According to federal data, more than a quarter of all fatal crashes in the United States occur on curved roads. This occurs despite the fact that curves represent a tiny share of the total miles of roads in the U.S. The change in direction creates a variety of physics challenges that fundamentally make it harder for drivers to compensate in time. Throw in bad weather and unexpected events, and a curve becomes a source of serious injuries and even deaths.
Why Drivers Struggle to negotiate Curves
Vehicle safety ultimately comes down to maintaining friction between the tires and the road. The outward pull of any curve naturally reduces tire contact with the road. Consequently, this makes it harder for the driver to compensate by steering. Likewise, the braking system has a harder time transferring stopping power into the tires to bring the vehicle to a halt.
Factor in the added grip needed to maintain friction. Doubling of speed requires a quadrupling of grip to maintain traction. Tires wear down, meaning a car that once had the grip needed to navigate a curve might not have that grip months later.
All of this gets more complicated when we account for road lanes. On a two-lane, divided roadway, opposing vehicles face challenges simultaneously in a curve. Adding lanes, such as on expressways, also makes a curve sketchier, as the vehicles to the side of your lane can limit a driver’s margin of error.
Curves require motorists to judge speed, and the best time to judge a curve is before you ever get into it. If a driver misjudges a curve before they enter it, it can be hard to reduce throttle and brake while the car wants to pull with the curve. At a very high rate of speed, especially in a vehicle that rides high, this can even trigger a rollover accident.
Notably, highway departments do post signs warning people of reduced speeds going into curves. However, these postings present challenges, too. Sometimes, plant overgrowth masks the signage. In other cases, the signs may be close to the curve, limiting a driver’s reaction time.
In rural areas, the drop from the speed limit to the curve speed can be radical, too. On a 45-mph stretch, you might come up on a tight elbow with a yellow sign for 15 mph. People particularly have trouble picking up these signs at night because high beams can reflect off them and make them hard to read.
Curves tend to exist where the surrounding geography limits visibility, too. Curves often are places where the highway department elected to route around something like a hill, a large tree, or a building. You oftentimes have to negotiate half of a curve before you can even see what might be approaching from the opposite direction. Throw in animals, road debris, and pedestrians, and curves get genuinely scary.
Weather and road conditions are frequent factors in car accidents, but they play an even bigger role at a curve. Rain, ice, gravel, and even fall leaves can significantly reduce a road’s coefficient of friction. Many curves have poor lighting, too.
What Makes Injuries More Severe at Curves
About three-quarters of fatal accidents at curves involve a single vehicle, which tells you a lot about how much the curve is the culprit. Cars go off the road, strike buildings, hit rocks and utility poles, or simply roll over. Unsurprisingly, a large majority of these accidents occur in rural areas and along two-lane, undivided roadways. Such curves often have narrower shoulders and fewer guardrails. Likewise, accidents in rural areas almost always lead to longer response times by EMTs.
Overcorrection is another notable factor. Drivers often feel the loss of traction and try to regain it by reacting. This triggers oversteering that can make an accident worse. This is especially true in semi-trucks with trailers, but it also occurs more often in high-riding vehicles like SUVs and pickups. As SUVs have become the default vehicles on U.S. roads, curves have become more dangerous.
These violent incidents often lead to more severe injuries. Traumatic brain injuries are more common at curves, as are paralyzing spinal injuries. Crush injuries are more frequent, too, because of rollovers. People can suffer extensive fractures and even internal organ damage.
Legal Liability in an Accident at a Curve
People often assume the rate of one-vehicle accidents at curves makes the driver liable for their injuries. However, an experienced car accident lawyer like those at Curcio Law can help you determine if a government entity or a contractor might be at fault. Cities, counties, and states have a responsibility to keep signage and markings clear on the road. They also have a duty to address problems with drainage and road damage.
Notably, pursuing action against the government is trickier than bringing a case against another driver. Many governments grant themselves shorter statutory limits for being sued. This means you need to get counsel sooner and file your case faster if you believe you’ll bring a claim against the government.
Contractors also have responsibilities when they construct curves. Engineering failures that prove dangerous can lead to claims against the parties that designed the road. Likewise, contractors have a duty to keep curves safe during construction by deploying warnings.
Some cases also end up targeting vehicle manufacturers. Faulty materials in tires and brakes lead to suits. Likewise, claims may involve suspension, steering, or even restraint systems.
There are also cases involving other drivers. If another driver was speeding in a curve or was distracted, you may have a claim against them. Curves are notably especially dangerous spots for drunk or otherwise intoxicated drivers, too. A car accident lawyer will look for evidence of unsafe driving by the other motorist. Assembling a case takes work because an attorney has to reconstruct the events from evidence and reports.
You have rights following an accident in a curve. A lawyer can give you a better sense of what the legal implications are.
