WI · jury_instructions
Wis JI-Civil 1048
Driver, Negligence: Highway Defect or Insufficiency
An operator of a vehicle has the duty to exercise ordinary care to observe the roadway
and its immediate surroundings to discover any dangerous condition or defect that would be
discoverable by an ordinarily prudent operator under like or similar circumstances.
The exercise of such care requires the efficient use of one's eyes, faculties, and
opportunities for observation that an ordinary prudent person would use under like
circumstances in order to become aware of the dangers naturally incident to the situation or
to see unsafe conditions that are in plain sight.
While an operator has a right to assume that a highway is reasonably safe, upon being
timely made aware of a dangerous condition or defect, an operator then has the duty to
exercise ordinary care to reduce speed, stop, change course, or take such other means as
would be taken by an ordinarily prudent operator under the same or similar circumstances to
avoid the dangerous condition or defect and avoid injury or damage.
History
Wis JI-Civil 1048 (1992). ©1992, Regents, Univ. of Wis. Prepared by the Wisconsin Civil Jury Instructions Committee of the Wisconsin Judicial Conference with the University of Wisconsin Law School; posted by the Wisconsin State Law Library with the University's permission.
Provenance
- Source
- wilawlibrary.gov
- Retrieved
- 2026-09-24
- Edition
- 2026-09-24
- Content hash
e0fcb85c4aa01319935bec3379c29fd9db31e715bdb0270fee229b057b1d930a
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