Award in Ortega Highway Crash

It was recently announced that the State of California has to pay more than $2 million to a Lake Elsinore man injured in a crash on the state-owned Ortega Highway based on a jury ruling in the Orange County Superior Court.

There have been frequent serious and many fatal accidents on the Ortega Highway, and thinking in terms of Orange County, most of your readers know of the lethal characteristics of Laguna Canyon Road which, itself, has helped to spawn numerous lawsuits against the state.

In cases such as these and similar cases in which swimmers and surfers have been seriously injured in Newport Beach diving into sandbars, it always seems that the accusing finger is pointed at the “responsibility” of somebody.

Least of all is the question of what responsibility the injured individual had.

Certainly, in the recent Ortega Highway case, it appears that the roadway itself had deteriorated and that the injured party was not at fault. Nevertheless, it is very difficult for public authorities, such as the City of Newport Beach or the State of California, to publish warning notices at frequent intervals telling people that they “use these facilities at their own risk.

If state law permitted it, wouldn’t it be wise to turn the Ortega Highway into a toll road, thus giving people the opportunity to “buy” their right to utilize the facility? Failing this as a solution, how about the state selling these roads to a private enterprise?

Isn’t it time that authorities took a good hard look at how they spend the public’s money? If they’re not going to keep roads from deteriorating and if they are not going to keep them up to the legal standards set for other highways, then why should we as the taxpayers be put in jeopardy with lawsuits? Why is it that we cannot find other alternatives for operating between the private and the public sectors of our lives?

Perhaps in the near future there will be no insurance whatever for authorities that are “at risk” with the public. That in itself, might put a stop to the lawsuits.

DAVID A.W. YOUNG

Newport Beach