Alvarez v. State of California

In Alvarez v. State of California (1999) 79 Cal. App. 4th 720 95 Cal. Rptr. 2d 719, there were seven cross-median accidents within the 3.42-mile area surrounding the accident site that lacked a barrier. The court found no changed circumstances justifying an exception to the immunity of Government Code section 830.6. The court noted, "There must be evidence that the design, under changed physical conditions, has produced a dangerous condition of which the State is aware. . . . An improvement may come to constitute a dangerous condition if increased traffic at the site, coupled with an aberrant accident history, indicates its dangerousness. (See, e.g., Baldwin, supra, 6 Cal. 3d at pp. 428-429 13 accidents in six months; intersection accounted for 14 percent of all traffic fatalities in the city; Bane v. State of California (1989) 208 Cal. App. 3d 860, 872-873 256 Cal. Rptr. 468 intersection averaged twice as many accidents as similar intersections in the state; in the previous 18 months, 47 accidents resulted in five deaths and 89 injuries.)" (79 Cal. App. 4th at pp. 737-738, italics added.) The court referred to the site of Alvarez's accident, with its seven prior cross-median accidents as having an "unremarkable accident history at the site," in view of the fact that the State's accident warrants had not been met. ( Id. at p. 738.)