Colorado Boulevard Crashes: Why Pasadena’s “Safety Corridor” Streets Matter in Proving Negligence
Colorado Boulevard is one of the most recognizable streets in Pasadena, cutting through commercial districts, residential neighborhoods, and busy intersections with substantial car, pedestrian, and bike traffic. This road is regularly regarded as an area of focus in Pasadena’s safety plans, particularly as Pasadena moves closer to becoming a city people can navigate without cars. If you’re involved in a crash on Colorado Boulevard, talking to a car accident attorney in Pasadena about the road’s status as a Safety Corridor may help you seek compensation.
When you’re trying to recover damages after a collision, having the right car accident lawyer is critical. At DeWitt Algorri & Algorri, LLP, we are committed to advocating for each client’s rights after an accident turns their life upside down. Attorney Mark Algorri has helped countless victims hold negligent individuals and companies accountable. Call our California car accident law firm at 855-WINNING (946-6464) to set up a consultation now.
What Are Safety Corridors in Pasadena?
Safety Corridors are roads recognized for their unique risk as part of Pasadena’s Focused Local Roadway Safety Action Plan. While these roads only account for 13% of the city’s roads, they experience 80% of all injury-causing collisions. This plan targets factors that commonly lead to severe or fatal collisions in Pasadena, including signalized intersections, speeding, bicycle and pedestrian safety, and nighttime collisions. Memos circulating about this project recognize that many of these safety-related projects are underfunded and take additional steps to ensure that they are properly funded. By identifying certain roads as Safety Corridors, the city hopes to tap into grant funding that allows them to finish high-priority projects.
Why Safety Corridors Matter in Proving Negligence
In a negligence case involving a dangerous roadway, one question that often comes up is whether or not the responsible party knew of a hazard. Notice can be actual or constructive; this just means that they either did know or should have known.
When a city conducts multi-year crash studies, finds out that a small fraction of roads cause the vast majority of collisions, adopt a formal safety plan, and rank roads by injury severity, it’s nearly impossible for them to claim that they didn’t know a road was dangerous.
By designating Colorado Boulevard as a Safety Corridor, the city of Pasadena has made it clear that they know the street is unsafe. Should accidents occur because of the road’s inherent lack of safety and conditions that the city could have addressed, the city risks legal exposure.
Duty and Reasonable Care on High-Risk Streets
Public entities have a legal obligation to maintain roadways in a way that keeps them reasonably safe. This doesn’t mean that they must address every single safety issue or account for every potential risk—however, they do have to take action when they become aware of (or should reasonably become aware of) a dangerous condition.
The LRSAP gives us a good starting point for what the city of Pasadena considers to be reasonable safety practices. The steps they take when they identify a road with high accident rates include:
- Managing speed through lower speed limits
- Redesigning intersections
- Traffic calming
- Installing high visibility crosswalks
- Bicycle lane improvements
If a city moves ahead with safety benchmarks but then doesn’t actually implement improvements, the gap between what they wanted to do and what they actually did may become relevant if they’re sued.
Consider this example. If Pasadena discovered that Colorado Boulevard has a significantly higher rate of accidents caused by speeding, they would be obligated to act on that information. Current laws allow them to reduce speed limits on roads known to be dangerous. If someone suffers a catastrophic injury on that road due to speeding and their car accident lawyer finds out that the city never took steps to reduce the speed limit, that could be very good for the victim’s case.
It’s important to note that designation as a Safety Corridor isn’t evidence in and of itself. You must be able to pair knowledge of an unsafe condition with a failure to act on that condition.
Protect Your Legal Rights With DeWitt, Algorri & Algorri, LLP Car Accident Law Firm
If you’ve been injured in a crash in Pasadena, it’s time to reach out to a car accident attorney and demand fair compensation. Reach out to our car accident law firm now by calling us at 855-WINNING (946-6464) or contacting us online.
Mark Algorri has successfully represented individuals and their families in matters involving serious and catastrophic injuries, insurance claims denials, and wrongful deaths, achieving a success rate of 99 percent for our clients.
