and Liability
Cities have a responsibility to make sure that public roads are safe. For this reason, when defective pavement causes accidents, the government entity responsible for maintaining the roadway is often considered fully or partly at-fault for the crash. This means that people who have been injured during these collisions can seek to hold these government entities responsible for damages suffered during the accident.
However, it’s important to know that personal injury cases involving government entities are treated differently. Crucially, these cases need to be filed within 180 days, or six months, of the date of the accident. This is a dramatically shorter time-frame than for normal injury cases, which can usually be filed anytime within two years. While the stated reason for the shorter time period is to give governments a chance to fix any dangerous issues, it effectively gives them a legal advantage over collision survivors.
To make sure that you and your family can claim the full amount of compensation you deserve from government bodies and other at-fault parties, it’s best to get advice from a Davis car accident lawyer as soon as you possibly can.
Other Blogs from Davis Car Accident Lawyer, Ed Smith
Davis Car Accident Lawyer
I’m Ed Smith, a Davis car accident lawyer. Car accidents are often very serious. If you’ve suffered injuries in a collision, call (530) 392-9400 or (800) 404-5400 for free, friendly case advice.
My team and I have been working with people in Davis for over 38 years. See our history of settlements and verdicts to learn more about our work. Also, take a look at our client reviews on:
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