Some of you may have seen pictures I took over the summer of a newly
manufactured trail in the Santa Cruz mountains called Better Than
Northshore. Even though it wasn’t truly better (as Kris proved when he
rode it all with ease), it was still a lot of work for the builders, very
challenging and the first of its kind in the area. I just heard though,
that a young biker was badly injured on it recently, and during the
rescue/evacuation, the Park Service noticed what had been built and went
in afterwards and destroyed it all.
This trail was only in existence for a couple of months and someone went
and badly hurt himself. The Vancouver locals must be more mature somehow -
I don’t understand how those much more dangerous trails have lasted for
over a decade, with SO many more people riding them. If I remember right,
Kris said there was one major injury, but it was a freak accident on a
very low stunt.
Although I sound like an old man saying this, I urge you all to obectively
think about risk and ignore peer pressure as much as possible, especially
when your actions may adversely affect access for others.
— Nathan Hoover <nathan@movaris.com> wrote: > Some of you may have seen pictures I took over the summer of a newly > manufactured trail in the Santa Cruz mountains called Better Than > Northshore…a young biker was badly injured on it recently…Park > Service noticed what had
been built and went in afterwards and destroyed it all. > > This trail was only in existence for a couple of months and someone went > and badly hurt himself. The Vancouver locals must be more mature somehow > - I don’t understand how those much more dangerous trails have lasted > for over a decade, with SO many more people riding them.
A couple of reasons:
Legalities. There are way fewer precedents for individuals successfully
suing a Parks Service or Municipality. In British Columbia we also have
a law called the Occupiers Liability Act, obtained after a hard fight
by various mountaineering clubs. This law says that if someone hurts
themselves on private land they can’t sue the land owner.
Time. North Shore trails have been around for a decade now, so they are
now well known entities to the mainstream public. Riders can no longer
argue that they “didn’t know what they were getting themselves into” if
they hurt themselves.
Size of the community. The Vancouver mountain biking scene is very
large and is composed of relatively wealthy riders and parents of
young riders that are voters. Thanks to the effort of the North
Shore Mountain Biking Association, this community of riders has
significant clout.
Things aren’t perfect up here and there are still significant access
issues to be worked out, but I’m really glad to have the opportunity to
ride these trails in my backyard!
> 1) Legalities. There are way fewer precedents for individuals > successfully suing a Parks Service or Municipality. In British > Columbia we also have a law called the Occupiers Liability Act, > obtained after a hard fight by various mountaineering clubs. This law > says that if someone hurts themselves on private land they can’t sue > the land owner.
Surely this is 90% or more of the reason. A bit of common sense Canada
has, but our country is lacking.
> 1) Legalities. There are way fewer precedents for individuals > successfully suing a Parks Service or Municipality. In British > Columbia we also have a law called the Occupiers Liability Act, > obtained after a hard fight by various mountaineering clubs. This law > says that if someone hurts themselves on private land they can’t sue > the land owner.
Surely this is 90% or more of the reason. A bit of common sense Canada
has, but our country is lacking.
John Foss wrote: > > > 1) Legalities. There are way fewer precedents for individuals > > successfully suing a Parks Service or Municipality. In British > > Columbia we also have a law called the Occupiers Liability Act, > > obtained after a hard fight by various mountaineering clubs. This > > law says that if someone hurts themselves on private land they > > can’t sue the land owner. > > Surely this is 90% or more of the reason. A bit of common sense Canada > has, but our country is lacking.
Canadians tend to be a bit less litigious then Americans. “I’m so very
sorry I tripped over your son’s playthings and fell headlong down your
stairs… I hope I didn’t bloody up your carpet! I’ll pay for the cleaning
of course.” This has been changing, though. Thanks to Hollywood.
Christopher Grove
“Be Bold and mighty forces will come to your aid.” -Basil King (Anyone who
can give me more info on THIS Basil King please email
me.)
My short story at: http://www.rosedog.com/manuscript.asp?m=9389256&manusc-
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