What are the rights regarding those who use a public road that resides on private property?

A public road on a neighbor’s private property? That doesn’t make sense to me. Could you explain a little better, please?

In California, it is illegal to make any kind of change to a public road. This includes filling in potholes, constructing speed bumps or any other change. The agency that maintains the road (county, state, or whatever) has the ability to issue fines for any unauthorized work that is done. The Police do not usually get involved with public road/transportation issues.

Contact the agency that is responsible for the road and discuss your issues with them. The agency has a legal right-of-way ownership of the road, and the neighbor is not allowed to make any unauthorized changes.

I agree with @YARNLADY You might be able to get more info on this site and ask a question on the feedback section at the top right hand part of the page.

So what was the cop there for? He must have some idea what the rules of the road are. And I don’t get how private land owner has a public road through it. If it’s a home owner association thing there must have been a meeting for something like this to be approved. If that speed bump is there legally then they are responsible for its upkeep and should therefore be liable for any vehicle damage that happens or medical bills. What if an emergency vehicle comes through there at a good clip and smacks that? By the sound of it there will be a crash.

@woodcutter I know that in California, there are rural areas in which a farm or a ranch (that is owned by someone) is so large that the only way to get from point A to point B is to have a public road put across the property. It’s not exactly like public domain, but it’s similar. So the road is public in every way that regular roads are and the laws regarding it are the same (the property owner does not own or maintain the road). Other similar things are easements that might run behind a row of houses, although the property owners still own more of the land beyond the easement. Sometimes easements will have some sort of a water way (like a drainage ditch) or even a fire road that the fire department needs to get up into the hills, but yet it runs across a person’s farm or up behind a person’s property, especially if they live in the mountains or foothills.

I have the feeling that the cops were called, because something bad seemed to be going down and the OP also mentioned something about the land owners as already having been in a few ugly disputes. The cops may not be abe to do anything about the speed bump itself, but they would still have the jurisdiction to stop people from causing trouble, and hopefully they would refer the bump maker or remover of the bump to the correct road authorities.

@Kardamom That is what I was thinking but the land owner is looking like he wants it both ways, meaning he wants the road to be maintained by others but still feels free to put obstructions in the road to suit him or her so, which is it? We still don’t know the original arrangements that started this. If the neighbors don’t like speeders then they should report them but taking the law into their own hands to slow down one family of offenders seems intrusive. Are there any guidelines on what dimensions a real speed bump on a public road need to adhere to? There’s a hospital I know of that has multiple speed bumps in the parking area and they are pretty extreme squared off structures that force a driver to have to almost come to a complete stop before proceeding over them. But that is in a parking area where the speeds are really slow anyway with people walking all over the place.

I knew of a housing development that had speed bumps in the streets and a mobile home court also. It’s sounding like the owners of the speed bump may be the land developers and might have legal reason to do what they want? If that is the case then everyone may have to just suck it up and deal.

Let me see if I understand this. Your neighbor lives on a public road, right? In other words, he has to travel on the public road, in order to reach his private road. Your neighbor has taken it upon himself to build a speed bump on the public road.

First, your neighbor cannot build anything on a public road. He has to file a claim with your local government, stating why the government should build the speed bump. Once approved, the government will build the speed bump…...not your neighbor.

Actually, your neighbor is setting himself up for a case of liability, if someone is injured over his installed speed bump. He is violating several laws, most of which are civil.

What has your local police had to say about the speed bump?

Before you neighbor destroys the speed bump he has built, I would take several pictures of it…..both in the daytime and at night. Nothing like photos to show in court.

I agree, @john65pennington. But, I think the neighbor has already deconstructed the speed bump. Right, OP (I’m too lazy to scroll up to see who it is. I’m sorry OP. Forgive me. When you are old, you’ll look back on this insult and laugh.)

There is a good chance the rules vary by state. I agree with @john65pennington that it is odd for a private citizen to build a speed bump on a public road. To build any such thing, even on a private road there would possibly be rules governing getting a permit to do it.

There are laws that once something is on a persons property for a certain amount of years it stays there. I don’t think it would apply with this though. For instance if I own a piece of land, and there is a road that runs down the side of my land, partly on my property, that a neighbor put in many years ago to get to his house, I can’t just decide to get rid of it. Even if the entire road is on my property I can’t do anything if it has been there for many years. At least that is true in FL.

But, this bump is on a public road, so I think deal with whoever is responsible for maintaining the roads, and road safety.

Is the road in question in a subdivision governed by an HOA?

To me, @JLeslie, there is a big difference between public and private roads, right? That is the part I can’t figure out. The original poster hasn’t responded back to my original request for clarification of the statement, “A public road on a neighbor’s private property…”

@bkcunningham I agree it is unclear. But, if it is a road that other people need to use to get to their house, then I think public rules might apply. Seems like it is a matter of rights of ingress and egress.

We have a classic case here. A wealthly second-home owner has a large house with lots of land; a rutted and seasonal but very public road bisects the property.

The owner knew about the road when she bought the house and initially was very belligerent and aggressive when anyone drove down the road and eventually across her property.

The town does not maintain this road off-season, and if the owner had been more pleasant, she would have had very little traffic.

But her behavior really pissed off the natives and they take every opportunity to use the road as a short cut. It often requires a jeep, AWD, a truck with chains and occasionally a team of huskies. I walk it when I can; it’s a pretty stroll with a nice stream, good birds and wild flowers and oh, the pleasure of getting up this woman’s nose.

There is legally granted access, @gailcalled and @JLeslie. Otherwise, private property is private property to me. Am I wrong? I mean, did the world change. If I don’t want you on my property and there is no legal document that allows you to enter, I can keep you off my land. Even with a giant speed bump.

But, if there is a legal document, say for instance a right-of-way granted in a land deed of some sort that grants access or say, water rights. You can’t stop someone from entering property that is granted access or right-of-way through your property if your deed of sale granted that right to the property owner.

In this case, the woman bought a house with property on one side of a small, dirt but very public road. She also brought 20 acres of undeveloped land on the other side of the road.

The public has free access to the road just as they would to any of the other public roads.

@bkcunningham You’re wrong in that if the road has been established for many years as an access road, probably the property owner does not have the right to suddenly change it or block it off. In FL I think it takes 17 years for something to be established as permanent so to speak, even if it is on someones private property. So, it doesn’t happen over night. Even if my memory is wrong and it is 7 years, no matter what I knows it is several years. Of course if a new way to access is created, the owner could probably change the road.

In my case, the owner asked the town board to reroute the road so that it would skirt her property. She was so cavalier about the new placement of the road and so oblivious to the problems it might cause her less affluent neighbors, that the board unanimously voted to keep the road in place.

It was an old rutted path used by horse drawn vehicles back in the day. So there is common law on the side of the town and the townsfolk.

@bkcunningham This might interest you on FL law and easements, I just looked it up knowing my memory and knowledge is sketchy at this point.

Here is a little of it A common example of a right of way easement is one where a landowner cannot access a public road without crossing the property of another landowner. In these situations, courts will usually find a right of way by necessity. This allows a party to cross another’s land at the closest point to a public highway.

I didn’t know that @JLeslie. Interesting. Also, @gailcalled, I’m just curious where the little rutted, seldom used historical road goes? Do people need to use the road to get to their homes or a local business or neighbors homes?

It is a short cut from secondary road A to secondary road B. Most of us avoid it in the winter because it is almost impassable but the town highway crew opens it up and repairs ruts and potholes almost before any other road.

This has become a town legend of epic proportion and the owner of the property the butt of endless jokes. Money isn’t everything, it seems. Her husband (who has since ditched her and run off with his secretary) is an attorney and represented himself in front of the town council. He did not make any friends with his “I’m better than all of you” attitude.

Aww, I’m sort of feeling sorry for her now, @gailcalled. But you guys won in the town council’s decision?

She is a pariah here; we often wonder why she doesn’t buy a more isolated McFarmhouse.
And the consensus is that she lost; the status quo remains as it was.

It’s like a Hatfield-McCoy type situation, apparently. That part of the road lies on her property which is at the beginning of the road. She threatened when my parents first moved here that she was going to block it off so that no one could get to their houses. We have another neighbor who drives really fast down the road and there is one blind corner. She probably got a speed bump approved because of him. I’m not sure. That’s what my dad says, anyway. I know there has to be a petition or something signed by everyone that lives on the street, but my parents and another neighbor never signed anything.

My dad went and checked out everything with an attorney and as long as he doesn’t touch the concrete, it’s fine. So as stubborn as he is, he put down more gravel. Again she called the cops and I think they got the gist of what was going on and it seems less of an issue to them. There were some really great points made and thank you to everyone who shared their personal stories. It’s been a big help. :) Personally, I think that she’s bored. You know when someone is messing with you to get a reaction and you don’t give in so they get more intense? I think that might be it, too.