NEW YORK COURT FINDS THAT DEFECTIVE SHOULDER CAUSED DEATH IN AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENT

An Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court reversed a lower court judgment which favored the State of New York in a negligence case resulting in the death of a passenger of an automobile which overturned. The driver of the vehicle was travelling along the highway with two passengers, an adult in the front seat and a child in the rear, during severe winds and under heavy traffic conditions. He swerved to compensate for the winds and as a result, two left-side wheels left the pavement and dropped onto the shouler. When he attempted to return to the pavement, the car began to flip over into the grassy median. The front seat pasenger was thrown from the vehicle and was killed. His widow contended that the 9-inch ditch on the shoulder caused the vehicle to overturn, thereby causing her husband to be killed. Testimony by two experienced police officers, supported the drivers account that the vehicle began turning over after it had left the paved roadway and not while it was on the paved surface. The appeals court decided that the physical facts and the experience of the two officers supported the widow's claim of negligence against the State of New York and remanded the case to the Court of Claims for the awarding of damages. Hanna v. State 544 N.Y.S.2d 85 (A.D. 3 Dept. 1989)

• Availability:
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• Corporate Authors:

  TranSafety, Incorporated

  5811 Oak Leather Drive
  Burke, VA  United States  22015
• Publication Date: 1990-5

Media Info

• Pagination: p. 1-2
• Serial:
  • TRANSAFETY REPORTER
  • Volume: 8
  • Issue Number: 5
  • Publisher: TranSafety, Incorporated
  • ISSN: 0884-612X

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Automobiles; Defects; Driver performance; Drivers; Fatalities; Liability; Personnel performance; Road shoulders; Rollover crashes; Wind
• Geographic Terms: New York (State)
• Subject Areas: Highways; Law; Pavements; Safety and Human Factors; I23: Properties of Road Surfaces; I82: Accidents and Transport Infrastructure;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00496958
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Aug 31 1990 12:00AM