Our rural roads are dangerous and pose an unacceptably high risk of a fatal crash.
According to federal traffic fatality statistics, almost half of the nation’s fatal motor vehicle accidents happen on rural roadways. In 2018, 46% of all U.S. traffic fatalities happened on roadways deemed “rural.”
In response to these realities, the United States Department of Transportation just announced its new project, called the “Rural Opportunities to Use Transportation for Economic Success Initiative,” or “ROUTES” for short.
In the October 9, 2019 announcement, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao explained:
“Rural America, which has a disproportionately high rate of fatalities and is historically neglected, needs to have its transportation needs addressed.”
This is a particularly important issue to address for our part of the country, because so much of the roads of Illinois and Indiana are rural roadways. These rural routes move through small towns or counties that may not have the wherewithal to do proper repair and maintenance on the roadway.
For more, read the growing concerns of Illinois county engineers in “Neglect of Local Roads Growing, Say County Engineers,” written by Mary Hansen and published by NPR on February 28, 2019.
Poorly maintained roadways and rural routes in need of repair because of cracks, potholes, or other flaws can cause serious and fatal motor vehicle accidents.
Thousands of Miles of Rural Roads in Indiana and Illinois
Indiana’s Department of Transportation reports there are over 12,000 miles of major roadways in the Hoosier State, offering travel on Interstates, as well as U.S. and State Routes. An amazing 66,000 miles of county roads also exist in Indiana; so many that the DOT does not bother to include these county roads on the official state highway map, “because there’s just too many of them.”
Illinois tallies around 147,000 miles of roads within its borders, made up of highways, streets, and other types of roadways. Illinois roads run the gamut from those nicely paved (think the interstate), to those covered with gravel or stone, or some made simply of dirt.
Poor road conditions are more likely to be found on the rural roads of Indiana and Illinois. Deteriorating roadways are dangerous.
Poor Road Conditions and the Increased Danger of a Serious or Fatal Accident
A variety of government entities are responsible for building, maintaining, and repairing our roads. Depending upon the particular stretch of roadway, the state government may have the duty of care or the responsibility for that road may fall to the county, city, or township.
Road repair and maintenance budgets may not be big enough to cover the needs of rural roads (urban roads often get preference here), leading Illinois and Indiana drivers driving along rural routes to face the risk of:
- Cracks in the road surface;
- Rebar that has become exposed over time;
- Sinkholes;
- Potholes; and
- Wavy road surfaces (uneven roadway).
Drivers of large commercial trucks (big rigs, semis, tractor-trailers, 18-wheelers) driving on rural routes are at high risk of a severe accident when faced with these types of high-risk road conditions. However, the driver of any size and weight of motor vehicle is also in danger of a deadly crash caused by the deteriorated or improperly maintained rural road.
Claims for Justice for Victims of Rural Road Condition Accidents
Victims of a serious or fatal motor vehicle accident on a rural road in Indiana or Illinois must consider the possibility that the crash was caused by poor road conditions. Sometimes, these circumstances are self-evident at the crash site, as for example where a crack in the road surface is obvious to everyone and described in the police report.
However, in other situations it may be necessary to investigate the event in detail. It may be that an expert’s accident reconstruction analysis reveals how the rural road’s poor condition resulted in the fatal crash or serious accident. Perhaps a rural route’s pothole did not seem so serious to the local authorities, but it proved deadly when the minivan’s wheel hit the pothole at 60 mph causing a tire blowout and a deadly accident.
In rural road accident claims, there may also be a need for special steps to be taken in order to assert personal injury claims against those who failed in their duty of care for keeping the rural road safe for travelers. If a government agency or entity (county, city, state) is involved, then specific statutes may need to be followed in order to move past the standard “sovereign immunity” defenses that protect taxpayer dollars against civil claims.
Rural road accident victims may be able to find justice in Indiana and Illinois after a serious or fatal crash on a rural road caused by that road’s poor repair or lack of maintenance. In some instances, the planning of the rural route itself may prove to be a contributing factor to a deadly accident. These rural road accident cases must be carefully investigated and meticulously advocated when government defendants are involved because of their legal liability for failing keep the roads safe for those driving upon them.
For more, read:
- The High Risk of a Deadly Crash on Rural Roads in Indiana and Illinois;
- Fatal Car Crashes: 10 Times More Likely to Die on Rural Roads; and
- Deadly Rural Road Accidents in Indiana and Illinois.
Driving rural roads can be dangerous here in our part of the country. Budgets may not have provided for needed repair and upkeep of our rural routes. Please be careful out there!
