# Calling the Cops over a traffic sign? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 21, 2010, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-the-cops-over-a-traffic-sign/536932 "2010-04-21T23:25:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-the-cops-over-a-traffic-sign/536932/1 "2010-04-21T23:25:44Z")
Heather Locklear is in trouble again. Apparently she hit a traffic sign on the way home. Here’s the weird part. Some neighbor waits 16 hours and calls the cops. :rolleyes: WTF is up with that? I see bent traffic signs every now and then. I could care less. The street department will replace it eventually. It’s not exactly anything to call the cops about. Maybe, you might call the street department. But, must people have a life. Also, why is Locklear being charged hit and run? I seem to recall that one car accidents don’t have to be reported if there’s no personal injury and the dollar amount is negligible. I don’t know the traffic rules in Calif. Surely they aren’t this anal? Aren’t the courts backed up enough without something this trivial? > **[Heather Locklear charged in hit-and-run crash - CNN.com](https://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/04/21/heather.locklear.charged/index.html?hpt=T2)** > > Actress Heather Locklear allegedly crashed her car into a street sign near her home last weekend and failed to report the early morning wreck, police said. > [@](#): > > A neighbor called police Saturday night to report being awakened by the sound of a crash **16 hours earlier** in the golf club community near Thousand Oaks, California, a Ventura County Sheriff’s captain said. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-the-cops-over-a-traffic-sign/536932/2 "2010-04-21T23:33:22Z")
I’m guessing they probably tried to black mail her somehow, she refused, and they called the cops. And it’s a hit and run because she destroyed public property, then left the scene. I’m sure it ain’t cheap to fix that, what with the cost of bureaucracy and all that crap. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-the-cops-over-a-traffic-sign/536932/3 "2010-04-21T23:41:31Z")
That sounds likely to me too; Neighbor: “I have pictures of your accident. Cough up the dough or we go to the cops”. Heather: “I’d rather take the fines and safety driving course than give you money. Call the cops, fucker!” ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-the-cops-over-a-traffic-sign/536932/4 "2010-04-21T23:56:43Z")
Street signs are designed to bend and not cause too much damage. If the street department wanted to be nasty they would mount them on concrete posts. 😃 They’re easy to replace. There’s not over a couple hundred bucks in materials for the post and sheet metal sign. But I agree the gov bureaucracy can easily inflate the price. They probably pay a $1000 in materials under a gov contract plus the street crews labor. Locklear got a DUI last year. This accident occurred very late at night. Probably after another round of drinking. I hope she gets some help. It sounds like she’s got issues. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2010, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-the-cops-over-a-traffic-sign/536932/5 "2010-04-22T00:32:35Z")
I plowed the hell over a traffic sign once. Destroyed that baby. Amazingly barely scratched my chrome bumper (the days when cars were built like tanks) This was also pre-cell phone days in a rural part of a rural southern county. There was a country store with a pay phone so I call it in and wait around. Local Rosco P Coaltrain eventually shows up. He gives me this speach about how dangerous this road and intersection is…blah blah blah. He then looks at my car, notes that its pretty much damage free. Then he gets all indignant like I am wasting his time and wonders what I “want him to do”. Hey, Rosco, you idiot, first, I didnt want to “leave the scene”. Second, hey you dumbass, didnt you just tell me how dangerous this intersection was? Maybe you dipshit hicks around here MIGHT like to know the sign is now history, you know, uhhh, making this place even more dangerous and now you can get it fixed post haste? Like he had anything better to do. Hell, that was probably the most exciting part of his day. For months after that I dreaded checking the mail, expecting some massive monetary bill from Banjo State Road Department charging me out the wazzoo to replace the sign. Thankfully never got one, but that cops attitude still pisses me off to this day. ---
**Author:** ![smee\_goan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@smee\_goan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smee_goan)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2010, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-the-cops-over-a-traffic-sign/536932/6 "2010-04-22T01:13:20Z")
About ten years-15? ago a large boat was under a bridge in the Cleveland, Ohio ‘flats’ area-don’t recall the exact circumstances but someone tossed a bottle (Off a bridge?) and bonked the TV star in the head- requiring medical attention. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2010, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-the-cops-over-a-traffic-sign/536932/7 "2010-04-22T01:19:18Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > Maybe you dipshit hicks around here MIGHT like to know the sign is now history, you know, uhhh, making this place even more dangerous and now you can get it fixed post haste? Like he had anything better to do. Hell, that was probably the most exciting part of his day. Yet somehow, those “dipshit hicks” managed to avoid running over a sign. Perhaps you could pay them for driving lessons? ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2010, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-the-cops-over-a-traffic-sign/536932/8 "2010-04-22T01:25:29Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Yet somehow, those “dipshit hicks” managed to avoid running over a sign. Perhaps you could pay them for driving lessons? Funny. But, ironically no. For two reasons. It was other local hick(s) that caused me to run over it in the first place (though I guess it was retarded of me to choose a sign over a head on collision). And even more ironically, Rosco even said the sign got replaced fairly often, because it was in the middle of road and got ran over frequently. Hey, I’ll take the asshole cop over a 1000 dollar repair bill anyday, but getting the WTF treatment for being a responsible person willing to take their own time to call in the problem and risk being sent a big bill still chaps my ass. Next time, I’ll just drive off too like the locals did. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2010, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-the-cops-over-a-traffic-sign/536932/9 "2010-04-22T13:33:37Z")
Is it a street sign or a traffic sign? Damaged/missing stop signs are a serious thing and must be replaced post haste. I remember a case where someone knocked down a stop sign, then the next driver came through, didn’t stop, hit somebody, etc. etc. ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2010, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-the-cops-over-a-traffic-sign/536932/10 "2010-04-22T14:10:33Z")
Yeah, the street department will replace it eventually, but it’s preferable for the twit who damaged it to pay for the sign’s replacement rather than the Maintenance department. Just as I’d much rather the person who drove through my fence Friday night paid to replace it rather than myself. The police take a report, the State/City/County gets a copy, and they bill your insurance company.