Legal Implications of Highway Department's Failure to Comply with Design, Safety or Maintenance Guidelines

This paper discusses the legal effect of various highway standards, guidelines, and policies that have been issued for the purpose of improving highway safety. The fact that there are numerous guidelines, any one of more of which may be relevant in an action against the department for a highway defect, is one reason to discuss their legal implications. However, another reason is that the changing characteristics of passenger vehicles, in particular the trend toward smaller and lighter passenger automobiles, may result in some modification of existing guidelines.

• Record URL:
  • http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/nchrp/nchrp_rrd_129.pdf
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
• Authors:
  • Thomas, Larry W
• Publication Date: 1981-10

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: References;
• Pagination: 17p
• Serial:
  • NCHRP Research Results Digest
  • Issue Number: 129
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Compliance; Highway departments; Highway design; Highway maintenance; Highway safety; Legal factors; Liability
• Subject Areas: Highways; Law; Maintenance and Preservation; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01684105
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: NCHRP Project 20-6
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Oct 24 2018 3:25PM