yesterday, i needed to consult with racing union legal counsel on a number of miscellaneous matters.  we roll hard, and occasionally, we need backup.  and backup we've got.

one of the topics brought up was seeking justice for those citizens who fall injured in the line of duty, valiantly struggling on two wheels, through unacceptable conditions.  roads are cleared but multi-use paths are left alone, untreated, and barely rideable.  does the state, and i'm using state in the largest and most generic sense here of the agent in control, have some obligaiton to make sure all rights of way are safe including multi-use trails?

this is really complicated.  first off, ownership (and stewardship and maintenance) of some of the extensive trail networks in our area is not entirely clear, at least to me.  we are all familiar with obvious examples of different approaches that different jurisdictions may take.  the doctor gridlock discussion on the post web site yesterday involved some questions on this topic, pointing out that the CCT is generally cleared in DC but as soon as you hit the maryland border, it's untreated.  is this because the dc section is maintained by the national park service and the maryland section is maintained by some other agency such as maryland national capital park and planning service?  unclear.  but why would they have different ideas about whether the multi-use paths need to be cleaned or not.

while you're figuring that out, you may also struggle with whether someone can actually bring a case against a jurisdiction for injury sustained on an untreated path.  racing union legal division pointed out a few useful things.  you would need permission to bring the case and that may not be the easiest thing to do.  even if you could bring the case, dc, md and va all incorporate the ideas of contributory negligence into decisions so it's unclear what your rights versus responsibilities are.

kevin posted some useful information on cases which illustrate some of these principles:

sample case: http://www.cicle.org/cicle_content/pivot/entry.php?id=1297#body

more information on a similar case: http://www.cicle.org/cicle_content/pivot/entry.php?id=1300#body

just to be clear, i'm not suggesting people go out on dangerous, icy trails, take a long and traumatic tumble (the yard sale) and then look for a free lunch courtesy of a hungry lawyer.  i'm more interested in the issue from the perspective of regarding alternative transportation as a serious alternative.  when snow and ice comes, "the state" is serious about clearing the roads.  i hardly expect them to be equally serious about clearing paths, but some areas are not the slightest bit serious about it now.  lobbying doesn't seem to work.  i'm curious as to whether other types of pressure can be brought to bear on the situation.

-sg