# Truck not responsible for things kicked up from the road **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 29, 2010, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truck-not-responsible-for-things-kicked-up-from-the-road/548521 "2010-07-29T23:31:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fish\_Nya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@Fish\_Nya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish_Nya)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2010, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truck-not-responsible-for-things-kicked-up-from-the-road/548521/1 "2010-07-29T23:31:14Z")
Lots of dump trucks and other vehicles like that have similar signs on the back. Sometimes they are under a “stay back 100ft” sign or something. Do those disclaimers actually do anything? If something fell from the back of the tuck and hit your car, could the trucking company just say “it was from the road”? I can understand the difficulties in proving if the gravel was from a truck or a road, but what if it was something larger? Are those signs actual warnings, or just arrogance? ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truck-not-responsible-for-things-kicked-up-from-the-road/548521/2 "2010-07-30T00:10:08Z")
Mainly the signs are there to keep people the hell away from them. The signs do not give or remove any form of liability. If something falls off the truck and hits you they are still responsible. If it’s off the road they can argue not their problem. Any gray area is what lawyers are for. It can be sorted out between the two parties(usually their insurance companies) or the courts can decide it. ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truck-not-responsible-for-things-kicked-up-from-the-road/548521/3 "2010-07-30T00:18:55Z")
It encourages you to stay back, which in turn reduces the chance they’ll end up damaging your car, which in turn reduces the amount of money they have to pay to people for damaged cars. It’s not about liability, it’s about trying to avoid situations where liability would be an issue. Doesn’t work on everyone, but if even a small percentage of people take care to stay back after reading the sign, that’s a small percentage less they’ll be paying out on average overall. There’s no reason not to put it there. At worst, it has no effect; at best it helps a little. May as well have it as not. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truck-not-responsible-for-things-kicked-up-from-the-road/548521/4 "2010-07-30T02:28:04Z")
These aren’t disclaimers, they are warnings. You may also see the “If you can’t see my mirrors, I can’t see you” on long haul trailers. Because they can’t see you if you are following too close. With dump trucks, logging trucks, and others that may be coming from an unpaved gravel type road or yard, there is a very real danger from rocks that can become lodged between the dual sets of wheels on the rear of the truck or trailer. Some of these work yards or unimproved roads are rocked with some fairly large pit-run type rock that can weigh several pounds. Drivers are supposed to stop and check for these before proceding onto the highway, but some don’t and the drivers that do don’t find all of the foreign objects. Several serious, sometimes fatal accidents are caused each year by these foreign objects being thrown from the wheels as the truck reaches highway speed. Here is just one incident I quickly Googled. [http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/17/nyregion/rock-thrown-by-truck-hits-windshield-killing-brooklyn-woman-77.html](http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/17/nyregion/rock-thrown-by-truck-hits-windshield-killing-brooklyn-woman-77.html) I live in Oregon at the bottom of a logging road mainline and see the trucks stopping to check their wheels everyday, walking around the truck and trailer with a large pry bar. And still a couple times a year, somewhere in the state somthing like this happens. And the driver of the truck is always responsible, it can’t be waived away with a notice on the truck. ---
**Author:** ![pudytat72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@pudytat72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pudytat72)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truck-not-responsible-for-things-kicked-up-from-the-road/548521/5 "2010-07-30T02:47:28Z")
“Stay back 200 feet” That’s almost 70 yards. How am I supposed to “stay back 200 feet” when the truck passes me and is only 50 feet past my car when it comes back into my lane?? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truck-not-responsible-for-things-kicked-up-from-the-road/548521/6 "2010-07-30T03:45:13Z")
You do the same thing the truckers do when cars pull that on them: slow down a bit until the space increases to the 200 ft or whatever. Then stay that far back by adjusting speed as necessary. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truck-not-responsible-for-things-kicked-up-from-the-road/548521/7 "2010-07-30T04:24:45Z")
> [@Fish\_Nya](#): > > Do those disclaimers actually do anything? If something fell from the back of the tuck and hit your car, could the trucking company just say “it was from the road”? I can understand the difficulties in proving if the gravel was from a truck or a road, but what if it was something larger? Minnesota has a law requiring such dump truck loads to be covered when traveling on a public highway. Thus many trucks have a canvas or similar tarp covering that can be pulled over the load. So if you can show in court that the load was not covered, that in itself is evidence in your favor. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truck-not-responsible-for-things-kicked-up-from-the-road/548521/8 "2010-07-30T12:52:24Z")
> [@ghardester](#): > > These aren’t disclaimers, they are warnings. Some of them are disclaimers. “Not responsible for broken windshields”. Well, they are if it falls off the truck or if they don’t have proper mud flaps. Simple as that. Not sure how you are suppose to read the sign at 200 feet though. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Skinley\_Von\_Clipper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@Baron\_Skinley\_Von\_Clipper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Skinley_Von_Clipper)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truck-not-responsible-for-things-kicked-up-from-the-road/548521/9 "2010-07-30T13:36:45Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Not sure how you are suppose to read the sign at 200 feet though. This reminds me of those stickers on cars that used to say “if you can read this you’re too close”. I saw one recently that said “If you can’t read this you’re too far away”. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truck-not-responsible-for-things-kicked-up-from-the-road/548521/10 "2010-07-30T13:55:30Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > > [@Fish\_Nya](#): > > > > Do those disclaimers actually do anything? If something fell from the back of the tuck and hit your car, could the trucking company just say “it was from the road”? I can understand the difficulties in proving if the gravel was from a truck or a road, but what if it was something larger? > > Minnesota has a law requiring such dump truck loads to be covered when traveling on a public highway. Thus many trucks have a canvas or similar tarp covering that can be pulled over the load. > > So if you can show in court that the load was not covered, that in itself is evidence in your favor. Colorado too. My brother used to haul gravel and sand. They used to duct tape the inside of the tail gate so stuff wouldn’t leak out. ---
**Author:** ![SanDiegoTim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@SanDiegoTim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanDiegoTim)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truck-not-responsible-for-things-kicked-up-from-the-road/548521/11 "2010-07-30T14:24:22Z")
Slightly off topic, but unless I am mistaken there are only two things that can legally be dropped from a moving vehicle in California…chicken feathers and clean water. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truck-not-responsible-for-things-kicked-up-from-the-road/548521/12 "2010-07-30T23:20:04Z")
Some of that stuff can be deadly. It got Alan J. Pakula, director of _To Kill a Mockingbird, The Sterile Cuckoo, Klute, Parallax View, All the President’s Men, Sophie’s Choice, Presumed Innocent_, etc., What a waste. > **[Alan J. Pakula](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_J._Pakula)** > > Alan Jay Pakula (/pəˈkuːlə/; April 7, 1928 – November 19, 1998) was an American film director, writer and producer. He was nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Picture for To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), Best Director for All the President's Men (1976) and Best Adapted Screenplay for Sophie's Choice (1982). > Pakula was also notable for directing his "paranoia trilogy": Klute (1971), The Parallax View (1974) and All the President's Men (1976). > Pakula was born in The Bronx, New York, to Polis... ---
**Author:** ![Add99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/977dab/32.png) [@Add99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Add99)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2010, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truck-not-responsible-for-things-kicked-up-from-the-road/548521/13 "2010-07-31T01:42:06Z")
Two days ago I was driving on a two lane at 65 mph, logging truck doing the same speed the other way. From the viewpoint of a tiny English convertible antique, I saw that piece of wood, the size of your foot, fly off the truck and head toward me like a 3-D movie. It hit my newly replaced windshield (rock) at 130 mph BLAMMM! Scared the crap out of me. Left a sap spot that just wiped off. You know how people say they would rather see it coming? No, thanks.