In Cotner v. State (1987), 40 Ill. Ct. Cl. 70, Claimant brought a tort action against the State claiming that he was riding a motorcycle on a State-maintained road when he went over a bump, losing control and falling to the pavement receiving severe injuries. A companion cyclist testified that the bump was six inches high and that a year earlier he had run over the same bump and it jarred his tape player so that the tape fell to the ground. The Claimant's companion never complained about the bump and never notified the Illinois Department of Transportation. An investigating police officer found the bump and estimated that it was approximately four inches high. Claimant's father measured the bump at 4 and 3/4 inches high. An IDOT field technician estimated the height of the bump as between 1 and 3 inches. Department of Transportation personnel testified that they made visual inspections of the area and did not see such a bump. Local police departments had not received public complaints and no IDOT agency employees reported any deficiency in the road surface. The Court held that Respondent was not an insurer of the safety of users of its highways. The burden is upon Claimant to show that the State had actual or constructive notice of defects that caused injuries. (Norman v. State (1982), 35 Ill. Ct. Cl. 693, 695.) "The mere fact that a defective condition existed if, in fact, it did exist, is not in and by itself sufficient to constitute an act of negligence on the part of the Respondent." Palmer v. Northern Illinois University (1964), 25 Ill. Ct. Cl. 1; Cotner v. State (1987), 40 Ill. Ct. Cl. 70, 72. In Cotner, supra, there was evidence from Claimant's companion of the existence of the bump one year earlier, but the Court held such evidence to be insufficient to establish constructive notice of the existence of the bump, or of a dangerous condition.