Roads - successful ongoing negligence claims

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From previous discussions here in relation to various crashes and talk of 'negligence', comes this story. It relates to vandalised and worn soundwall and worn and rusted barbed wire side fencing used to keep pedestrians away from the roadway.

This example also adds weight, yet again, to my assertion that road authorities are, rightly, responsible for the prudent management and maintenance of their resources and the 'standards' they apply to them, AND which can of themselves be called into question,- if they are seemingly second-class.

All in the same way that we as car owners are held responsible in our actions when driving or stopped.

From The Herald, Saturday April 8, 2006.

A WOMAN who was struck and injured by twp cars on a freeway has successfully sued the NSW Roads & Traffic Authority for more than $200,000.

Nicole Edson won the judgment in the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal despite a ruling that she was 'tresspassing' at the time she was struck on the F5 freeway, in Sydney's west, in 1998.

Ms Edson, who was 13 at the time, was one of about 25,000 each year who crossed the freeway between the suburbs of Raby and St Andrews.

Ms Edison's pelvis was fractured when she was struck on August 28, 1998. She could be required in later life to have a hip replacement.

The court awarded Ms Edson $231,914, but it also recognised she was at some fault.

It found the RTA had breached its duty of care in maintaining a sound barrier and fence, through which pedestrians passed to cross the freeway.