Are truck drivers responsible for stones flying off their vehicles?

[pute62]

The way dump trucks are made rocks cannot just come flying out of the back of them. At least not any good size stone like a size 8 or 53. Have you ever seen a piece or rip-rap come flying out of the back of a truck? Smaller stone like 11's,12's and 13's will blow out of a dump truck just like sand or dirt will. Alot of times rocks are flipped up by the tires on a truck or the tailgate is leaking. One of the most common causes is when you get loaded at the pit you sometimes get excess stone on you drip pan. Some drivers are too lazy to get out and clean them and when they start down the road those rocks are going to go somewhere. When I drove a dump truck I never had anyone complain about flying rocks until I put new tires on. As soon as I did I had at least 3 call ins about a leaky load. Seems when I would pull into the pit my new tires would get rocks stuck between the tread and then when I would leave and hit a great enough speed, out come the rocks. So what do we learn from all of this? Stay the hell away from ALL BIG TRUCKS EVEN SEMIS WITH TRAILERS! Ever been behind a big truck that blows a cap? how bout beside one? Always stay well back behind any truck and if you want to pass do it and get it done. Don't ever ride beside a semi going down the highway for very long.I realize you guys are *****ing about truck drivers but until you have been there and done that you have no idea the kinda things people in "four wheelers" will do not thinking that a big truck is just 60-80 thousands pounds of metal that will kill you if you get in it's path.

 

[stilllearning09]

I would not mind the stone thing IF...
1. they covered their loads well
2. They drove the speed limit OR under, in the right lane only.

.

I agree. Too many times they are trying to pass traffic on 65 or 465 with the trail of rock and debris falling behind them!

 

[kup]

I don't think so. It's your responsibility to maintain a safe distance behind it. In fact, they usually also have a warning sign: "Stay back 500 feet" or something.

Hard to stay 500 feet behind when the speed limit for trucks is 5 MPH slower that cars on interstates! 500 feet is over a city block behind a truck in the city, that is not reasonable. Trucks ( or everyone ) need to secure their loads and trucks should have mud flaps that keep rocks thrown from their tires from hitting other vehicles .

Why should it cost me money because the truck driver overloads their truck or are too lazy to clean the rocks/gravel off the back before driving on the roads?

 

[Mr. Habib]

Bigum1969

You are correct. Indiana has a "leaky load" law, however enforcement is non existant. Also proving that a rock came off of a truck and hit you is difficult.

What we need is a law that requires all rocks loaded into a dump truck to be micro stamped with the VIN of the truck so that it can be traced back to the owner. Hey, why not, that's what they want to do to ammo.

 

[Michiana]

I experienced first hand truck damage

A couple years after moving to So Florida I bought a brand new Honda Civic Hybrid for commuting to and from work. The drivers in the Miami-Dade/Broward County area have to be seen to be appreciated. The closer to Miami you get the worse the trucks are and if you have to drive through Hialeah you take your life in your hand. This areas is 95% lower class (money wise) Cubans and many of these people are used to driving vehicles back in Cuba held together with duct tape and probably dragged their feet to stop their cars.

Driving to work one morning in my brand new car with less than one thousand miles on the odometer I was stuck behind a dump truck piled two feet over the sides of the box with what looked like refuse from a tear down of a house. This was rush hour traffic that will make Chicago look like a walk in the park; if you leave five feet between yourself and the vehicle in front of you three cars will try to cut in. To make a long story short this guy in the dump truck starts off in a jerky movement and a large piece of a cinder block comes bouncing off his truck onto my hood and then through my front windshield on the passenger side.

My front windshield looked like frosted glass and I had to pull off to the side of the three lane road and of course the driver of the dump truck just kept going. Half the people there don’t have car insurance and don’t speak English so I ended up getting my car towed to the Honda dealer and had a new windshield installed. I never got my dent fixed on my hood and every time I see it I get pissed all over again. I sure wish there was a way to get these trucks to cover their cargo and be held liable for the damage caused by falling cargo but I doubt it will ever happen.

 

[confused89]

Unless you can prove that the item that damaged your vehicle came from their vehicle you can't really do anything. I have been on the recieving end of it once in a company truck. Yes we did get the company to pay for it. It took about two weeks to get that to happen. Yes there is a leaky load law. Never seen anybody cited for it. Yes I do drive semi's. I spent 4 hours in colorado picking out rocks from my rear tires on my truck so that I would not have this happen. Think about it this way. How many people would claim that a truck did damage to their vehicle if all that was needed was the word of the car driver? How many people would try to rip off that trucking company? I think it would be a lot. The trucking companies are just trying to cover their own butts.

 

[Clif45]

Bigum1969

You are correct. Indiana has a "leaky load" law, however enforcement is non existant. Also proving that a rock came off of a truck and hit you is difficult.

I disagree. We have a small dump trailer(6'8"X10'). We had just left griffith and getting onto 80/94 when a trooper pulled up behind us. We were loaded with blown in insulation and drywall since we just cut out 50 feet of wall in a mall. I loaded the load, and know it was secured and not going anywhere. Then my helper and I tarped the load with a brand new tarp and brand new straps. We shoved the tarp wrapper inside the trailer in between the corner of the tarp and the sides of the trailer. Once we hit highway speeds, that little clear wrapper caught some wind and blew out, with that state trooper behind us. If I remember it was a $125 dollar ticket. The best part is as we were stopped on the side of the road a 1984 Chevy full of scrap metal hanging over both sides and about 10 feet from the back headed to the scrapyard in Gary just passed by. Cop didn't even care. Fortunately it didn't cost us too much, and nobody got hurt, but there was nothing else that could have been done to secure the load. We still cover our loads the same way, and have not had anything else fall out since then, but still, we always check just in case.

Although this isnt a rock, it was still a leaky load, and in reference to the quoted post

 

[IndyBeerman]

I sure wish there was a way to get these trucks to cover their cargo and be held liable for the damage caused by falling cargo but I doubt it will ever happen.

There is a way, get the plate # of the vehicle and contact the Indiana State Police's DOT division, make sure you tell them where you are and direction they are traveling.

Any driver of a truck or truck trailer combo is required to make sure that their load is safe and secure, failure to do so gets them a ticket.

So if you want to make sure a Dump truck company pays up for a damaged windshield, call them up and let them know if they don't take care of the damage that the second you get off the phone you're calling the DOT. The last thing they want is their trucks being pulled over being weighed, inspected for violations ect... Down trucks = lost money, and the last thing they want is to get a gang rape of DOT cars pulling over multiple trucks.

CDL licensed for 26 years and have seen the merry go round performed to perfection by the DOT when they want to lay it down on a trucking company.

 

[SWAMPMASTER]

There is a way, get the plate # of the vehicle and contact the Indiana State Police's DOT division, make sure you tell them where you are and direction they are traveling.

Any driver of a truck or truck trailer combo is required to make sure that their load is safe and secure, failure to do so gets them a ticket.

So if you want to make sure a Dump truck company pays up for a damaged windshield, call them up and let them know if they don't take care of the damage that the second you get off the phone you're calling the DOT. The last thing they want is their trucks being pulled over being weighed, inspected for violations ect... Down trucks = lost money, and the last thing they want is to get a gang rape of DOT cars pulling over multiple trucks.

CDL licensed for 26 years and have seen the merry go round performed to perfection by the DOT when they want to lay it down on a trucking company.

I agree with what has already been said

But also having a CDL and having some miles under me, off the truck load is trucks responsability off the tires is considered a road hazard and not the trucks responsability usally

 

[Michiana]

There is a way, get the plate # of the vehicle and contact the Indiana State Police's DOT division, make sure you tell them where you are and direction they are traveling.

Might work in the real world but not in the Miami area where you are in the minority and do not speak the local language which is Spanish down there. I was at a stoplight on the way to lunch with a car full of co workers when one looked over and yelled "look at that truck rolling back". Big flatbed junker truck must have rolled back ten feet and crushed the hood of a car behind it. We saw the truck driver on his cell phone not paying attention.

Coming back from lunch the two vehicles were still blocking the road and when I finally got by I let my window down and yelled to the local cop that I saw the accident if they needed a witness. He waved his arms and yelled at me in Spanish to move on (according to a passenger who spoke Spanish) so I did. I noticed the owner of the car was a Gringo, good luck buddy.

 

[IndyBeerman]

I agree with what has already been said

But also having a CDL and having some miles under me, off the truck load is trucks responsibility off the tires is considered a road hazard and not the trucks responsibility usually

Absolutely correct, but if the vehicle has improper length mud flaps (supposed to be within 6 inches of the roadway I believe) and you get rocked it falls upon the driver and company of it not being equipped properly and can get the truck and driver raked over the coals because the driver didn't do a proper pre-trip inspection. The two times my windshield was damaged it was from falling debris.

 

[SWAMPMASTER]

Absolutely correct, but if the vehicle has improper length mud flaps (supposed to be within 6 inches of the roadway I believe) and you get rocked it falls upon the driver and company of it not being equipped properly and can get the truck and driver raked over the coals because the driver didn't do a proper pre-trip inspection. The two times my windshield was damaged it was from falling debris.

I agree and point well taken

 

[stilllearning09]

I got a broken windshield this weekend. 2 dumptrucks were merging onto 65. It was raining and my guess is that they didn't want to cover their load in the rain. They were merging into the right lane and I was in the left lane maintaining cruising speed. A huge rock came off one and chipped my windshield.
I know it's their word against mine and impossible to prove, but it is their negligence that caused my damage.

 

[22lr]

All I know is that my family has gotten the companies to pay for windshield two separate times. Not responsible but PR relations means you have a good chance of getting them to pay for it. That is if its a PR concerned company.

 

[Lex Concord]

Had a similar thing happen about 5 years ago with a cement truck.

They can post "stay back" and "not responsible" signs on the back of the trucks all they want, but you can't disclaim negligence.

Imagine a guy with an LTCH wearing a shirt that said "Warning, I'm legally armed, and not responsible for damages if I accidentally squeeze a few off in your direction.

The big thing is, get the company name and truck or license number, though many of them on active construction jobs (at least around here) seem to have neither, making matters very difficult.

 

[50bmgshooter]

Falls off the truck=trucks fault
Flips up from the road=road hazard