Letting others ride 4 wheel bikes on my property

[AlanB]

I second what Champy has said as well.

The land that we use to hold our motorycle events on that I am responsible for is always a challenge.

I forgot how it was explained to me exactly, but it was something like for every degree of seperation you loose a degree of control.

Some recent examples.

I have a buddy that has one of the premier MX tracks in the SE us, and it is his private track, on his property, him and his guests only ride it. Every now and then he will go out, and someone will be riding the track, about two weeks ago, they had come from 2 hours drive away, to ride this track. When he asked who said they could ride, they said this guy, who was a freind of that guy, who Joey had said could ride.

Although I am a great believer in bikes, riding, open access etc. There is also great risk, and our current culture and legal climate cannot be said to hold personal responsibilty very high.

Anyway, I would just tell the folks No, you just have a firm and fast rule about no riding on your property, and let it go at that.

(Some states do have hold harmless recreation laws as well though) such as TN.

 

[Gatorboy]

I'd advise not to give permission.

Just last Saturday, some people nearby were having a party and they decided to go riding ATV's. They went onto my property (blowing past my NO TRESPASSING signs) and one idiot wrecked and broke his femur. The fire department had to cut the lock on my gate, use a 4-wheel drive truck to drive up to the accident scene and then had a medivac helicopter land on my property to transport the person to Shock Trauma in Baltimore.

I got a call from the deputy sheriff asking if I wanted to file charges. I told him I think the broken leg is punishment enough.

 

[riptides]

I'd advise not to give permission.

Just last Saturday, some people nearby were having a party and they decided to go riding ATV's. They went onto my property (blowing past my NO TRESPASSING signs) and one idiot wrecked and broke his femur. The fire department had to cut the lock on my gate, use a 4-wheel drive truck to drive up to the accident scene and then had a medivac helicopter land on my property to transport the person to Shock Trauma in Baltimore.

I got a call from the deputy sheriff asking if I wanted to file charges. I told him I think the broken leg is punishment enough.

I would hope that you could relay the message back to the individual that you will not be pressing charges. I think that way the message hits home.
but then I guess if the deputy has already ask you, the individual knows how much trouble they wre/are in.

-Mike Z.

 

[CurlyDave]

I got a call from the deputy sheriff asking if I wanted to file charges. I told him I think the broken leg is punishment enough.

That might be true for the injured one, but you should re-think your position on his friends.

They haven't had any consequences, and your property now has a certain mystique as being where so-and-so broke his leg.

Having to defend themselves might keep them away in the future. Especially if Daddy has to foot the bill for it. Hopefully parental wrath will have an effect.

 

[rlee6]

Thank you for the replies. I don't have insurance for the property. Now I know my answer must be no. Thanks.

 

[EddieWalker]

Thank you for the replies. I don't have insurance for the property. Now I know my answer must be no. Thanks.

That might not be true.

Before I moved onto my land, I had State Farm for my homeowners policy here in Texas. I spoke with my agent and found out that I was covered for liablity on the land if nobody lived on it. I forget for sure, but I think it was for $500,000 no additional money. I raised it to $2,000,000 for a very small amount, but again, I don't remember the numbers anymore.

My fear was that there were allot of people using the land when I bought it, and even after I put up gates and signs, they just cut the chains, shot off the locks and cut new trails around the gates. It took me awhile to finally keep them out and I never caught anybody first hand. I did talk to some people that might have been the problem, including the local volunteer fire chief. After that, I didn't have any more problems.

If you feel like you need to offer a reason to your real estate agent why you don't want his grand kids to ride four wheelers on your land, tell him your insurance policy rates will increase a thousand dollars a year. It's not true, but he doesn't have to know that. Then ask if he's willing to pay the difference?

The fastest way to discourage somebody who wants something for free is to ask them to pay thier way.

Eddie

 

[rlee6]

I just sent him an e-mail and had a followup phone conversation. When I told him I was scared of liability, he said he understood. I believe he understands liability issue better than me. It's been taken care of. Thanks again. I now need to put up posts, chains, and "do not enter" signs.

 

[Shirleyshusband]

This is so sad... what the lawyers of our land have done. I understand your concerns. Perhaps you could ask the Grandfather to pay lawyers fees to write up some kind of waiver that protects you? Or maybe the kids could work off any extra insurance premium??? It sure would be great for this Grandpa to be able to teach these kids that asking for permission can SOMETIMES result in good things. Heck, it could work out for the good and they'd keep an eye on your place.

Just a thought...

 

[dmccarty]

rlee6,

In NC the best protection you can do as a landowner is to legally post your land. That way if someone is on your land the are breaking the law which makes it harder for them to sue.

In Florida the law used to be that hunting with a firearm without a landowners permission was a felony. Might want to check that to see if it is still true and my memory is correct. I think that helps some tresspass problems. NC does not have this law. Some counties make it illegal to hunt without the land owners permission. Thankfully my county is one of those and it has come in handy.

I don't allow any person outside of our family to use our land. People dont like it. I dont care. I won't have idiots shooting at my family, my neighbors or my property which has already happened. People drop trash. I'm still cleaning up trash dropped over the last 20 years. Someone just went past my posted gate and dump used cat litter.

Liability is a big issue. Search TBN on this topic and you will be reading for days.

And ATVs are going to do anything but tear up your land. If grandpa wants a place for his grandkids to ride then he should have bought the land. That way he can pay the bank, the taxes, the insurance, and clean up the mess.

Find out the law on how to legally post in FLA. And do it.
Since you don't live on that land you will likely have to do something to make it hard for people to use your land as a dump. Its almost certain to happen....

Later,
Dan

 

[3RRL]

I was going to comment with some personal experience on the matter, but I think Eddie's first quote summed it up clearly. Well said Eddie.

You answered you own question, but I think your looking for support and some reasons why it's not a good idea.

The first thing I though of is why did the realtor come to you. You'r not friends or family. Does he come over for dinner or do you go to his home for dinner or to hang out? You owe him nothing for what he did for you in the land deal. If he did it for free because you are such good friends, then I don't think you would even be aksing this question.

As a realtor, he should know of all sorts of landowners. Why pick you? The land is empty, but that's not a very good reason. I wonder if all those other land owners won't let his grandkids ride four wheelers on there land for a reason???

Some states have laws protecting the landowner from lawsuit if you let people use your land for free and they get hurt. I don't know about your state, but even with those laws, if one of those kids does get hurt, and you know they will, its just a matter of degree of injury until they go after you for some sort of comensation.

Fourwheelers are about the biggest cause for injury of kids in the rural area. They die all the time on them, or cripple themselves. What will happen to you and your finances if some litte 12 year old girl hits a tree on your land and breaks her neck? Can you be one hundred percent sure that her parents and inusurance companies will understand that it wasn't your fault when they have a 6 figure bill for her medical treatment, plus a lifetime of being paralized?

Weigh both sides of it and try to come up with one single reason it would benifit you to allow these kids that you don't even know to ride there four wheelers on your land.

Again, I think you already know the answer here.

Good luck,
Eddie