Court Opinion

ID: 9529465
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:51:02.139308+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:27:47.284790
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE HEIPLE, dissenting: The majority holds that bicyclists are not intended users of roadways. I respectfully dissent from this absurd and dangerous proposition. On September 8, 1992, plaintiff Jon Boub was riding his bike along St. Charles Road in Wayne Township. Unbeknown to plaintiff, the Township was in the process of resurfacing a bridge over which the road passes. As part of this construction project, the Township had removed sections of asphalt between wooden planks on the surface of the bridge, leaving empty spaces between the planks. As plaintiff rode over the bridge, the front wheel of his bike suddenly became stuck in one of these spaces, causing the rear of the bike to spring into the air. As a result, plaintiff was thrown off the bike and into the bridge’s steel railing and support structure, suffering severe injuries. A local public entity has a duty to maintain its roads in a safe condition for the roads’ intended users. 745 ILCS 10/3 — 102 (West 1992). The majority’s conclusion that bicyclists are not intended users of roads defies common sense, contravenes statutory authority, and frustrates public policy. Both motorists and bicyclists commonly recognize that, in the absence of a designated corridor for bike riding, bikes are intended to share the road with automobiles. Even schoolchildren are taught to ride their bikes on the right side of the road, to obey all traffic laws, and to use appropriate signals to communicate with motorists. The majority’s assertion that bicyclists are not intended users of roadways therefore contradicts the experience, understanding and training of reasonable people. Numerous statutes and regulations validate this common perception that bicyclists are intended to use public roads. First, the Illinois Vehicle Code provides that bicyclists “shall be granted all of the rights and shall be subject to all of the duties applicable to the driver of a vehicle.” 625 ILCS 5/11 — 1502 (West 1992). The Vehicle Code then proceeds to specify the areas and manner in which bicyclists are required to ride on roadways. 625 ILCS 5/11 — 1503 through 11 — 1514 (West 1992). Second, the State of Illinois has officially adopted a policy requiring that the “safe accommodation” of bicyclists “be given full consideration during the development of highway projects.” Illinois Department of Transportation Memorandum § 2.00 (August 1, 1995). Third, local governments frequently designate particular roads as bicycle routes, and in fact, the road on which plaintiff in the instant case was injured had been so designated by DuPage County. All of the above provisions demonstrate that roadways in the State of Illinois are intended to be used by bicyclists. The majority attempts to dismiss these statutory and regulatory provisions by arguing that they do not demonstrate the intent of Wayne Township, the defendant in the instant case. The cited provisions are, however, applicable to roads within the Township. The Township fails to cite any evidence indicating that, prior to plaintiffs accident, it objected to the policy embodied in these provisions, or in any way attempted to- communicate to bicyclists that it did not intend for them to use its roads. The majority also counters the cited provisions with statutory definitions. establishing that the primary purpose of Illinois highways is to facilitate travel by motorized vehicles. There can be no argument with this elementary observation. Far more automobiles than bicycles are in regular use, and highways are constructed primarily to meet the needs of motorists. This fact, however, does not in any way disprove that bicyclists are also intended to use public roads. The two propositions are not mutually exclusive. Roads are intended to be used primarily by automobiles, but also by bicycles. Finally, the majority’s holding is both irrational and dangerous as a principle of public policy. The accident which befell plaintiff in this case could just as easily have befallen a motorcyclist, but under the majority’s standard, the latter could recover while the former cannot. There is no rational basis for this distinction. Furthermore, under the majority’s standard, even a road condition which is dangerous to automobiles would not be sufficient to create a legal duty to the instant plaintiff. For example, if the construction crew had removed the entire bridge without closing off the area to traffic, a motorist whose car crashed into the abyss could maintain a suit against the Township, while plaintiff, after suffering the same fate on his bicycle, could not. This conclusion was conceded by defendants’ counsel at oral argument. See also Bauer v. H.H. Hall Construction Co., 140 Ill. App. 3d 1025, 1030 (1986) (noting anomaly of allowing a motorist to bring an action for injuries sustained in an accident while precluding a bicyclist from bringing an action for the same type of accident). Besides depriving injured bicyclists of just compensation for their injuries, the principal effect of the majority decision will be to discourage municipalities from taking any measures to make roads safer and more hospitable for bicyclists. Because the majority precludes liability whenever the municipality in question does not intend for bicyclists to use its roads, a loss-averse municipality, in order to minimize its exposure to liability, might remove from its roads any evidence that bicyclists are intended users, such as bike lanes or special signs. Bicyclists would then be in even more jeopardy than that occasioned by today’s decision. Given the majority’s ruling, the only safe bicycle in Illinois is a stationary exercise bike located in one’s home or at the gym. JUSTICES HARRISON and NICKELS join in this dissent.