The California Court of Appeal rejected Caltrans’s argument that the jury should not have been told of an accident at a crosswalk 20 miles from where Chris Chandler was killed. Though the crosswalk was far from Chandler’s, it was similar enough that the accident there should have put Caltrans on notice that such crosswalks were dangerous.
“Because the two intersections and accidents were sufficiently similar in material ways and provided the State with actual or constructive notice of the dangers of placing marked crosswalks with no safety enhancements at uncontrolled El Camino intersections, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in allowing plaintiffs to present evidence of the [other] accident.”
Judgment for plaintiffs affirmed.