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Susana Zamora
Madrid
Tuesday, 24 September 2024, 16:50
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A judge in Spain has ruled out La Rioja regional government's liability for the poor state of a road after a cyclist struck a pothole, fell and died from his injuries.
The victim was riding his bicycle along the LR-311 road which, according to Guardia Civil, was covered with grass cuttings from verge clearing until kilometre point 3.8 where there was a large pothole. According to the complaint from his family, the bike's front wheel went into the pothole, causing the victim to lose control of the bike and fall to the ground. The cyclist was unable to move due to sustaining spinal injuries. As a result of the serious injuries, the victim died two months after the incident.
The pothole was repaired 20 days later, "so the administration was aware of the bad state of the asphalt, " according to the claim.
This was stated in the judgement issued by the High Court in La Rioja, which rejected the claim for liability of the regional government in the fall suffered by the elderly cyclist.
The family claimed 217,511 euros, plus legal interest. In their claim, they demanded the liability of the regional government's roads department as the owner of the local road where the incident occurred and as the body responsible for maintaining and preserving the roads under its jurisdiction in good condition.
The judges pointed out a need to determine "whether there is a causal link" between the poor state of the road and the cyclist's injuries and subsequent death. According to the court, there was no information or evidence that would allow the conclusion that the front wheel of the bike went into the pothole as a result of the cut grass.
The judge did consider, thanks to the statement of a witness, that the cyclist lost control. The Guardia Civil's report also pointed out that when the patrol arrived at the scene they saw an elderly man on the hard shoulder of the road who, "barely able to speak", said he had lost control of the bicycle, causing the fall.
"Not even by means of circumstantial evidence can it be established that the cause of the fall was the pothole in the road because there is no precise and direct link between the fall and the bad state of the road," the judge said.
"It is necessary to point out that the exact place of the fall has not been proved... secondly, the evidence leads to alternative conclusions as to how the fall could have happened and is therefore not conclusive," the judge added.
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