Poor Road Conditions

The cause of car accidents is many. One of the causes can be poor or dangerous road conditions. After a brutal winter like Illinois has experienced this year, the streets, roads and highways have been damaged because of extreme temperatures, ice, snow and rain leaving the streets with potholes and deep ridges. This road condition can cause serious crashes resulting in serious injuries.

If you were injured in a car crash that was caused by poor road conditions or dangerous conditions, contact the experienced attorneys at Kreisman Law Offices for a free and immediate consultation.

In addition to potholes and deep ridges caused by extreme weather, snow, ice and rain, car accidents can be caused because of dangerous road conditions at intersections because of high volume of traffic and because of negligent driving.

Some areas in Illinois have received record of snowfall. That condition alone may be a contributing factor to poor road conditions that can cause serious injuries in car accidents.

In some cases, motorists in an attempt to avoid a deep ridge or pothole cause a crash with another vehicle. That act can cause a car to rollover or collide with other motorists. Sometimes these maneuvers by motorists are negligently done causing injury to others.

Many serious car and truck crashes are caused because of dangerous payment drop-offs. A pavement or a road shoulder drop-off is one where because of a defect in the road construction, deterioration or unusually large elevation differences with the pavement the elevations between the road and shoulder is significant and particularly dangerous to all motorists and too often motorcyclists, smaller cars and tractors pulling trailers. Sometimes the drop-off width between the road surface the adjacent shoulder is the same width as the roadway itself. In other words, the road work has a surface and layers of subsurface making up the road, but there is no corresponding width that lies next to the road—the shoulder where the drop-off lies. That is the shoulder area is not elevated to meet the surface of the newly paved or repaved highway or roadway.

Many shoulders off of Illinois roads are not paved at all or may consist or gravel or just grass which can be rutted by heavy loads from truck, trailers, tractors and larger cars and SUVs.

Drop-off accidents, rollovers and crashes occur when a motorist leaves the road for any reason, but encounters this sudden vertical drop-off that may startle and alarm the driver making it commonplace to take an unexpected turn or maneuver that causes a loss of control of the vehicle. When a driver instinctively tries to re-enter the roadway, the tires of the vehicle will rub the side surface of the road pavement because of the drop-off. This may lead the driver to aggressively attempt to re-enter the highway, steering abruptly into the road and perhaps into the pave of unknowing driver of another moving vehicle.

Illinois and many or other states require certain depth of temporary drop-off heights while the road undergoes construction or resurfacing. Some states would not allow a temporary drop-off of more than just 2 inches.

In addition, new safety advances have called on states to require temporary drop-offs to be tapered. That is most safety experts would agree that if there must be a drop-off between the road and the shoulder, if the tapering between surfaces were 30 degrees from horizontal, a driver in most circumstances would be able to recover control of the vehicle if it were necessary to suddenly and abruptly leave the highway surface and move to the shoulder.

In some road construction conditions, the roadway is being resurfaced while the shoulder is left as is. This causes drop-offs and may remain a drop-off even after road work has been completed.

Poor road conditions and drop-offs have been a major source of deadly crashes in Illinois. It is critically important that road and highway drivers be alert at all times, but they should be acutely aware of the possibilities that road surface defects and drop-offs pose very dangerous and too often deadly consequences if unprepared for such events.

If you or someone you know have been injured in a poor condition roadway or highway car, motorcycle or truck accident, please call us for a free immediate consultation. Robert Kreisman of Kreisman Law Offices has been handling Chicago and Illinois car and truck accidents for more than 40 years. It is vitally important that an experienced lawyer be engaged as soon as possible to make sure that evidence is preserved. In truck, car, motorcycle and bicycle accidents, videotape, 911 calls, witnesses, the black box and the like must be discovered and preserved. This evidence can be the turning point in proving the negligence of another driver.

Kreisman Law Offices has prevailed in trials and settlements in Chicago, Illinois and surrounding areas and successfully resolved cases for severely injured clients for over these many years.

With our years of experience in trying and settling automobile accident cases, Kreisman Law Offices provides the best possible services to our clients and have achieved unsurpassed results. Our service is unmatched. Please call us 24 hours a day at 312.346.0045 or toll free 800.583.8002 for a free and immediate consultation, or complete a contact form online. There is no charge for a consultation that will include an evaluation of your case, assessment of your damages such as lost income, lost wages, medical and hospital bills, past and future pain and suffering, loss of normal life and wrongful death.