If You Are Involved In a Collision Due To Black Ice on a Highway Where Water Accumulates, an Experienced Car Accident Attorney Should Investigate For Negligent Design of the Roadway Which Permitted the Formation of Black Ice
As winter sets in, there is a dramatic increase in roadway car and truck accidents due to “black ice." Recently a case was settled for $705,000 when an individual driving a pickup truck slid on an approximately 300 foot stretch of black ice resulting in a head on collision with a vehicle traveling in the opposite direction. The catastrophic injuries included blunt trauma to the face, chest, and arms, broken nose, fractured left clavicle, fractured right humerus, fractured left femur, and a fracture of the right patella requiring multiple surgeries. The plaintiff sued the municipality alleging that negligent design of the road permitted the formation of black ice, posing a known hazard to motorists. Plaintiffs contended that the improper design of the roadway and the adjacent culverts caused water from a large paved area to drain into a depression in the road resulting in a pooling of water which was tracked and sprayed across the roadway by passing traffic until it froze to form black ice.
At the experienced Philadelphia car accident law firm of Reiff & Bily, we find that many multi-vehicle accident and single vehicle accidents take place on state and local roads as the result of roadway design defects. Approximately 20% of all vehicle accidents are caused by a roadway defect. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and other local Pennsylvania entities can be held liable for car and truck accidents or injuries that occur as a result of improperly designed or maintained roadways.
The Philadelphia defective roadway design law firm of Reiff & Bily has extensive experience investigating defective roadway cases and have available to them the best team of roadway and highway design experts, engineers, surveyors, illumination, and warning experts, and accident investigators necessary to expose negligence on the part of the responsible bodies or entities for roadway design defects. If you are involved in a collision due to black ice on a highway where water accumulates, an experienced car accident attorney should investigate the roadway for negligent design which permitted the formation of black ice.
