Liability for mistakes in measuring a course?

MEASURER LIABILITY

I have not heard of any situation where anyone tried to hold a course measurer liable for damages resulting from a mistake by the measurer. It has been discussed here in the US, and at one time it seemed that measurers might be covered by USATF’s insurance policy that covers officials in the course of working at an athletics meet. I know none of the details.

Most US course measurers are not USATF officials in any case, so I suspect that most course measurers may be operating without insurance covering malpractice or whatever a mistake might be called.

After thinking about it I bought an umbrella policy which covers me for all sorts of things for which I might be sued. Now, since I am no longer an active measurer I guess I don’t need it for measurement errors, but there are things in life that make me think it’s a good idea to keep it. So I have.

So far though it seems to be only a potential problem.

As Pete has stated, I have not heard of this happening here in the US. All of our Certifers are members of USATF and they have limited coverage under USATF policy, It doesn't cover mistakes made in measuring.

We don't have the same procedure as IAAF for measuring/certifying and I think our system would produce less mistakes. We require two rides of a course for certifying, while the IAAF requires one. Yes, IAAF have "expert measurers", but they can make a mistake.

Mike, first I would consider changing you requirements to match the USATF' for certifying a course.

These are scary thoughts and I hope we never get to that point! Can you imagine the tangled web of blame and liability to fight over?! (Was it measured correctly but improperly laid out, etc etc).

A course I certified was found to be wrong (a half marathon in Williamsburg, VA). The mistake came because of a calibration course that was certified at the wrong distance. I had failed to catch a math error on the part of the measurer in computing the cal course length, so that error just propagated itself to any course that was measured using the cal course.

To resolve this one, I went down to measure and certify the course at no cost to the race. That worked ok. I'm glad nobody sued.

The Williamsburg course was too long, hence the complaints. Fair enough. Another course I had measured myself, a 5K in Maryland, turned out to be way short. In trying to be "efficient" by measuring this 5K at the same time as a 10K, I just messed up the numbers. But the runners had just reported that the mile points were off-- they thought it was the right distance overall! (How we do like to believe we are faster than we are!!) Again I resolved this one by just doing another certification with no charge to the event. They were fine with that.

Thanks for the comments. It is good to know nobody has heard of a measurer being sued over a mistake. However it is the insurers we will need to convince in order to obtain a reasonable premium.

We do require two sets of measurements for newly qualified measurers, but once they have proved to get consistent riding of the SPR, there is often little added value in second rides. We encourage measurers to double check the writing down of their starting and finishing counts for each ride piece that makes up the course. Remember our measurers have to pass a theory and a practical test.

In the UK, the principal problems are mistakes by the race director in organising and marshalling the course

I had just finished timing a race on 10/10/15 when my wife called saying she got a call from a guy who was lost at another race. He was doubling the distance as a training run and the course monitors were gone. He missed a road that said "Rd" on a map instead of "Dr" like the street sign. He got my name & number from the course map. I drove over, picked him up and took him back to his car. I will fix all the maps.

I don't remember having had an incorrect distance issue. Yet, it is a great comfort NOT to be a Final Signatory where nobody looks over my stuff. I am happier knowing certifiers will find and have me correct / clarify occasional issues.

I worry much more about causing a motorist to "make an error" when I am riding the wrong way in the gray shadows of dawn.

Oscar Wagner

Johnson City, TN

Oscar,

For happened to you with a road marked wrong. Sometimes FS do look closely at the map. As for the numbers, you are correct that they don't need to show anyone. However, most FS have been doing this for a long time and have proven themselves. I am not sure about your maps, but this is a very critical to do it right.

I believe our legal system requires damages in order for there to be liability. If a measurer makes a mistake how would the plaintiff in a court of law prove damages. How would monetary damages be measured? If there's no damages there's no case.