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Facilities | User Safety | Management | In The News | Liability | Training

 

 More Management Resources

• Management of trails
• Trail maintenance
• Adjacent landowners
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• Safety and liability

Making trails and greenways safer: resources on liability, insurance, and legal issues; trail maintenance and management for better user experience; crime and accident reporting; safety for trail users; a forum for discussion of these issues. Also see the maintenance topics index for more on management.

 

• Road and Trail Intersection Safety from National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Parks & Trails New York
• Pedestrian Safety Guide and Countermeasure Selection System (PEDSAFE) may be of assistance in trail/road crossings
• Trail Intersection Design Guidelines (Florida)
• Where rails cross trails: the safety solution: Grade crossing of a trail in Baldwin, FL uses typical highway railroad crossing; by Craig Della Penna
• Rails-with-Trails: A Preliminary Assessment of Safety and Grade Crossings, November 2005 (pdf 1.4 mb)
• Resident’s Guide for Creating Safe and Walkable Communities, FHWA (pdf 3.9 mb)
• Characteristics of Emerging Road and Trail Users and Their Safety (pdf 80 kb)
• How to Develop a Pedestrian Safety Action Plan (pdf 3.1 mb)
• Balancing Safe and Secure Design Requirements: The Case for Bollards
• Signs with directions, distances, and information to help trail users find their way: photo gallery
• Trail builders: Beware of damaging underground facilities

• Power of the Line: Shared-Use Path Conflict Reduction using painted center lines on paved trails
• Photo gallery of Fencing and warning signs for trailside construction
• Managing Volunteer Risk on the Appalachian Trail (pdf of PowerPoint 3.4 mb)
• Recreational Path Intersection Safety: using the Cross Alert System
• Trail Lights in Grand Forks, North Dakota: they'll tell you— they've seen the light
• Bollards contribute to safety and security on the Sacramento River Trail
• Better park design can prevent crime
• Operations, Maintenance, and Stewardship 101
• Parks and the geography of fear: using GIS analysis
• Dogs Gone Wild: Managing Dogs in Open Space Reserves (pdf of PowerPoint 2.1 mb)
• Increase in dog waste growing into big problem on trails
• More articles and resources on managing and maintaining trails and greenways

• Safety in the National Forests: What to do if you encounter a marijuana cultivation site
• Boulder officials warn trail users to steer clear of snapping turtles
• Two bikers and one runner have been mauled on Anchorage trail the last three summers
• Alaskan Trail Where Bear Attack Occurred to be Closed for Summer
• California Department of Parks and Recreation Seeks Trail Conflict/Safety Data and Documents
• Nashville parks enforce bicycle speed limit as walkers, cyclists clash
• Vermont proposes "assumption of risk" legislation
• Kicked off trails: Utah County bans boarders for safety reasons, from the Deseret News
• Golf and greenways coexist, with some debate and fencing, in Nashville
• Spring snowmelt poses hiking risks: hikers die crossing makeshift log bridge
• Atlanta woman killed while bicycling on Silver Comet Trail (pdf 108kb)
• All about the Safe Trails Forum
• Denver Metro Area Multi-Use Trail Safety Forum
• Trail Safety Forum Notes, April 2006
• We invite you to submit your ideas and experiences with safety, crime, liability, and related issues to American Trails.

• Wyoming develops Youth Outreach Program for ATV safety education
• The ATV RiderCourse teaches safe and responsible use of All-Terrain Vehicles
• "Defensive Horse Safety" Training Course available online
• All-Terrain Vehicle Safety Institute implements a national program of ATV safety education
• The Safe Riders! Snowmobile Safety Awareness Program
• Mountain Bike Search and Rescue Training Manual from IMBA's National Mountain Bike Patrol program (pdf 1 mb)

 

 

• Sidewalks and Shared-Use Paths: Safety, Security, and Maintenance
• Planning for the security of trail users: examples from trail plans
• Upper Tampa Bay Trail adopts 9-1-1 Numbering Program using decals
• Improving Multi-Use Recreational Trail Safety through a Coordinated 911 Sign Project
• Public Safety: 911 Trail Address Location Solutions (pdf of PowerPoint 1.3 mb)
• Anchorage "Trail Watch" makes trails safer for users
• Suggestions on improving safety for horseback riders and other trail users
• Sharing Our Trails: A Guide to Trail Safety and Enjoyment
• Trail Grooming Awareness: what you should know about groomers on the trail, from IASA (pdf 252 kb)
• Thru-Hiker's Medical Guide by Stewart Anderson, MD
• Staying safe during a storm in the backcountry, from Washington Trails Association
• Fatal Bicycle Collision on Denver Area Trail
• Riders and hikers encouraged to "Use Trails, Not Rails"
• Trail Incident Report form from Michigan Mountain Bike Association and National Mountain Bike Patrol (pdf 20 kb)
• ATC Backcountry Sanitation Manual covers human waste management in the backcountry (pdf 1.6mb)

• Lightning and Weather: What Every Trail Rider Needs to Know (pdf of presentation 2.1 mb)
• Harrowing Experiences on the Trail (Part3): Surviving a Chain Saw Accident, by Roger Bell
• Harrowing Experiences on the Trail (Part2): A near death fall, by Roger Bell
• Harrowing Experiences on the Trail (Part 1): Bees and Cliffs, by Roger Bell
• Review: Off the Wall: Death in Yosemite, reviewed by Lynn Arave, Deseret Morning News
• Review: Shattered Air: A True Account of Catastrophe and Courage on Yosemite's Half Dome)

• Analysis of Limited Liability Recreation Use Statutes in Northern Forest States: New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine (pdf 252 kb)
• CA: California code 831.5 allows nonprofit land trusts to be shielded from liability (still current in 2011; pdf 1.1 mb)
• CT: Liability of owner of land available to public for recreation (Sec. 52-557g)
• ND: Brochure explaining Limited Landowner Liability on Recreation Lands
• OR: Oregon's Recreational Use Statute and the Private Landowner
• Limiting government liability for "hazardous recreational activities"
• Managing Risk in Volunteer Trail Organizations (pdf of ppt 6.2 mb)
• New insurance program available for OHV clubs and parks
• Hawaii Trail hazards and physical assessment
• Hawaii Risk management principles for trails and outdoor recreation
• Hawaii Trail Surveys and Risk Management Summaries
• Hawaii Design and Placement of Warning Signs on Improved Public Lands
• Risk management and insurance takes planning by Doug Wyseman Goals of a Risk Management Program for trails
• Protection From Liability: Promoting The Use And Development Of Recreational Trails
• Equine Law and Horsemanship Safety: A resource for horsemen, lawyers and law students
• Designing a Risk Management Program for Mountain Biking
• Rail-Trails and Liability: Trail-Related Liability Issues & Risk Management Techniques (pdf 932 kb)
• Rail Trail liability and risk assessment issues
• American Whitewater's Liability Toolbox covers recreational use of private lands near the nation’s rivers and streams
• Legal and liability issues for Safe Routes to School
• 10 tips for Safe Routes to School programs and Liability
• Sample easements, licenses, and other agreements for trail rights-of-way
• Sample liabililty release: Blue Ridge Trail Riders (pdf 28 kb

• Characteristics of Emerging Road and Trail Users and Their Safety (pdf 80 mb)
• Safety of Pedestrian and Bicycle Travel in Minnesota: Inventory, Analysis and Prospectus (pdf 2.4 mb)
• Bicycling and Walking Attitudes Survey (FL): bicycling facilities and safety
• Rail trails and safe communities (pdf 593 kb)

 

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