Course Description

The course provides an in-depth understanding of municipalities’ exposure to liability due to their legal obligation to provide safe road facilities to the public, and how to avoid that costly exposure. The course explains the legal principle of “joint and several liability” in Canadian courts, and practical steps that municipalities can take to fulfill their legal obligations through proper design, inspection, maintenance, and documentation of road facilities. Several real-life examples will be discussed to explain how municipalities were found legally liable.

Course Content

• Liability in designing roadways and Intersections
• Liability in implementing traffic control devices
• Liability in planning and designing road facilities dedicated to vulnerable road users
• Liability in designing roadway/intersection lighting
• Liability in routine road patrol and maintenance
• Liability in winter patrol and maintenance
• The importance of conducting routine traffic safety studies
• Municipal liability in Ontario’s civil court system
• The benefits of using emerging technologies
• Identifying and documenting design/maintenance flaws
• Practical methods to address design/maintenance flaws
• Understanding experts’ perspectives when analyzing cases related to municipal liability
• Several case studies

Who Should Attend?

The primary target audience of this course is transportation professionals and risk managers

involved with road design, inspection, and maintenance. Participants do not need to have formal engineering education. Examples of municipal positions that would be interested in taking the course include:

• Transportation manager.
• Transportation planning manager.
• Transportation operations supervisor.
• Transportation engineer.
• Transportation planner.
• Transportation technician.
• Transportation technologist.
• Traffic technician.
• Road superintendent.
• Any position involved with traffic/road safety.
• Any managerial position involved with public works, transportation services, risk management, or design and construction.

Prerequisites

Course participants are encouraged to make themselves familiar with the level-of-service standards adopted by their respective municipalities regarding the design, inspection, and maintenance of road facilities.

Course participants are also required to bring an Internet-connected device (tablet, laptop, or smartphone) to participate in course polls using the Slido app. The polls can be accessed through the Slido app or a browser – no registration required.

Evaluation Process

Your grade will be calculated as follows:

• In-class Course Project: 50%
• Final online test (20 multiple-choice questions): 50%

A final grade of 60% is required to pass the course.

Participants will receive a certificate of completion upon passing the course.