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Ruttley v. Lee5/17/2000
obstructed. Mr. Cousins testified that the Parish of Jefferson has since installed a red light on that corner. At trial, Mr. Cousins testified that he did not remember whether he ever complained about sight obstructions at the Ames/Pritchard intersection.
Douglas Robert testified that he is employed by Jefferson Parish as a supervisor in the traffic engineering division under the Department of Engineering. Mr. Robert is responsible for the signals and pavement markings that occur in the unincorporated portions of Jefferson Parish. He also has to make sure that the intersections are maintained in accordance with the proper rules and regulations. Mr. Robert testified that accident reports are filed away according to intersections and are kept for reference should a problem be brought to the attention of the Department.
Mr. Robert testified that he tries to follow the current Institute of Transportation Engineers standards, the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control, and the American Association of the State Highway and Transportation Official (hereafter AASHTO) design standards. Mr. Robert further testified that according to AASHTO standards the sight line should be computed at ten feet for every mile per hour. Mr. Robert testified that if Ames Boulevard was a 30 mile an hour speed zone, the sight line for a motorist who was going to cross Ames Boulevard at Pritchard Street should be at 300 feet.
Prior to the accident on September 10, 1993, Mr. Robert was aware of a complaint from a constituent in August of 1992 about the utility poles restricting the sight line at the Ames/Pritchard intersection. The Parish of Jefferson also did a report that was completed in January of 1993 on the Ames/Pritchard intersection. The accidents that appear in the Ames/Prichard intersection report pre-date September 14, 1992. In 1992, the department did not see anything that indicated that there was any type of sight line problem. There were some accidents in which a driver stated he/she was unable to see the other car which had the right of way, however, the visual obscurement section of the police report was never checked off as a cause of any of those accidents.
George Dent was employed as a superintendent for Jefferson Parish and he testified that he would cut the grass and trees at the Ames/Pritchard intersection. He testified that he cut the grass at that intersection every 14 days and checked the area for vegetation overgrowth.
Sergeant Brian Legnon testified that he has been employed with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office since July 11, 1977, and he is currently employed in the hit and run division of the section. He went to the accident scene on September 10, 1993, because he was a supervisor on the road and assigned to every unit accident on the Westbank.
At the scene, Sergeant Legnon pulled up to a stop sign on Pritchard Street to check the clearance sight distance for Ames Boulevard. He checked the sight restrictions from northbound on Ames Boulevard and noticed that the view was obstructed by weeds and a tree that hangs over the canal bank. Sergeant Legnon testified that a motorist would have to pull his/her vehicle past the stop sign to almost the edge of the roadway to see north toward Ames Boulevard.
Deputy David P. Roddy testified that he was employed by the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office on September 10, 1993. Deputy Roddy now works the street crimes division, but in 1993, he was in the patrol division and handled 911 calls. On September 10, 1993, Deputy Roddy was responding to a domestic call in which another officer had requested assistance. Deputy Roddy further testified that the call is a priority call whenever an officer nee
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