Teen on ATV survives close call with cable

[Bandwagon]

Yes fishermccann

The law states you owe a duty of care to anyone on your property invited on not. kids trespassed onto my property and used a hill for sledding in the winter, one broke there leg when they hit a tree while I was down south. The family sued and won.

[last5oh_302]

Yes fishermccann

The law states you owe a duty of care to anyone on your property invited on not. kids trespassed onto my property and used a hill for sledding in the winter, one broke there leg when they hit a tree while I was down south. The family sued and won.

That just doesn't seem right, or fair.

[KMG Canada]

I have used cable before to restrict access on to one of my properties. The road was being destroyed by trucks out mudding, so much so that I had to fix the road to get my own truck in. I strung the cable across at a low height and marked posts (trees) with orange paint and tied some tape to the cable. It did stop the offending trespassers and my land quieted down with deer sightings going up quite a bit. That being said I knew folks would come flying in on the trail/road so I wanted them to see the cable. I had tried signs on the side of the trail and they just sailed on by them ....

[seabast]

She is one lucky young lady !

And the owner is even luckier, because if she had died...... The intension is pretty clear to me so this guy deserve bad things, hopefully karma will take care of it!

[Bluebulldog]

Here's the thing.

An owner putting a cable across to limit access if perfectly fine.

If however the owner knows that people are using the trail, and that they might become injured by that cable suddenly being installed, then he has a duty of care to ensure it's visible, and that the intent is adequately posted.

Otherwise it may be construed as intent to cause harm, and could result in charges laid.

Optimally, signs posted in advance, saying "No Trespassing", coupled with a posted notice that it will be in force ( even an ad in the local paper). Then installing the cable, complete with high vis tape or paint in place, would show a duty of care, and wouldn't even receive any reprimand.

Has the teen learned her lesson? Yes, the absolute hard way. Particularly if she'd been on the property all her life.

Growing up there were lots of privately owned bush lots I rambled around on as a kid. It never occurred to me they were someone's property. As I got older, my dad made sure I knew the owners, but it was still a conversation to be had.

[rick_iles]

The troubling part for me is the height of the cable. It might be difficult for the owner to say he didn't intend to injure.

[gooseman]

I fully agree that putting something in place to hurt someone intentionally is just wrong on all levels. But some responsibility has to be on the trespassers. I mean after awhile it gets to be enough is enough when you sign your land and people just ignore it cause they have been using the land for yrs.

[Bluebulldog]

I fully agree that putting something in place to hurt someone intentionally is just wrong on all levels. But some responsibility has to be on the trespassers. I mean after awhile it gets to be enough is enough when you sign your land and people just ignore it cause they have been using the land for yrs.

Not sure if that's the case here though.

Seems to me that every news carrier hasn't mentioned the property being posted.

[Snowwalker]

Does it say anywhere for a fact that the landowner was the one the put the cable up? I read the article in the link and they don't say who did or who they "think" put it up.

[trimmer21]

Interesting case.

The owner has the right to do whatever he so chooses on his own property. However, if it was shown / proven that he was aware that other users were using the trail, and he failed to post No Trespassing signs, and / or failed to place some marking tape on the cable which was strung neck high.....it could in fact be seen as intentionally causing harm.

Yep! If it can be proven that there was malicious intent,the person placing the cable is liable to criminal negligence charges and civil lawsuits even though the young lady was trespassing. It doesn't seem fair,but,the property owner is solidly on the hook,too. Just the civil suit alone could cost him everything he owns. In high school,I had a classmate lose her life from exactly the same thing. It was proven that the landowner deliberately strung a thin cable across a road/trail regularly used by snowmobilers without clear markings. He went to prison.