In suburban Chicago, Geneva resident Dave Peterson has for some time been dragging a homemade snowplow behind a mountain bike to clear the Fox River Trail, both for his own use and as a matter of public-spiritedness. No longer: “The county has asked him to stop because if there’s an expectation that the trail will be plowed, there’s a greater chance for litigation, said Kane County Forest Preserve District operations supervisor Pat McQuilkin. ‘If a person falls, you are more liable than if you had never plowed at all. Crazy world,’ wrote AnnMarie Fauske, the district’s community affairs director, in response to a letter to Peterson. ‘Unfortunately, the times we are in allow for a much more litigious environment than common sense would dictate.'” When Peterson pointed out that plowing the trail was important to commuters who use bicycles to get to work, the “forest preserve quickly replied that, while a ‘wonderful gesture … your act of kindness may also be open to legal issues should someone fall after your care.'” (Garrett Ordower, “County tells bicyclist thanks, but stop plowing trail”, Daily Herald, Feb. 21).

Filed under: personal responsibility