Debris on Highway - who is responsible?

[JoiseyMom]

Is there someone to go after in an accident if it is caused by debris on the highway?

DS hit some debris that was on the highway. The SUV in front of him swerved to avoid it, but DS couldn't and his car is lower to the ground, so it caused some damage. Now, of course his insurance will cover everything, but the deductible.

Can the county or town, who is responsible for the roads be held for the deductible?? This happened in Ohio, btw .


Thanks guys!

 

[dawson5]

My FIL was a truck driver. If it was part of a tire, the truck driver is responsible for that. Good luck with that, it's hard to pin responsibility on someone.

My mom is in Ohio, hometown is so bad, the pot holes, she has had to replace her tire and rim a few times now. You used to be able to submit it to the city. The city is so strapped for cash, they will no longer do this and they still don't have the money to fix the streets.

ETA: It might be cheaper to just fix it yourself rather than turn it in to the insurance company. I did have this happen and hubby was able to fix it easily.

 

[golfgal]

If you have the license plate of the person that was carrying the debris you can file a police report and the insurance company can work with that insurance company to cover your damage and deductible. I don't know that a city can be held liable for something like this. They can turn around and say that your son was driving too fast for the conditions and should have been able to avoid the debris too-who knows.

 

[DMass]

My FIL was a truck driver. If it was part of a tire, the truck driver is responsible for that. Good luck with that, it's hard to pin responsibility on someone.

My mom is in Ohio, hometown is so bad, the pot holes, she has had to replace her tire and rim a few times now. You used to be able to submit it to the city. The city is so strapped for cash, they will no longer do this and they still don't have the money to fix the streets.

ETA: It might be cheaper to just fix it yourself rather than turn it in to the insurance company. I did have this happen and hubby was able to fix it easily.

Isn't the state responsible for the highways or is it the city or town it passes thru?

 

[java]

I can't help but it reminded me of driving I95 to Miami- once we got past Fort Lauderdale area- there was all kinds of stuff on the road. And by stuff I mean A DISHWASHER!, chairs, a garbage can full of garbage, just all kinds of things.

I'm glad you son wasn't hurt.

 

[Toad_Passenger]

A friend of mine lost all 4 tires (only a week old) when he came across a bunch of construction debris in the road. They were building homes no more than 1000 feet from the area he drove across it. Unfortunately there was no 100% proof that the debris came from any of the construction trucks, so, unfortunately he was stuck with the whole bill.

If you can prove exactly where the debris came from you probably have a case, but more than likely you're out of luck.

 

[allison443]

I think you have to know where the debris came from.

As far as the municipality being responsible to maintain the roads, usually there is a provision that they have to have sufficient notice of the condition to allow them time to remedy it. If you don't know where the debris came from, how can you prove how long it was there?

 

[bicker]

Generally, around here, you have to report such things to the proper authorities a sufficient time before the damage occurs, so that they have a chance to remedy the situation. I know that doesn't help, after-the-fact, but that's the fair balance struck.

 

[WhateverLolaWants]

Someone I know tried suing the city and ODOT for ruining a tire on a pothole, citing those two were responsible for maintaining the roads. He lost due to something along the lines of it could not be proven how bad the pothole was and how long it had been there. I assume the debris thing would be similar. However, I wonder if you could find out whether or not any 911 calls had been placed to inform the authorities that there was debris in the road and if it had been sitting there for a long period of time. Sounds like a lot of work, though.

 

[bumbershoot]

Isn't the state responsible for the highways or is it the city or town it passes thru?

If they were responsible, there wouldn't be "adopt a highway" groups...


We got a flat tire one night coming home from Seattle. There were 2 cars pulled over in the mile before our flat, and one after. We had a nail in our tire. We feel that someone had strewn nails across the road (we didn't see them at night, but could feel that we were driving over more than one thing); on purpose or accidentally we don't know. We let WSDOT know, and they did not care. Not their problem.


now if someone is driving in front of you and something comes off their car, YES, it's their fault (if they stop or if you get their plate number and they can be caught), but the state isn't going to cover damage from things on the roads...


When I have been following someone too closely and can't avoid something in the road after they avoided it...that's not anyone else's fault but my own... (unless it's a moving object of course, that changes things) It just shows I'm not giving myself enough space to see and react properly. (with the nails, they were not visible)

 

[FireDancer]

If they were responsible, there wouldn't be "adopt a highway" groups...

Adopt a highway groups usually volunteer to clean up litter beside the freeways and Interstates. I have never heard of an adopt a highway group that is responsible for large road debris or structural issues like potholes.

If someone called in the debris and it had been sitting there for weeks there might be a chance it was the city/state/highway commission's fault but I imagine you will most likely be out of luck.

 

[JoiseyMom]

ETA: It might be cheaper to just fix it yourself rather than turn it in to the insurance company. I did have this happen and hubby was able to fix it easily.

No...too much damage to the under carriage of his car, he got it home, but he had it towed to the authorized dealer to fix it.

If you have the license plate of the person that was carrying the debris you can file a police report and the insurance company can work with that insurance company to cover your damage and deductible. I don't know that a city can be held liable for something like this. They can turn around and say that your son was driving too fast for the conditions and should have been able to avoid the debris too-who knows.

He has no idea who dropped the debris, the SUV in front of him swerved to avoid it, and DS wasn't able too.

I'm glad you son wasn't hurt.

Thanks! That was the first thing I asked him, are you ok??

Thankfully he has really great insurance, and the dedcutible is is only $500, but he just moved cross country and got a new place and has to furnish it and get appliances, so it's an expense that really comes at a bad time. Oh, plus he had all the costs of being best man at his brothers wedding. Murphy's law!

Thankfully he is ok, and I think he is going to at least attempt to reach the DOT and see what they say. He has nothing to lose.

Thanks everyone!

 

[marlynnp]

I'd have a talk about maintaining proper following distances.

You won't get anyone else to pay for it. If he saw it come off another vehicle he would have a case against their insurance.
The municipality is not responsible for roadway debris unless you can prove that there has been a hazard present for a while, that it was reported, and that no action was taken to address the hazard within a reasonable time.

Either he submits it to his insurance, dependent upon type of coverage he has, or pays for the repairs himself.

 

[dyna]

Earlier this month riding 900 miles on the harley we could have furnished an entire house with all the furniture we saw in the road had we had a truck.....recliner a sofa, kitchen chairs here an there kitchen table even a bed! Thank god we seen all of it before it was to late...

We had a car hood come flyin off a car a few car lengths in front of us 1 time it hit road an was still sliding a couple of lanes over when we went past it. That was loads of FUN...NOT!!!!!!!! Almost needed to change pants after that 1 lucky we was not closer hood could have taken our heads off.

 

[tvguy]

It's just one of the risks of the road. Government isn't responsible unless they didn't act in a reasonable fashion after a hazard is reported. Of course if someone loses something they could be held liable. But their defense in this case....since the car ahead of your son was able to avoid the debris, and he wasn't.....was that you son was not in control of his car.
Same reason why when a car gets rear ended it is always the fault of the car that did the rear ending. Even if it is a chain reaction. a guy 10 cars behind you starts a series of rear end collisions, and you rear end the car ahead of you, the damage to the car ahead of you is YOUR responsiblity because you were not in control of your car.

 

[miinutes]

usually is the state responcibilty

 

[bicker]

That's not the case.