JR-Dubs t1_it2kco1 wrote on October 20, 2022 at 2:02 PM

Reply to comment by wagsman in What's with the ATV crowd in PA and what should I do about it? by Griff82

Setting up booby traps is illegal. No matter what. When I say "known man made death traps", I mean something like the following (which is a case I actually had): A deep, but narrow trench cut on someone's land is covered by high grass that is cut at the end of the season and then the property got covered in snow, making the trench completely invisible. Man walks dog on the property (trespassing), dog got loose, while the guy was chasing the dog he fell into the trench and suffers serious injuries.

If you set up a bunch of punji traps on your property, not only are you going to get sued if someone gets injured, you're probably also going to get arrested, regardless of signage.

This all comes with the admonishment that this is not legal advice and you should not rely on it for anything except, maybe, entertainment purposes.

wagsman t1_it2tfds wrote on October 20, 2022 at 3:04 PM

I figured booby traps would be illegal, but I was curious about the legality of signage a duty of care.

PoiLethe t1_it50swx wrote on October 20, 2022 at 11:55 PM

Was it intended to be some kind of booby trap or was it just like a drainage ditch?

BeatsMeByDre t1_it41gxb wrote on October 20, 2022 at 7:48 PM

So...you can't dig a hole on your own property?

the_real_xuth t1_it4hklp wrote on October 20, 2022 at 9:33 PM

Nobody said that. But you do need to make it so that a reasonable person (even one who was trespassing) wouldn't fall in it accidentally. Because lots of trespass is legal and sometimes even required.

BeatsMeByDre t1_it4i968 wrote on October 20, 2022 at 9:38 PM

Fair enough, I wasn't trying to be snarky, just don't understand sometimes😅