F**** Trucks!

I'm on my way home yesterday driving on 95. The road is a little bumpy because they're doing (eternal) road work.

So it's rush hour, and all of the traffic is lumped closely together, but moving at a pretty good pace. I'm in the left lane behind this giant dump truck. I'm not riding his ass or anything. He hits a bump and a bunch of good-size peices of gravel fly out the top of the truck and land all over my hood and windshield. There was a tarp covering his load, but it wasn't secure. It was just kinda flappin in the wind. These were no little pebbles either, each was probably a little smaller than a golf ball.

I was so pissed. I wrote down his license #, and moved over to the right lane to go around him. I was running late to pick up my wife, so I figured "alright, I got his plate #, I'll deal with this later". There was no company name or phone #.

NOTE: I've made this commute every day for the past eight years. Debris flying off a truck is nothing new. In those eight years, I've gone through two replacement winshields, on my own dime. This time was bad though, and I wasn't about to let him get away with it. Back to the story...

So I get home later that day and call the Police Dept for the township it happened in. They tell me that since 95 is a state highway, I need to call the PA state police. I call them, tell the cop my story and that I got the license plate #. I told him the location, time, etc.

First off, by his tone it's very obvious that he doesn't want to deal with this. Thats understanable. I'm sure it happens all of the time, but my hood and winshield are F'd up, and I'm pissed. So anyway, he tells me that in this sort of situation, I'm supposed to pull the truck over. WTF?

Yup. I was supposed to pull the truck over. I laughed out loud, then I realized he was serious. I was like "I am not a cop!" "I don't have flashing lights on my car, and I don't own a gun!" I would never in a million years even dream of trying to pull someone over.

First of all, if I pulled up next to this guy, who probably doesn't even know that he just dumped rocks all over my car, and told him to pull over, he's gonna flip me off and keep going. Thats what I would do if someone other than a cop tried to pull me over. I could'nt beleive he said that. I'll bet people get killed that way. It's already a high-tense situation because I was pissed about my car. It could've easily turned into a fist-fight had we both pulled over.

I asked the cop, "what if I attempt to pull him over, and he doesn't? Should I then engage in a high-speed pursuit?"

What a joke! So anyway, he tells me basically theres nothing he can do about it. Unfreakingbelievable! I've got about a thousand dollars damage to my car...and I'm just "out of luck?" It wasn't an emergency situation. My car was still driveable. I wasn't about to call 911 over it. I thought waiting until I got home was the right thing to do.

Truck drivers suck. So do cops. Next time I'm calling 911. Better yet, I'll go out and get myself a gun. That way when I try to pull someone over on the freeway like the cop said, I'll be ready!


-Steve

 

What a ****!!!! Grrrr!!!
Better, have a shotgun and take out their tires

 

just venting, yep

 

Anyone know of a way that I can "run the plate?"

The State Police wouldn't, and I understand that. Of course they can't just do that for anyone who calls them.

But if there was some way I could get the company name and phone number, I could call them and see if they would re-imburse me.

Any web-search type of things that I could use to do this?


Thanks,

-Steve

 

Here's a start, do a google search on "license plate lookup" (no quotes) and look at the results and sponsored links. There may be a price tag on the actual search though

 

I asked the cop, "what if I attempt to pull him over, and he doesn't? Should I then engage in a high-speed pursuit?" LOL!

dont know bout running the plates, dont live in the US, but u could call up ur insurance, wouldnt they know how to handle this? i know my face would be turnin freakin read if this had happened to me, especially after the 3rd time! actually now the high-speed pursuit doesnt sound so bad!

 

Most trucks like these have these rather large stickers that say, "Stay back at least 500 feet!". For exactly these situations.

So, if this truck didn't have that sticker, then track him down, though, if said truck had that sticker, then, there probably isn't much you can do.

 

Definitely no sticker. I mean, I know you shouldn't drive too close to trucks, but it was rush hour and we were in the left lane. If anything, he should have obeyed the signs that say "TRUCKS MUST USE LEFT LANE".


-Steve

 

This happens often, your lucky some drivers are killed! Often loads are unsecure this is the drivers fault. Drivers are crushed and decapitaded from flying debri. Getting a license # was good, now file a accident report with the police, they have to do that. Also getting in touch with your insurance was a good idea.

 

I meant RIGHT lane.


-Steve

 

I don’t know the laws of your state, but the truck should have DOT numbers…and if they don’t it’s a violation, that’s one, for any truck for hire, and or privately own…then the load not secure, that’s two….but the road was / is bad, and it happened before…………here in California they have been ticketing anybody that doesn’t tie their loads with a cover and line…..wobbles

 

Here in CA, you call your insurance company and they do the hunting down of the perp......

 

This actually happened to me on route 80 here in PA a few years ago. I, unfortunately, wasn't paying attention enough at the time to take down the license plate number, and had to pay the insurance deductible for the repair bill as well. (My husband was very unhappy to say the least.) I have to say though that the deductible for repairing the windshield was different than our regular deductible, so it wasn't as expensive as we had first thought it would be.

Was this a PENNDOT truck? If so, you could try contacting them to report what happened. If not, there are definitely license plate lookup areas on the web. One can be found at here.
Good luck!

 

Man, I can totally relate to this. Luckily, it only damaged my windshield, and as sad as it sounds, I still haven't had it replaced. My insurance covers it, but they use such ghetto companies that the windshield they replace it with is paper thin.

I rather deal with the huge chip in the current one than deal with one of those. Last accident I was in with a replacement windshield via insurance company shatterred like fine china, and in chunks. They AREN'T supposed to do that.

A truck before that through a coke can out the window and struck my car. Tell me that doesn't want to make you track them down and stomp them into a mud puddle.

 

By law the police (some form of law enforcement) has to file a police report!! Technically this could be considered negligent damage to personal property!!!!

I'm sure if your insurance company is somewhat worthy of a company...they will track this truck down to it's company and owner...they do have the resources and the power!!

Roger