Letter: Bristol’s actions after bike path tragedy may prove costly

Posted 10/11/18

In last week’s edition of the Phoenix, it was reported that the family of the young boy who tragically lost his life in a bicycle accident on Poppasquash Road in July has sued the Town of …

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Letter: Bristol’s actions after bike path tragedy may prove costly

Posted

In last week’s edition of the Phoenix, it was reported that the family of the young boy who tragically lost his life in a bicycle accident on Poppasquash Road in July has sued the Town of Bristol for negligence. As the readers of this newspaper may remember, immediately following the accident, I wrote a letter to this newspaper questioning the Town of Bristol on why they allowed a group of concerned citizens to place two illegal stop signs on Poppasquash Road at its intersection with the East Bay Bike Path immediately following the accident.

My contention then was that by allowing these concerned citizens to erect the illegal stop signs, the Town of Bristol was not only condoning and giving their tacit approval to illegal behavior, but it would also send a message that somehow the town was responsible for the tragic death of this young boy, and that it would encourage a lawsuit to be brought against the town.

Fast forward to today, and unfortunately my prediction came true, as the family of the deceased boy has hired a well known and high caliber law firm specializing in personal injury/negligence cases to commence legal action against the town.

While I want to make it perfectly clear that my feeling in July was that I had nothing but praise for the concerned citizens who placed these stop signs on the road, my feeling today remains the same — the concerned citizens were doing what they felt was a good deed, but the Town of Bristol had a duty and obligation to prohibit or remove these illegal signs, and by allowing them to stay on the road and immediately trimming back some brush at virtually every town intersection with the bike path, the town was admitting guilt and sending out a personal invitation to be sued to every law firm in New England.

Also, I would think that by now, the Rhode Island State Police would have brought criminal charges against the driver of the car that struck the boy had they felt that there was any negligence on her part, but obviously that has not happened, and it simply reinforces my belief that what occurred in July was a tragic accident, and that the actions taken by the Town of Bristol immediately following the accident did nothing to improve safety, but instead opened up the town to what could be a very costly lawsuit.

There are inherent dangers in everything we do, whether it be riding a bicycle, jogging on the sidewalk, or driving to the grocery store, and unless you live your life in a protective bubble, accidents can and will happen — sometimes with tragic outcomes.

With that being said, I will continue to pray for the young boy who lost his life, but I will also continue in my belief that this was simply a tragic accident, and the actions taken by the Town of Bristol following this accident will not prevent another tragedy, but those actions could very well cost the taxpayers of this town dearly.

Mike Proto

Bristol

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