National Academies Press: OpenBook

Guidelines for Drafting Liability Neutral Transportation Engineering Documents and Communication Strategies (2020)

Chapter: NCHRP LRD 83: Guidelines for Drafting Liability Neutral Transportation Engineering Documents and Communications Strategies

Page 1
Suggested Citation:"NCHRP LRD 83: Guidelines for Drafting Liability Neutral Transportation Engineering Documents and Communications Strategies." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Guidelines for Drafting Liability Neutral Transportation Engineering Documents and Communication Strategies. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25894.
×
Page 1

Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.

Background State highway departments and transportation agen- cies have a continuing need to keep abreast of operat- ing practices and legal elements of specific problems in highway law. The NCHRP Legal Research Digest and the Selected Studies in Transportation Law (SSTL) series are intended to keep departments up-to-date on laws that will affect their operations. Foreword In the legal system, transportation engineering docu- ments drafted by the transportation industry include manuals, studies, research documents, memoranda, and email. These documents are frequently used by litigants and courts as evidence bearing on the standard of care or duties for transportation agencies sued for alleged negligence in operation of transportation facilities. The documents often use language and phrases such as “ hazardous” and “high risk” that have pejorative mean- ings in the legal system as opposed to more neutral and objective language. Non-neutral language can increase the potential  for transportation agencies  to be deter- mined to be liable for damages. This digest presents legal language style and a drafting guide. The digest also addresses how to avoid concepts and language that can have legal implications by promot- ing clear, direct, objective, and fact-based expression. This digest may be used as a practical resource for developers and reviewers of engineering documents, researchers, practitioners, and those who implement safety projects. Guidelines for Drafting Liability Neutral Transportation Engineering Documents and Communications Strategies This digest was prepared under NCHRP Project 20-06, “Legal Problems Arising Out of Highway Programs,” for which the Transportation Research Board (TRB) is the agency coordinating the research. Under Topic 24-03, Terri Parker, Parker Corporate Enterprises, Nixa, MO, prepared this digest. The opinions and conclusions expressed or implied in this digest are those of the researchers who performed the research and are not necessarily those of the Transportation Research Board; the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; or the program sponsors. The responsible program officer is Gwen Chisholm Smith. JULY 2020 NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM NCHRPLRD 83 LEGAL RESEARCH DIGEST

Next: CONTENTS »
Guidelines for Drafting Liability Neutral Transportation Engineering Documents and Communication Strategies Get This Book
×
MyNAP members save 10% online.
Login or Register to save!
Download Free PDF

In the legal system, transportation engineering documents drafted by the transportation industry include manuals, studies, research documents, memoranda, and email. These documents are frequently used by litigants and courts as evidence bearing on the standard of care or duties for transportation agencies sued for alleged negligence in operation of transportation facilities.

The TRB National Cooperative Highway Research Program's NCHRP Legal Research Digest 83: Guidelines for Drafting Liability Neutral Transportation Engineering Documents and Communication Strategies contains a writing guide for technical and non-technical authors and those employees who interact with the public and the media. This digest will assist authors in avoiding concepts and language that have legal implications by promoting clear, direct, objective, and fact-based expression.

  1. ×

    Welcome to OpenBook!

    You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

    Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

    No Thanks Take a Tour »
  2. ×

    Show this book's table of contents, where you can jump to any chapter by name.

    « Back Next »
  3. ×

    ...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

    « Back Next »
  4. ×

    Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

    « Back Next »
  5. ×

    To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter.

    « Back Next »
  6. ×

    Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

    « Back Next »
  7. ×

    View our suggested citation for this chapter.

    « Back Next »
  8. ×

    Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

    « Back Next »
Stay Connected!