How Potholes and Bad Roads Cause Crashes in Oklahoma
Car accidents in Oklahoma City are not always caused by collisions between vehicles. According to a report by road safety experts, an alarming 30% of traffic accidents with fatalities are caused by dangerous road surfaces, including potholes. The same report states that Oklahoma City fills as many as 90,000 potholes each year.
Potholes are more than just unsightly; they also cause property damage to tires, wheels, and car suspension, costing U.S. drivers an alarming $26.5 billion in vehicle repair costs in a single recent year. Worse, potholes sometimes cause serious and deadly car accident injuries.
How Do Potholes Form?
Potholes are holes or small pits that develop on roadways. All road surface types are vulnerable to pothole development. Potholes form from a combination of wear and tear from traffic, which weakens the road surface, and natural soil erosion from weather conditions and earth movement below the road’s surface.
Freezing and melting water in cold weather conditions expands and contracts inside the road materials, weakening the surface structure. In warmer climates, rainfall weakens the soil below the road, eroding the road’s support and allowing depressions to develop below the road’s surface. A depressed area under the road lacks adequate support for the weight of traffic, causing a pothole to appear.
How Do Potholes Cause Car Accidents in Oklahoma City?
When temperature changes, water, soil erosion, and traffic weight combine to cause potholes on Oklahoma roadways, it presents serious dangers to motorists. A pothole in the road can cause an Oklahoma City car accident in one of the following ways:
- Hitting a pothole at high speed can cause a driver to lose control of their vehicle
- Potholes sometimes cause tire blowout accidents
- Swerving to avoid a pothole can cause a collision with another car or an obstacle
- Rear-end collisions sometimes occur when a driver brakes abruptly to avoid hitting a pothole, and a vehicle in the rear lacks adequate stopping time
Potholes also cause damage to vehicle parts and systems, such as wheels, exhaust systems, and brakes, leading to future accidents.
In some of the worst cases, the loss of vehicle control caused by a pothole results in a driver hitting a pedestrian or bicyclist, ending in severe or catastrophic injuries.
Who Is Liable for Damages In a Pothole Accident In Oklahoma?
Oklahoma has fault-based car accident laws, requiring an injured motorist to file claims against one or more liable parties after an accident. In most car accident claims in Oklahoma, the liable party is another driver whose careless, reckless, or wrongful action caused the accident.
After an accident caused by a pothole, the car accident claim process may have different timelines and requirements compared to typical car accident claims because the claim is often made against a government entity, typically a city or county road maintenance agency. In some car accident cases, injury victims file claims against both a road maintenance agency and a negligent driver.
For instance, if a driver swerves to avoid a pothole or other hazardous road condition and causes a collision, both the negligent road maintenance agency and the driver who made a careless error share liability for the accident victim’s damages.
How Can an Oklahoma City Car Accident Attorney Help?
An experienced Oklahoma City car accident lawyer investigates all aspects of the vehicle accident and pursues compensation for an injury victim from all those who caused or contributed to the accident. Call Dan Davis Law at (405) 930-4210 to schedule a free consultation with a car accident attorney today.