Section 139. County liable for injuries caused by defective highways and bridges

1. When,  by  law,  a  county  has  charge  of  the  repair  or  maintenance  of  a road, highway, bridge or culvert, the county shall be
  liable for injuries  to  person  or  property  and  for  wrongful  death
  sustained  in consequence of such road, highway, bridge or culvert being
  defective, out of  repair,  unsafe,  dangerous  or  obstructed  existing
  because  of  the  negligence  of  the  county,  its  officers, agents or
  servants. A civil action may be maintained against the county to recover
  damages for any such injury or death; but the county shall not be liable
  in such action unless a notice of claim shall have been made and  served
  in  compliance  with  section  fifty-e of the general municipal law, and
  unless the action is commenced in compliance  with  the  conditions  set
  forth in section fifty-i of the general municipal law.
    2.  Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision one of this section,
  a county may, by local law duly enacted, provide that  no  civil  action
  shall  be  maintained  against  such  county  for damages or injuries to
  person or property sustained by reason of any highway, bridge or culvert
  being defective, out of repair, unsafe, dangerous or  obstructed  unless
  written  notice  of  such  defective,  unsafe,  dangerous  or obstructed
  condition was actually given to the clerk of the governing body of  such
  county  or  the  county  highway  superintendent;  and  that there was a
  failure or neglect within a reasonable time after  the  giving  of  such
  notice  to repair or remove the defect, danger or obstruction complained
  of, or, in the absence of such notice, unless  such  defective,  unsafe,
  dangerous  or obstructed condition existed for so long a period that the
  same should have  been  discovered  and  remedied  in  the  exercise  of
  reasonable  care  and  diligence; but no such action shall be maintained
  for damages or injuries  to  person  or  property  sustained  solely  in
  consequence  of the existence of snow or ice upon any highway, bridge or
  culvert, unless written notice thereof, specifying the particular place,
  was actually given to the clerk of the governing body  of  a  county  or
  county  highway  superintendent  and  there  was a failure or neglect to
  cause such snow or ice to be removed, or to  make  the  place  otherwise
  reasonably  safe  within  a  reasonable  time  after the receipt of such
  notice.
    3. The county highway superintendent shall transmit in writing to  the
  clerk  of  the  governing  body  of the county within ten days after the
  receipt thereof all written notices received by him pursuant to a  local
  law enacted pursuant to this section.
    4.  The  clerk  of  the  governing  body  of each county shall keep an
  indexed record, in a separate book, of all  written  notices,  which  he
  shall  receive  pursuant  to  such  local  law  of  the  existence  of a
  defective, unsafe, dangerous or obstructed condition in or upon,  or  of
  an  accumulation  of  ice  or  snow  upon  any county highway, bridge or
  culvert, which record shall state the date of receipt of the notice, the
  nature and location of the condition stated to exist, and the  name  and
  address of the person from whom the notice is received. All such written
  notices  shall  be  indexed  according  to  the  location of the alleged
  defective, unsafe, dangerous or obstructed condition, or the location of
  accumulated snow or ice. The record of each notice  shall  be  preserved
  for a period of five years after the date it is received.