5. Highways Liability
Highway-authority duties, actionable danger, inspection and the statutory defence.
How to study the CPQ Foundation stage
Prepare each separately assessed component on its own terms, then connect law, regulation, client service and research across the full stage.
Core concepts
Concept 1
The statutory maintenance duty concerns highways maintainable at public expense.
Exam cue: Confirm highway status and responsible authority.
Concept 2
Liability requires an actionable failure connected to the injury.
Exam cue: Assess whether the defect created a real source of danger.
Concept 3
The authority may rely on evidence of reasonable inspection and maintenance systems.
Exam cue: Examine inspection frequency, records and response.
Risk pitfalls and guardrails
Assuming every uneven surface is actionable.
Guardrail: Do not mix module boundaries, confuse marks with item counts, exceed professional authority or rely on an outdated or unverified legal source.
Ignoring causation between defect and injury.
Guardrail: Do not mix module boundaries, confuse marks with item counts, exceed professional authority or rely on an outdated or unverified legal source.
Treating a written inspection policy as proof it was followed.
Guardrail: Do not mix module boundaries, confuse marks with item counts, exceed professional authority or rely on an outdated or unverified legal source.
Memory anchors
Highway claim
Status, duty, danger, breach, causation and damage.
Section 58 focus
What care was reasonably required to secure that the highway was not dangerous?
Records matter
Inspection and repair evidence supports the reasonable-care defence.
Checkpoint rule
Do the check-up only after you can summarize each concept in one sentence and identify one dangerous pitfall from memory.
Knowledge Check (after reading)
Short check-up to confirm understanding of this module.
Check-up Questions
A pedestrian trips on a public pavement defect. What should be confirmed first?
Is every uneven paving slab actionable under the highways duty?
Answer all questions to submit.
Next step personalized recommendations
Continue learning
Move forward only after this module is stable.
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