RCMoeur 

Depends on the laws and legal climate of each state. In the northeast, public agencies often have strong sovereign immunity, and claims are tough to pursue. By contrast, in a state such as Arizona with near-zero agency immunity and zero limits on claims, agencies get sued over everything, including many items outside their operational control - and frequently end up settling because it's cheaper than litigation. In those places, a litigant will go after the contractor, the traffic control sub, and the contracting agency, even where there's arguable gross or reckless negligence on the part of the plaintiff - and recover some amount. Experts can make a minor variation from a Part 6 Guidance statement (cone spacing too far, reversed barricade) sound like a deliberate intent to hurt a road user, and unfortunately juries have agreed (sometimes to 6-7 figures.)

(I'm a Civil/Traffic PE and ATSSA TCT/TCS certified, but I'm not an attorney. This is not legal advice, and should not be treated as such.)

dedhed

By ripping out most of his front suspension. There was a guy in the trench box when he did this as well.

In the concrete one the truck was literally dumping concrete 20 feet ahead of this.

70sSanO

Sorry, these threads can be difficult to follow.

So to summarize, a fellow cyclist settled for $11.68 and Larry only implied that he was negligent on a public forum. But I thought Larry got a flat, so will he also get $11.68?

John

wolfchild

All I see here is a group of negligent irresponsible cyclists racing through a construction zone. A city shouldn't be held liable for any damages or injuries, it's 100% cyclists fault for crashing and sustaining injuries and damages to their bikes.

genejockey 

You know that comments posted on a public forum can be used against you, right?

genejockey 

Even the city disagrees with you.

wolfchild

I don't care who disagrees with me, I will stand by what I said...Any cyclist who has a bit of common sense knows that riding through road construction can be dangerous and requires some extra vigilance and awareness. It's the same thing with potholes and sewer grates and other road hazards, it's up to the cyclist to pay attention and look where they're going. Don't blame the city for getting a flat or crashing.

LarrySellerz

It wasn't marked.... we did not know it was a construction zone

tomato coupe

So, they were milling the existing pavement but there were no indications that it was a construction zone? No cones? No signs? No workers? No machines?

CliffordK

That car hit hard. It has flatted the left front tire. Probably busted the rim. And, has blown out its lower control arms, and may have bent the frame. The right side could be just as bad.

It isn't driving away from that one. It could well be totaled.

The front tires hitting the rear of the wheel arches likely stop them cold.

CliffordK

I'm surprised there wouldn't be at least some cones. Perhaps construction signs limiting speed or notifying of a bump or sunken grade ahead.

Still, was it daylight? Can one see the lane markings disappeared?

It would seem like it would be hard to miss.

Perhaps the paceline limited the ability for the group to react.

The year I rode my Funny Bike to Portland, they were repaving Beaverton Hillsdale highway. I usually take the road transitions pretty carefully. But I had to ride about a mile stretch of rough ground road a couple of times. The whole bike wiggled and shook. Wow... the flex steel forks have!!!

It is hard to avoid that road, but I did get around it with some climbing and winding around the hillside across the valley.

LarrySellerz

The lip was in shade right after a turn, I didn't see it at all. Really dont know how much more I can reiterate that it was not marked, thats literally the entire basis of the complaint. They just went to lunch or something and forgot to put up signs

dedhed

So it was an active work zone that wasn't finished for the day...

LarrySellerz

Yeah and THERE WAS NOT A VISIBLE SIGN!!! No indication of a work zone!

tomato coupe

They did all this work without any cones or markers of any type?

70sSanO

Did the guys in the orange vests laugh and exchange cash?

John

wvridgerider

When you plant yourself on that bike seat and start riding you need to pay attention. There are road hazards, if you are group riding and someone up front doesnt warn of an obstacle you may want to consider riding with someone else.
If I were to hit a sewer grate and wrecked because of it I believe it is my fault for not paying attention.
I help with sponsoring a ride this year and a guy at the bike shop said the road was a little to rough and some one might break a carbon rim on a certain road. My reply is dont ride that junk if it cant hold up. The damn lanes of the road are like 10 feet wide with little to no traffic so pay attention.
Also I know a guy that got hit by a car when he turned left in front of it, he said it didnt show up on his radar device. I almost laughed, didnt even reply. I turn my head to check when doing that and ride with a bar end mirror.
Just pay attention people.

prj71

Most cities/counties around the country have recreational immunity laws/statutes in place, which gives them broad immunity against liability for any injury to a person engaged in a recreational activity on municipal property. Good luck trying to make any claims and expecting some big pay out. It's not going to happen.

indyfabz

OP already admitted his own negligence.

I’m going to pass that admission along to city government.

Herzlos

So you found an abandoned, unmarked work zone in the shade on a bend? I don't suppose you have any evidence?

Because if that was true, that'd be seriously negligent and you should be suing for a lot of money.

njkayaker

???

If it was "active" (people working on it), there would be flagmen, etc. It wouldn't be left unmarked. If it was "active", there would be more warnings (to protect the workers and warn of hazards).

(It's fairly common, in my area, to see signs warning of future milling.)

njkayaker

With a milled section, mostly what I've seen is signs at the side of the road. No cones at all. Maybe, the edge was painted. Maybe, the raised manholes were painted.

njkayaker

It seems some people here have never seen a milled section of road.

Generally speaking, they aren't a big deal to ride on (just kind of uncomfortable).

NumbersGuy

Per Larry in the other thread:

"I crashed super hard today after hitting bump in a road that was being worked on, it got 6 people with flats but im the only one who went down. I was behind the group chasing at my limit and hit it at at least 25 mph."

"Kings mountain and 84, they were resurfacing the roads and left a 2 inch lip temporarily that got a bunch of us. Kinda embarrassed that I crashed I think I was too loose on the handlebars, cost of doing business. Moved a sign in the middle of the street to where the bump is with the blessing of two workers so hopefully nobody else crashes. Honestly not really sure how I crashed but it was a pretty gnarly bump, was in the red chasing which didn't help"

So you moved a sign with the blessing of two workers, but now you state there were no signs and no workers to be seen anywhere.....

Others got flats, but you crashed while riding beyond your ability. Sounds like you might have a plausible case to be reimbursed for a tube, but the crash was user error and no fault of the city.

spelger

some folks are having a hard time believing LarrySellerz that the site was not marked. i went looking at that last post just to see and there is only one pic. there are no markings of any kind that i can see. but i do recall another set of pics of the same incident but don't recall any signage. maybe the images were removed due to all the blood and guts.