Accident Liability at Large Public Events: Who is Responsible?
Key Takeaways:
- Large public events can become dangerous when traffic and pedestrian safety are not properly planned.
- Event organizers may be held liable if unsafe conditions lead to injuries or death.
- Personal injury claims often depend on proving negligence and failure to provide reasonable safety measures.
Large events can bring thousands of people into areas that are not designed to handle heavy traffic or increased pedestrian activity. Without proper planning, crowd control, and safety measures, these situations can quickly become dangerous.
Serious injuries, including fatalities, can occur when organizers fail to take reasonable steps to prevent attendees and others passing through the area.
Who is Liable for Accidents at Large Events?
Large public events often involve multiple parties, including:
- Event organizers
- Property owners
- Vendors
- Transportation providers
- City, state, and local governments
When safety planning is not handled properly, any one or combination of these parties may be held responsible for injuries that occur.
When Event Organizers Are Responsible for Injuries
Event organizers must take reasonable steps to control traffic, manage crowds, and provide safe access for pedestrians.
Personal injury cases are built on the negligence legal theory. Individual claims are based on the facts of the situation. To have a successful case, you, the plaintiff (the injured party filing the complaint), must show that it’s more likely than not that:
- Due to the relationship between you and the defendant (the party sued), they owed you a legal obligation or duty to do or not do something given the situation
- The defendant breached that duty or failed that obligation
- That breach or failure is the legal (or proximate) and factual cause of the accident
- The accident caused you harm
- Under Kentucky law, the defendant must pay you damages (a measurement of your injury in dollars)
These same legal principles often apply when accidents happen at events. So if you can prove negligence, then the event organizer can be held liable for injuries.
Types of Events Where Serious Accidents Can Happen
Someone can be injured or killed at any event. But in terms of large, public events, these incidents typically occur during:
- Sporting events
- Festivals and fairs
- Concerts
- Conventions and trade shows
- Large private events open to the public
Any large event that brings heavy traffic to an area not designed for large crowds has an increased risk of someone getting hurt.
Example of a Serious Accident at a Large Public Event
A pedestrian was killed during a Professional Golf Association (PGA) tournament in Louisville. Large events and lots of people crossing roads not designed for pedestrians can result in severe injuries and, in this case, a fatality. Without proper planning and management of vehicles and people, it’s just a matter of time before there’s a serious accident.
Louisville police reported that a pedestrian crossing Shelbyville Road on the morning of May 17, 2024 near the Valhalla Golf Club was struck and killed by a shuttle bus, according to Golfweek. The victim was described as an employee of one of the PGA Championship vendors.
Most of us have never been to that area, let alone inside a golf club as nice as this one. But at some point, we’ve been a part of a big event, maybe a football game or fair, where pedestrians get to where they want to go, and there’s too much traffic to be sanely managed by the few law enforcement officers or volunteers present. Maybe there are crosswalks and stoplights, maybe not.
Why Accidents at Large Events Can Be Preventable
Shortly after the accident, one of the players was arrested after apparently striking an officer trying to control traffic. As Louisville resident Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated points out, that shouldn’t be the day’s big story. It’s the fact that someone trying to get to work was killed in a traffic accident, one that Forde thinks was just a matter of time.
“The building blocks of a tragedy have been in place for a long time at Valhalla Golf Club. This is a logistically difficult setup for entry and exit, with people always searching for a workaround to avoid long delays and difficult commutes. Trouble has been avoided for decades, but the potential was always there.
Poor Planning and Heavy Traffic Create Dangerous Conditions
There is a lot of foot traffic into and out of Valhalla during major competitions, and no safe passage for those pedestrians along a crowded thoroughfare. It’s become a traditional sight: fans (and even workers) on foot along Shelbyville Road, which has two lanes each of eastbound and westbound traffic and a center turn lane.
There is only one way in and out. And there are no sidewalks and no crosswalks in the vicinity of Valhalla. But that doesn’t stop people from finding parking spots at nearby businesses or adjacent neighborhoods and walking to and from the course that sits on the north side of the road.
Over the years, parking has progressively become harder to come by on or near the property.
Most fans park at the Kentucky Fair & Exposition Center some 18 miles away and are shuttled in. The media rides shuttle buses from about eight miles away. As such, the bus traffic on Shelbyville has been heavy all week and delays have been considerable.
Combining that traffic with the number of people on foot in an area not suited for pedestrians, and what happened Friday is not completely shocking…
In the Show Must Go On haste of a major championship, the availability of the No. 1 golfer in the world to play the second round of a tournament somehow became the most important part of a sad and terrible morning. A man was dead, an arrest was made…and people were worried about a tee time.”
The tournament, which was held at a golf club in New York last year, was expected to draw about 225,000 spectators, according to WXXI.
Speak To a Satterley & Kelley Personal Injury Lawyer Today
If you’re a pedestrian struck and injured by a vehicle, Satterley & Kelley, PLLC lawyers, can protect your interests and legal rights to compensation for your harm.
Call our Louisville office at 502-589-5600 or toll-free at 855-385-9532 to schedule a free initial consultation. You can also contact us online to reach a Satterley & Kelley PLLC lawyer.