Is the State Culpable

About a month after the traffic accident, I went to the scene to better understand how the accident might have occurred. The accident report from the Highway Patrol didn't give me the understanding that I needed.

Sean and I drove the route that Rarit would have been driving. We were entering the Northbound I-5 ramp at about 5:15 which would have been two hours earlier than when Rarit would have entered. The sun was directly above the sun visor and directly on line with the direction I was heading into the on-ramp. I saw no sign indicating that the on-ramp was about to make a sharp right-hand turn. I saw no speed limit sign.

It was very easy to see what might have happened. Rarit entered the northbound on-ramp from west-bound Magic Mountain Parkway. She was probably traveling at 40-50 mph when she entered the on-ramp. The ramp was really just a slight right-hand veer from Magic Mountain Parkway. About 100 yards (or less) into the on-ramp, the road turns sharply (80-90 degrees) to the right. Rarit would not have seen this if she were struggling with the sun in her eyes. And, since she had not driven this route before would not have known that the road would be turning. When she realized that the road was turning she obviously turned hard to the right in order to avoid going over a slight bern and directly onto I-5. When she made the hard right-hand turn, she turned too far and now faced a concrete barrier that she then had to make a hard left-hand turn to avoid. This then put her back in the same direction as before which was almost perpendicular to the freeway. However, at this point she was right on the left hand side of the freeway. And unfortunately, there was no time for her to stop before entering into the traffice lanes.

It seems to me that the design and layout of this on-ramp was the primary cause of the accident. Yes, if Rarit had been driving slower she might have been able to stop short of the freeway. However, I didn't see anything at this on-ramp that would have made her think that she needed to be traveling less than 30 mph. There was no warning that the on-ramp had a sharp turn on it.

I wonder who I should talk to, to see if there is anything I can do to prevent this from happening again. I wonder if it has happened in the past.