The Chainlink

Building a list/database of problems

In the discussion of the lawsuit by the cyclist paralyzed when she rode off the breakwater revetment, the twin topics of "permitted and intended use" and making the government aware of problems (putting them "on notice") came up. There are legal precedents which shield governments from liability if either of the following situations hold:

 (Hat tip to Dave Barish for the reference.) There's not much which can be done about the permitted/intended issue, but local governments can be put "on notice" relatively easily. I propose that we tackle the "on notice" issue. We have cyclists riding all over the city and suburbs, even during this cold snap. We encounter problems all the time: potholes, steel grates, dangerous revetments, untextured steel plates, etc. We should be able to put together a decent list of issues without too much problem. Cameron pointed out in the lawsuit thread that this has been tackled before, in New York.

I think starting small makes sense. I'm happy to create a Google spreadsheet and make editing available to anyone who requests. We can send "notices" to relevant government officials periodically. If it too unwieldy to maintain as a Google spreadsheet, we can look at other technologies (Google Maps mash-up, real database, etc). If this little mini-project grows enough to outstrip our group's capabilities, we can try and find some trial lawyers to fund the project (<wink>) or see if the Active Transportation Alliance or other non-profit wants to take it over.

Comments? Recommendations about what information we should collect?

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Permalink Reply by David Altenburg on January 8, 2015 at 11:22am

Maybe something similar to Steve Vance's Close Calls (http://cc.stevevance.net), but for infrastructure problems, rather than car conflicts?

Permalink Reply by Skip Montanaro 0mi on January 8, 2015 at 11:49am

Thanks, that's an interesting suggestion. We could do something similar with a thread here or, more likely, a blog, but then I wonder about how you a) remove problems which get fixed, and b) find out if a problem has already been reported. Look at the "I rode today" thread. It has over 7000 replies at this point. In addition, each message in Steve Vance's Close Calls blog is more-or-less a one-and-done sort of event. There's no need to go back later and delete (or heavily revise) an entry. There's also no need real to look through every entry. It doesn't matter if someone else had a close call at Milwaukee and California. You might well still want to report your close call.

That said, I really like the way he uses map data. A "50,000 foot" view using Google Maps would be great, with a stickpin in every problem. As problems are addressed, you remove the stickpin.

Permalink Reply by David Altenburg on January 8, 2015 at 11:58am

Yeah, good point about the difference between events and current problems. I think keeping things up-to-date may be the trickiest part of this whole project. Are you envisioning the inclusion of temporary situations, such as those created by road construction (which sometimes unfortunately turn into not-so-temporary problems)? Regardless, I really think your idea could become a valuable resource. 

Permalink Reply by David Barish on January 8, 2015 at 12:11pm

Skip

Thanks for  flipping the helmet, it's funny how memory works.

I wonder if we could have a thread here where the initial post is being edited by a thread moderator/handler such as yourself. The initial post which could be a list, map or whatever, can be altered based upon posts that the rest of us teeming millions ( to borrow a phrase from Cecil Adams) put on the thread about things we see on our rides. Yasmeen (if your eyes are on this thread) is this a possibility? Then either the original poster (Skip?) or TCL (Yasmeen?) or some volunteer (Active Trans?  somebody else??) could send notice to the various municipalities and governmental units. I would be interested to hear from people like Mike Keating and Brendan Kevinides to see if this has any value.  I understand that this is intended to be more  than a tool to help lawsuits but something that gets a bureauocrat to say, "Hey, maybe we ought to fix that." or "Hey, maybe we ought to put up a sign."  Just a thought.

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