Municipal Negligence and Road Defects

When you pay taxes to your city or township,Additionally, one other hazard from road erosion is
you are paying for your municipality's publicsteep shoulder drop-offs. The shoulders of a road
schools, maintenance of city parks, and othershould provide a safe place for you to pull over in
important things. Additionally, one key part ofcase of an emergency such as a flat tire. With a
your taxes goes to the building and upkeep of thehigh shoulder drop-off, you can damage the
city's roadways. However, sometimes thebottom of your car as well as sustain a blowout
municipality may choose to allocate the moneyon your tires.
elsewhere, which can create dangerous roads andIf there is a high shoulder drop-off, or another
driving hazards that can put you and your lovedsuch hazard on the edge of the roadway, your
ones at risk for serious accidents.municipality should provide protective guardrails. If
There are many things that go into safe,you lose control of your car, guardrails can guide
well-maintained roads. If a road is improperly builtyou and keep you from running off the road,
or maintained, it can quickly lose its smoothnessperhaps into a steep embankment or off the
and become rough and bumpy. Over time, theedge of a precipice.
forces of nature such as wind and water canOne other important part of the roadway system
erode the road base and shoulders. This can resultare the signs. These inform you of upcoming
in problems like uneven pavement and potholes.hazards, such as road construction, as well as
Although these may be mere annoyances at first,show you how to get where you need to go.
they can quickly become worse as more andAdditionally, indicators like yield signs and stop
more drivers hit these spots. When your car hitssigns keep traffic flowing smoothly so that you
uneven pavement or potholes, it can cause autocan avoid wrecks with other vehicles. Without
damage such as suspension problems as well asthese, driving would be chaotic. If signs are
tire weakness. Tire weakness can lead to seriousmissing or unreadable, it can put you and your
issues such as blowouts and rollover accidents.passenger in danger.