Reasons That The County May Be Negligent In A Rollover Accident

When you're in a car accident that results in serious damage to your vehicle and an injury to you, you may get some satisfaction from being able to take legal action against another party. In many situations, the other party will be the driver who perhaps ran into you from behind or sped through a red light and T-boned you in the driver's side door. 

Not every accident involves a second vehicle, however. Sometimes, you can roll your vehicle without another motorist being involved. Many rollover accidents are the driver's fault, but you may have a legitimate claim to take legal action versus the county in these situations.

Damaged Or Missing Guardrail

In areas in which the ground slopes away from the road, the county will almost always install a guardrail. In the event that someone's vehicle careens off the road, the guardrail is designed to catch the vehicle and keep it from rolling down the hill. If you've had a rollover accident, it's possible that the guardrail was either damaged, faulty, or missing altogether. Your car accident attorney can even hire an automotive expert who can testify that the presence of a structurally sound guardrail would have prevented the rollover and your injury.

Unsafe Shoulder

The shoulder that runs alongside a road should be a safe place in which to stop a vehicle. Unfortunately, shoulders don't always meet this characteristic, and it's possible that an unsafe shoulder could have compounded your accident. For example, if the shoulder was in poor repair — perhaps full of potholes, rife with loose gravel, or sloped in an unsafe manner, it may have caused your vehicle to roll down the hill leading away from the road.

Bad Road Conditions With No Warnings

While motorists are responsible for driving safely regardless of the specific road conditions that they face, the county has a responsibility to provide warning when conditions are poor. It's possible that sub-par road conditions were a contributing factor to you losing control of the vehicle and rolling it. 

For example, if there was a low point in the road next to a river that often rises in the spring, the county should have signs warning motorists that the road is often flooded in this area. If such signs aren't present, it's possible that you could have hit the water, lost control, and rolled off the road. If any of these scenarios were present, your auto accident attorney may feel confident in moving forward with your case.

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