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Resources from the Transportation Library

Tort Liability

General Reading

Tort Liability of Highway Agencies

Selected Studies in Transportation Law, Volume 4
Transportation Research Board, NCHRP CRP-CD-20 2003. 140 pages.

Provides background information and cites more than 150 legal cases involving tort liability of public transportation agencies. It describes situations such as pavement defects, icy bridges and trees blocking roads that give rise to such liability. It outlines defenses for discretionary activity involving road maintenance, guardrails and barriers, and traffic control devices, and defenses in tort actions. It describes trial preparation, evidence rules and strategies, including admissibility of evidence. It addresses shifting or sharing liability among the transportation department and others.

Transportation Tort Law

Jay L. Smith, Lawrence A. Durant, Norman N. Hill, Charles Raymond Lewis II
TR News, November 1999. Pages 24-26, 37.

Outlines in brief the evolution of transportation tort law that has accompanied the weakening of the doctrine of sovereign immunity and describes how technical innovations will influence the law.

For Transit Operators

Identifying and Reducing Fraudulent Third Party Tort Claims against Public Transit Agencies

gulliver.trb.org/publications/tcrp/tsyn36.pdf
M. P. Maier, Transportation Research Board
TCRP Synthesis of Transit Practice No. 36, 2000. 66 pages.

Describes fraudulent claims as an aspect of risk management. Lists preventative measures to identify and minimize loss exposure, and response-oriented measures for examining risk treatment alternatives and selecting the best risk management techniques. Includes many examples.

For Highway and Local Road Agencies

Roadway Defects and Tort Liability

John C. Glennon
Lawyers & Judges Publishing Company 1996. 540 pages.

Written as a safety toolbox for roadway agencies, notes that the acts or omissions of public agencies are often legally weighed against those of drivers involved in accidents. Chapters address standards, accident circumstances, technical aspects of roadway defects cases, and typical defense arguments.

Managing Product Liability to Achieve Highway Innovations

Gary L. Gittings and John W. Bagby
NCHRP Synthesis of Highway Practice 265, 1998. 69 pages.

Identifies tort liability experience of public agencies involved in introducing new products to the highway market. Presents details on the litigation risks of highway innovation, the perceptions of public agency and private sector personnel, and the state-of-the-art methods to confront litigation risks. Includes a general tort and product liability overview.

Liability of Highway Departments for Damages Caused by Stormwater Runoff

Larry W. Thomas
NCHRP Legal Research Digest No. 40 1998. 22 pages.

Discusses the general rules applicable to liability for surface water runoff and outlines the applicable liability rule in each state. Notes that the rule of reasonable use is now the majority rule.

Practical Safety Tool for Local Low-Volume Rural Roads:

The Road Safety Audit Review
Eugene M. Wilson and Marin E. Lipinski
Transportation Research Record 1819, v.1, pp. 225-230.

Presents a methodology appropriate for local agencies to perform road safety audits that analyze the safety aspects of plans and designs before project completion. Having an audit may protect agencies from tort liability since it establishes a record of the organization's safety agenda.

How a Good Traffic Engineering Program Can Help Defend Public Agencies

R. F. Beaubien
Institute of Transportation Engineers Annual Meeting 2001. 5 pages.

Shows that public agencies with ongoing programs to identify crash locations, analyze crash causes, and develop responses to safety concerns can provide a defense against charges that they have ignored "dangerous locations."

Defining a Road Safety Audits Program for Enhancing Safety and Reducing Tort Liability

Roger S. Owers and Eugene M. Wilson
Mountain-Plains Consortium 2000. 85 pages.

Examines how the road safety audit concept might be accepted in the current legal environment and provides guidelines for its use as a tool in managing tort liability.

Videos

Available at www.techtransfer.berkeley.edu/videos

Reducing Tort Liability in California Work Zones

Technology Transfer Program
Tech Transfer Video Library CD-656 or VH-656
2004. Runtime: 1 hour, 7 minutes.

Teaches members of road crews how to avoid liability. Emphasis is on reducing agency exposure to liability by knowing, planning with, and applying all current standards and practices, and documenting traffic control plans, and, in the event of an incident or crash, documenting all the details. Complimentary copies of this video are also available to California's public sector transportation employees at www.techtransfer.berkeley.edu/freestuff.

Risk Management and Tort Liability on the Roadways:
What You Need to Know to Protect Your Agency

American Public Works Association
Tech Transfer Video Library CD-635
2002. Runtime: 2 hours.

Provides an understanding of common liability issues that street departments and highway agencies face. Teaches key legal concepts that relate to the liability of roadway agencies from a risk management standpoint.

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