Road Damage Claims - Not Just from Potholes

By Keri Essien
Senior Risk Management Technician

Potholes, debris and aliens – oh my! Those are just some of the damage claims turned into the MoDOT St. Louis risk management department.  The department receives between four and 30 claims a day for incidents on Missouri roads.  The common complaints damage caused by potholes, road debris, falling signs, signal malfunctions and wet striping paint but one of the more bizarre cases involved a customer who reported an unidentified flying object struck her vehicle on an open stretch of I-70 in 2016.  MoDOT unfortunately had to deny any liability for the phenomenon.

 

MoDOT’s liability is based on Missouri Revised Statute 537.600 which states MoDOT is not legally liable for a hazard unless it had sufficient time and knowledge to have taken measures to protect against it.  In other words, MoDOT must determine an accident was caused by willful negligence in order for a customer to be reimbursed for expenses.  In 2017, MoDOT paid   approximately $3.2 million for 222 claims statewide.

 

Most people are surprised to learn they have the right to file claims for damage.  The claims process reflects MoDOT’s transparent approach to customer service.  Claims can be filed online and are analyzed, processed and submitted to a Jefferson City claims adjuster for investigation.  Customers usually receive a response within 48 hours.  The one difference is for claims in construction zones, which are sent to the contractor for investigation.

 

As long as there are roads and customers to travel on them, we can assume that liability claims will keep life at MoDOT busy and a little amusing.

Implementing a Travel Safe Zone

Monday, MoDOT implemented a Travel Safe Zone on eastbound I-64 between Mason Road and Ballas Road.

MoDOT implements Travel Safe Zones on those stretches of highway that significantly exceed the number of crashes with fatalities or disabling injuries when compared with similar highways with comparable traffic counts. The department uses a formula to determine a crash rate, based on the length of the stretch of highway, the number of crashes and the daily traffic on that highway.

In this case, there were 443 crashes over the last three years on eastbound I-64 in this area, including 180 crashes in 2008. Of those 443 crashes in the past three years, there were nine major crashes. In those nine major crashes, there were four fatalities and 33 people who received disabling injuries. Additionally, 295 of the 443 crashes were rear-end crashes, primarily during the day when the road was dry and the sky was clear. This tends to indicate excessive speed along the route, or distracted driving.

One of the public concerns we have heard about the Travel Safe Zone is that it is at the request of the local municipalities to increase their revenues. This is completely false – MoDOT initiated the Travel Safe Zone and MoDOT gets NO money from traffic tickets written along state routes. This is truly a safety issue. Our hope is to have people increase their safety awareness in this area, slow down and pay attention.

Currently, this Travel Safe Zone will remain in operation for a year.

Roads are much improved, thanks to taxpayers

Taypayers can thank their efforts, primarily through voting for Amendment 3, for the increase in the number of major roads that are in good condition. Across the state, the Missouri Department of Transportation has invested the taxpayer money entrusted to the department in making major roads smoother. Since 2004, the percentage of major roads across Missouri which are now in good condition has increased 36 percent. In the St. Louis area, conditions of major roads in the area, which include Interstates 70, 64/40, 44, 270, 55, 170 and Routes 30, 21 and 364 (the Page Extension) have increased from 53.6 percent in good condition in 2004 to 84.6 percent in good condition in 2008.

Other organizations have noticed the better roads, as well. Truck drivers voted Missouri roads as the fifth best in the nation in a survey published in January by Overdrive magazine, a publication serving the commercial motor carrier industry. The Reason Foundation listed Missouri as among the nation’s leaders in maintaining its transportation system and getting good value, and the Pew Center on the States gave Missouri a B+ for its infrastructure performance.

MoDOT is continuing to use available money to improve roadways. Better Roads, Brighter Future is making the remainder of major highways smoother with wider stripes and more visible signs. The Safe and Sound Bridge Improvement program is repairing or replacing 802 of the state's worst bridges by 2014.

A hope for saving lives

There's no simple or sugar-coated way to put it: people die on the roadways. Although Missouri has worked hard to reduce those numbers (and done so successfully), there is sill a simple way to save about 10 percent of the people who die on Missouri roadways -- incorporating a primary safety belt law.

This year, MoDOT is working with legislators to get a primary safety belt law passed in Missouri. Increasing safety belt use is the most effective and immediate way to save lives and reduce injuries on Missouri roads. Of more than 500 Missouri traffic laws, the current safety belt law is the only one that has a secondary enforcement provision - a driver must break another law first before they can be cited for a safety belt violation.

MoDOT estimates that we can save more than 90 lives and prevent more than 1,000 serious injuries each year by passing a primary safety belt law. To do this, we need your help. Find out how Missouri can save more lives each year here.