Trail Insurance

[Bob Norris]

Wondering if anyone has any expertise in Mountain Bike Trail Insurance. I have a 10 mike bike trail in Virginia on private (my) land. I have signs everywhere “ride at your ow risk” and have been told that is adequate. I cannot find a source to extra insurance. Any ideas??

[Jeff Barber]

That’s great that you let people bike on your private trail! However, there’s definitely a risk that someone will ruin the whole thing by trying to sue you for getting injured on the trail, and I kinda doubt you’ll find anyone to insure against that specific risk, outside of Lloyd’s of London. 🙂

Two ideas:

• Get an umbrella policy for yourself. Each umbrella policy is a bit different but they generally protect you against certain types of lawsuits (owners of rental properties often purchase these.)
• Sign up for pre-paid legal. I honestly have no idea how much this costs but it’s sorta like insurance in that you pay a set amount every month or year and in return, you have a lawyer who you can consult for free or who will even represent you (depending on the type of pre-paid plan you get.)

Neither of these is perfect and whoever you talk to, you’ll want to make sure this specific case will be covered by your plan. To me, the “ride at your own risk” signs should surely help you in the event of a lawsuit, but maybe waivers are a good idea as well? At least with a waiver, riders can’t say they didn’t see the warning signs.

[Greg Heil ✓ supporter]

I know that there are plenty of ranches in Texas, and even private land in Colorado, where trails are located on or partially cross private land. Perhaps you could get in touch with one of those land owners and see what sort of protection they use?

[bonkedagain]

Good discussions on this topic in the following threads.  Sorry about steering the discussion away from this website…

http://forums.mtbr.com/trail-building-advocacy/imba-insurance-ending-899262.html

http://forums.mtbr.com/trail-building-advocacy/club-insurance-928811.html

 

[Alvin Mullen]

I use to have a little land in Michigan, and I rode dirt motorcycles on it. For my protection I posted it private off limits. But I never fenced it or pursued charges against anyone else who used it, and didn’t really care. Just wanted to have recourse to charge and counter-sue anyone that sued me.

[triton189]

Sucks that we even have to discuss this.  My two cents is look into an umbrella policy.

[skinnyone]

My local riding area for dirt bikes (motorcycles) has a waiver that everyone has to sign that defines “riding at your own risk”.  You have to initial each paragraph.  It was drafted by a lawyer.  That and the multitude of signs stating “ride at your own risk” protected the landowners when some idiot tried to sue them for hurting himself (slightly) while riding.  If you have any ORV/OHV parks nearby, they may have an example or know legal representation that can help you draft something.

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