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Pandya v. State2/28/2005
, but he agreed that the striping plans prior to the accident were not in the 1937 drawings. Richard Dunne, the DOT's Director of Design Service and Deputy State Transportation Engineer, recalled reviewing plans from between the 1930s and 1970s that showed two lanes of westbound travel on the roadway, but he could not identify the plans more specifically.
DOT had taken"photo logs" of this area of the roadway on September 12, 2000, as a record of its appearance. These photo logs showed that there were two westbound lanes of travel on the roadway, marked by a painted broken line dividing the two lanes.
The record also contains a drawing showing a striping plan for the Charlotte Circle on the approach to the Wittpen Bridge, Routes 7, 1 & 9, sometimes referred to in the record as P-5D, as originally drawn on September 25, 1984, by"A. Bernhard" of the DOT's Traffic Bureau, and revised on May 14, 1986, and August 11, 1987, as listed in the box for revision entries on the drawing form (the 1984-87 drawing). That drawing showed one lane of traffic at the curve where Route 7 begins its approach to the bridge, and becoming two lanes of traffic over the bridge. No one ever explained why this document was drawn or whether it was ever approved, but it does not appear to have been implemented any time prior to October 9, 2000. Richard Eng, a DOT Project Engineer who made the May 14, 1986, revision to the 1984-87 drawing, did not recall why the plan was drawn. Chester J. Lyszczek, the DOT's Executive Director of North Regional Operations having responsibility for maintenance of Route 7 in Jersey City at the time of the collision, was considered the most knowledgeable person at the DOT regarding the conditions on the roadway. Lyszczek had not been involved in responding to the discovery requests for plans regarding the roadway, and when shown the 1984-87 drawing, he responded that he did not know about any other plans for that area in effect prior to October 9, 2000.
At about 1:00 a.m. on October 9, 2000, approximately twelve hours prior to the accident involving the victims in these appeals, a separate accident occurred on the roadway. Weather conditions were clear, cold, and dry. A Nissan car driven by Catarina A. Luz was in the left lane of the two westbound lanes of Route 7, coming around the curve toward the bridge. Luz lost control of the vehicle and began to"fishtail," crossing the double yellow lines and entering the left lane of the two eastbound lanes of Route 7. Gary W. Gerwer was driving a Mack garbage truck traveling downhill on the bridge in the left eastbound lane when he observed the car fishtail and then begin to straighten out. Despite braking and veering to the right, Gerwer was unable to prevent the truck from colliding with the car. Neither Gerwer nor his passenger, Shaun Brandon, was injured, but Luz died at the scene, her vehicle having been crushed under the truck. Gerwer estimated that the Nissan and truck speeds prior to the collision were fifty-five and thirty five miles-per-hour respectively. Brandon estimated them as sixty miles-per-hour for the Nissan and forty-five miles-per hour for the truck. According to Gerwer, who regularly traveled on westbound Route 7 on his way to work, there was a dip in the westbound curve that could have caused Luz's vehicle to fishtail, and excessive speed could cause a driver to lose control in the dip.
The details concerning the fatal accident in suit, which occurred later on October 9, 2000, were these. Ankit S. Pandya, Dhaval Patel, Chirag Patel, and Pallavi Zalawadia, all Jersey City residents, entered Rahul's red Toyota vehicle to travel with him to Newark. Rahul and Zalawadia, who were college students at NJIT, and Pa
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