Friday, March 25, 2005

Why did the Pedestrian cross the road?

"On December 16, 1999, (Georgett) Tadros was crossing West Center Road at the intersection of 133d Street and was struck by a pickup truck driven by James Bowley, Jr. When Tadros started to cross the street, the white “walk” light on the crosswalk signal was illuminated. Tadros alleged the signal changed to red as she stepped from the median in the middle of West Center Road. As she crossed the northernmost eastbound lane, an eastbound white car that had entered the intersection came to a sudden stop and allowed Tadros to pass. She proceeded across the northernmost eastbound lane of traffic, but when she reached the southernmost eastbound lane, she was struck by Bowley’s pickup." Tadros v. City of Omaha, 269 Neb. 528 (3-25-2005) The Supreme Court re-entered the murky area of what a discretionary function is under the Political Subdivision Tort claim act, addressing whether the phases of the crosswalk signal was a discretionary function (13-910(2).) When a municipal road department decides to place crosswalk signals on a street, the timing of the light phases must conform to uniform standards, so any deviations of the phases outside those allowed in the manual are not "discretionary functions." The Court sent the case back to the trial court because the Plaintiff was not perse negligent for starting to cross from the median when the crosswalk was red, and other vehicles stopped for her.

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