Study On Managers’ Liability Caused By Expressway Obstacles

There are three kinds of theories about the manager’s responsibility for the damage caused by the obstacles on the expressway,which are the liability concurrence theory,the contract theory and the tort liability theory.As far as the contract theory is concerned,the highway managers and drivers have not reached an agreement of intent,nor have they formed a treatment payment.Therefore,the bilateral contract relationship has not been established between the two parties,and the contract theory is untenable;In the theory of liability concurrence,the concurrence of liability for breach of contract and liability for tort only exists when the victim chooses which way to seek relief,and it is often the only choice to require the highway manager to bear compensation liability on the grounds of tort,whether the victim’s choice after weighing interests,or the court’s consideration based on social effects and protection of the weak.In short,the theory of liability concurrence is a theory of tort liability in the guise of "concurrence".Therefore,based on the appeal of victims and social effects,the tort liability theory is indeed the best way to solve the damage caused by highway obstacles.In the internal of tort liability,the court also has two different opinions on the identification of the source of highway managers’ obligations,namely,the security obligation in Article 37 and the danger exclusion obligation in Article 89 of the Tort Liability Law.However,it is not difficult to find that the latter is the special provision of the former’s security obligation.Because,in order to prevent highway drivers from encountering dangers,the highway managers are required to inspect the road in advance and clean up the road obstacles in time,which is still fundamentally a security obligation.As for the safety guarantee obligations,although China’s Highway Law and other laws stipulate that highway managers have duties and obligations for highway maintenance,inspection and clearance,such obligations are not necessarily equivalent to the safety and security obligations in the Tort Liability Law.Therefore,this paper believes that according to the provisions of general tort,the highway managers with fault can be required to bear general tort liability according to the criterion of fault.In addition,there are multiple responsible bodies including highway departments,public security departments and other responsibility subjects on expressways,so when determining responsibility,we should further analyze the reasons for the occurrence of responsibility and determine the responsibility of each subject one by one.Thus,as far as the single highway responsibility subject is concerned,its responsibility for the damage caused by obstacles should be limited.Moreover,when determining the responsibility of managers for damage caused by highway obstacles,we should also distinguish different types of disputes,and determine them in a limited range by referring to the driving situation of drivers,the objective environment at the time of accidents and the possibility of highway managers to fulfill their obligations.Considered the frequent disputes over highway obstacles,it is necessary to set up special liability insurance for highway managers.Besides,in order to avoid excessive aggravation of managers’ responsibility and effectively compensate the victims,it may also be a good approach to establish a special fund on highway relief by relevant departments.