Who is liable if someone falls on a public sidewalk?
Difficult question.
There was now an intense debate in the Wartenberg Market Council.
Wartenberg - Who is liable if someone falls on the sidewalk?
The community, the injured person, the owner of the adjacent property?
A difficult matter, which is why the municipalities want to provide clarity with ordinances on the cleaning of public roads.
Still, it doesn't always work.
"We had a fall and a broken leg last year," reported Mayor Christian Pröbst (CSU) in the Wartenberg market council.
In both cases the question of liability had not been clarified.
Due to a change in the law, the municipality has to rewrite its ordinance.
However, the administration's draft met with criticism, mainly because too much responsibility would be passed on to the citizens.
After intense debate, the item on the agenda was canceled and the paper must be revised by the next meeting.
The stumbling block was the new paragraph 6c, which deals with the definition of the cleaning area and which neighboring neighbor is responsible for which part of the public road.
The municipality has summarized around 30 affected routes in a list.
"I had to read the paragraph 100 times before I understood it," said Dominik Rutz (Greens).
VG managing director Werner Christofori: “I've been looking for a long time what could be simplified”, but it just couldn't be easier.
Our newspaper refrains from quoting the paragraph at this point - it is actually complicated.
But that wasn't Rutz's main problem at all.
From the list he picked the path between Dr.-Selmair-Ring and Fichtenstrasse.
"I see it very critically," said Rutz, who described the regulation as a "complete patchwork quilt".
Pröbst explained that the building yard could not afford to clear all paths in winter.
What if nobody else does it?
Then you just have to have them blocked, which would mean significant detours on the way to school, warned Pröbst, who emphasized: "We need legal certainty." He would rather not imagine what would happen if someone ended up in a wheelchair after a fall .
Eduard Ertl (Neue Mitte) found it difficult to pass everything on to the residents when roads are used diligently.
“Then the community has to evacuate or even close.” Sometimes the paths passed behind the house and were rarely used.
Ertl said you had to dress appropriately as a walker in winter.
With warning signs of the brand “Use at your own risk” you don't get any further.
"This is not tenable under liability law," explained Christofori, which is why the market dismantled its signs in 2018.
Maybe you could solve the matter with a red light, said Markus Straßberger (CSU) ironically.
His party colleague Isabell Haindl, who denounced a fully comprehensive mentality, feared that anger would be provoked among citizens: "I think that's unreasonable," especially since the list also includes larger stairs and barely walkable paths.
CSU parliamentary group leader Franz Gerstner applied for the item on the agenda to be removed.
Only Pröbst and Heike Kronseder (FWG) voted against.