We haven't seen snow yet, but who knows what King Winter has in store for us this year. Tomorrow the world may be covered in a pristine white blanket. A little cyclist won't be deterred by that. You probably won't either. But we are used to cycling in the snow, so it might take some effort to stay upright. Even more so a day later, when the snow will have set in and the path will be even more slippery. What if you fall and break something? Can you then call the municipality liable pose?
Loose tile
If you had fallen over a loose tile or through a hole in the road surface, it would not have been such a crazy thought. After all, as road authority, the municipality is responsible for ensuring that public roads and bicycle paths are in good condition. In that case, you only have to prove that the road had a defect; whether the defect was caused by a fault of the municipality is not important. However, as a road user you have to take into account that the road surface is not always in perfect condition. You must therefore pay attention to where you drive. If you have not exercised the ‘necessary caution and attention’, the result may be that you will have to pay for some or all of the damage yourself.
Also in the event of slipperiness?
Does this now mean that the municipality is also liable for the consequences of falling on slippery road surfaces? Unfortunately, it is not that simple. This is because slipperiness does not involve a defect in the road surface itself. In such a situation, the municipality is only liable if it did not take sufficient action to prevent or remove the slipperiness. As a fallen cyclist, you then have the obligation to prove that the municipality knew (or should have known) about the dangerous situation. In the case of slipperiness due to the weather, this is still doable; the municipality is also supposed to listen to the weather forecast. But that doesn't get you there. You also have to make it plausible that so much time passed between the occurrence of the ice and your fall that the municipality had ample opportunity to do something about it.
Policy issue
That's where the problem lies in situations like this, because then it suddenly turns to questions like: where should the municipality have gritted sooner: on the bike path or on the roadway? And what would the municipality have been better off spending its money on: more narrow gritting machines for the bike path or more enforcement officers in problem neighborhoods, to name a few? These are policy questions, and civil courts prefer not to get involved in them. In practice, this means that, as a municipality, you can best leave a few bike paths unpeeled without immediately running the risk of being sued by all sorts of unhappy cyclists. And for you as an intrepid cyclist, it might be wiser to take the car in case of a little snow, or if you really don't want to and like a challenge: grab your bike helmet and go :-).
This blog was written by August Van. He no longer works at our office. If you have any questions about this blog, please contact Bojan Dekker.