The other things about those signs is that they cannot be read from 200 feet away. Maybe from 40-50 feet you can read them, but not from 200 feet.
I’m sure there’s a standard somewhere that says how big letters have to be for someone with 20/20 vision to read them from 200 feet away. If the trucker expects people to read the sign, it should be readable from 200 feet away. Take a picture of the sign on the truck and show that the letters are not nearly big enough to be read from 200 feet away.
Also, isn’t the rule for tailgating to allow 1 car length for every 10 mph of speed? So 200 feet of clearance would be sufficient for a 15’ long car traveling 130 mph.
The sign is there because some people actually BELIEVE that the company wouldn’t be responsible for damage to your vehicle. They’re responsible. Call them up and give them the total for the repair. They’ll pay it. If not, sue them for it.
You are exactly right. I have my insurance agent’s license in Alabama and anything that comes off of a vehicle and damages something is their fault. Anything already in the road that a vehicle kicks back and causes damage is considered a “road hazard.”
This is like those signs in shopping centers that tenants put up in front of their businesses that say “Parking For X Store Only. Violators Will Be Towed At Their Own Expense.”
The thing is, that’s bullshit. When you rent a space in a shopping strip, you don’t rent the parking in front of it, too; anybody who is going into any store in the entire strip has a right to park wherever the hell they want. Kalhoun is correct; a lot of signage is put up based on the idea that people don’t know it isn’t legally enforceable. Same thing with those “We break, we cry, you break, you buy” signs in shops with breakable stuff on display. Unless they can prove that you broke it on purpose, accidents are their liability; if they really want to protect it they wouldn’t have it out on the counter for you to manhandle. (Now, if you did break something it would be very nice of you to buy it, but you are not legally required to.)
I worked with truckers for many years, and it was my job to make sure they had insurance for just this sort of thing. As far as I know, there is no place in the US where the trucker would not be liable. (I tracked insurance so that my company would not be liable, since they were using our equipment.) I’ve never heard of any case where a sign would remove liability.
This is what I did and it eventually worked, although I didn’t mention the word “bleed.”
He tried to weazel out of it at first saying I needed a police report and photograph of the truck to prove the load wasn’t secured. I eventually said you have two choices 1) pay for it or 2) we’ll let a small claims court judge decide…and I reminded him the loser pays court costs. He then told me to send the bill to his attention.
Isn’t there some sort of law that states the only thing allowed to fall off or out of a truck is water and feathers? Maybe it’s only Calif. but I remember discussing this exact thing with an ex-cop not too long ago.
Note to self: never, ever mess with Mister Jonathan Chance.
Similar disclaimers appear on the backs of tickets at amusement park rides and tickets for parking lots. They print them in the hope that at least some injured parties will believe it and not sue them. A lawyer told me those disclaimers are meaningless. An amusement park operator *is *responsible if you get injured on a ride (often even if it’s your fault). And parking lot owners can also be sued (probably with less reliable results) if your car is damaged or burglarized while on their lot. Theaters, too, often have disclaimers on their tickets. But they can be held responsible if you are injured in their theater. Or so I’ve been told.
Not true, I’m afraid. Some store owners do, in fact, pay extra rent in return for the privilege of “reserving” some of the parking spaces for their clients. If you see such a sign, you can be virtually certain that the store owner has made precisely such an arrangement with the strip mall owner/landlord; if he or she didn’t have that kind of arrangement, the signs wouldn’t be permitted by the mall owner.
I know this isn’t the same thing, Audrey, but the agency for which I work rents office space in a highrise and we have several “dedicated” parking spaces in the parking lot (with a “We Will Tow Your Ass” sign placed in front of each of our spots), which is otherwise open to whomever wishes to park there.
Usually when someone ignores our signs, my boss will stick a pre-printed nasty note on the winshield. But honey, if he’s in a bad mood, he WILL call the cops and have them come ticket the summabitch. I hear the court fees alone on one of those bad boys is 50 bucks.
As for the OP, hurrah! Congrats on getting your money for the winshield! (My fear was that it’d be a case of your word against the truck driver’s word, but it seems like it all worked out. Good for you!)
As everyone has said, the sign is total BS any would only be related to debris kicked up off the road (provided he has mud flaps)
My brother used to haul gravel and they would duct tape the inside of the tailgate so gravel could not slip out through the cracks.
My MIL ran over a concrete block that fell of some idiots truck on a major highway. It gave another person a flat. It was night, she could not avoid it due to other traffic.
His response? You where following to close.:rolleyes:
