[at-l] Trip Report (off trail)

[DTimm65344@aol.com (DTimm65344@aol.com)]

In a message dated 04/27/02 9:51:56 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
ellen@clinic.net writes:


> A  question,  though:  If  I  deepen the ditch enough so that the next time, 
> ATV
> wheels  fetch  up  and  the illegal driver catapults out of the machine and 
> gets
> killed, am I liable? What if a few hundred yards earlier had been a sign 
> saying,
> "no ATVs?" What if the guy killed had removed the "no ATVs" sign or someone 
> else
> had, shortly before he was killed? What else should I have done? Even if I 
> don't
> lose  my  house,  my wife and woodlot as a result of such an "accident" 
> should I
> feel guilty?
> 

Weary -

My younger brother is the lawyer in my family, so this is an unprofessional 
opinion.  Seeing as how you have done what you can to discourage the ATVers 
(posting, confrontation, contacting authorities) I would say that even if you 
were liable under your local laws for such an accident, the liability would 
be shared with the victim as they would have been responsible for their own 
injury in a direct way by ignoring the warnings.  Sort of like the park 
service not routinely getting sued successfully because morons climb out on 
the loose rock ledges at Yellowstone to get a better view of the falls even 
though the signs say not to leave the path.  A kid fell a couple hundred feet 
down (fortunately not seriously hurt) a couple of days before we were there 
last August.  Darwin was a genius.

> However,  a final question: Can irrational folks like me -- folks who think 
> that
> wildness is important -- truly communicate anything meaningful these days?
> 

If you are irrational, so am I.  Whether or not we can communicate things is 
an open question.

Black&blue



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