A tractor trailer was coming at me in the opposing lane when a 4X4 block came off the trailer and smashed my roof and windshield. It ended up in the back seat. I whipped around and pulled him over.

He was visibly shaken and apologized profusely until the police arrived. He then said my car was like that when he saw me pass. I remained calm and matched the containers corner post to the dents on the block. The cop almost arrested him.

The trucking company all but called me a liar until my lawyer said hi. Car was repaired.

They are lucky my child was not with me at the time.

Cell phone camera, picture of the truck's plate number taken thru my busted windshield, turned over to my insurance company.....THEY went after the hauler and he did pay up.

I have also called the county sheriff from my cell phone while following the truck. The deputy pulled the hauler over, ticketed him, and wrote up my complaint....I got paid for that one too! Just because they have a BS sticker on the truck that says "not responsible for broken windshields", don't make it true!

A side story....we used to live right on a highway heavily traveled by rock haulers. Had one take out 150' of barb wire fence....wreaker came and hauled it off...they said the insurance company would fix the fence, they did not. So I fixed the fence, posted no trespassing signs, and just waited. It happened again a few months latter. This time I filed a complaint for trespassing on the truck driver and refused access to the wrecker....basically held the truck hostage until my fence was fixed, the gravel removed from my hay field, THEN I let the wreaker take the truck out through the gate. Sometimes it pays to be nice, sometimes it don't! It always pays to know the sheriff and his deputies!!

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Mark
1983 300TD Wagon
Even a broken watch is right twice a day

It happens, don't tailgate dump trucks!


Don't feel bad it could be worse, last winter my dads friends Dodge Ram was hit by a nice chunk of ice off a truck. Needed a new grill and hood! He got lucky it went low, it was a big chunk it would have came right through the windsheild.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Not in Kansas, there not liabale at all even if you see the rock fall off the truck. because of the signs and the way the laws writen. You the guy following has to pay for it.

Ya ROAD RAGE make you wonder why more stupid people are not killed every year...

cell phone pics!

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1973 280 - Current Project Car
1979 240d - 100% Stock
1982 380sl - 100% Stock
1985 190e 2.3 - Heavily Modified

Some rock hauler is going to shoot me for saying this. It's not the department of public safety that manages the commercial vehicles, and they don't want to. It's the DOT. It's the DOT that you have to complain to. make sure that you have a company name and truck number when you do. Pics are always helpful. Don't expect any help from the sheriff either.

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All it takes for evil to prevail is for good men to stand by and do nothing.

Too many people tip toe through life, never attempting or doing anything great, hoping to make it safely to death... Bob Proctor

'95 S320 LWB
'87 300SDL
'04 E500 wagon 4matic

Next time some cement company or other construction company blows off your claim because you were unable to write down the license plate number or truck number while driving alone with no pen or paper (remember, you're DRIVING) in five lanes of rush-hour traffic at speed, but you can and do remember the time, date, place, direction of travel, and type, color of, and name truck -- and they say without the license plate or truck number they have not enough to investigate, try this:

Tell them you will file a claim in small claims court. It only costs $10-20 to do so. Tell them you will subpoena their manifests for the date in question. Tell them they will have to spend thousands to hire an attorney to quash the subpoena and it will be denied because it is relevant evidence. Tell them they will spend more money and man hours merely responding to the subpoena than it would to pay for the windshield. Tell them you will then meet them in the small claims trial with all of your evidence, being able to prove from their manifests that one of their trucks was where you said it was when you said it was, and that they will have the pleasure of appearing before a judge without an attorney to convince the judge why it is that YOU are lying when you have all this technicolor proof and all they have is the lame "no license plate or truck number" argument.

They will pay for your windshield.

Two weeks ago I was driving the TDI on I-5 going into Sacramento, there was a big dump truck (full of rocks) in the right-hand lane, and I was passing him in the fast lane. Before I knew what was going on, I was being pelted with rocks, one of them chipped my windshield. Needless to say, I got past the guy quickly.

Luckily my old neighbor owns the auto glass repair shop, so I got it fixed for free.

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99 E300 TD -- sold
01 540i 6 spd

In Georgia (The U.S. state of) dump trucks do not have to have license plates.
'Only a Public Service Commission plate on the front bumper.So you've got to
chase the truck down to get the P.S.C. plate number off the front.
The truck lobby had the law passed because...The trucks were blowing so
much crap over the roads that the liability carriers threatened to cease
coverage.

'Kinda like the M.D.'s in Florida who threatened to strike unless the tort laws
were changed in their favor.(Don't get the BAD doctors out of practice...just
make it almost impossible to sue them for malpractice.)

And you folks haven't even mentioned Coal Trucks and Logging Trucks....here in WV "Coal is King" and they even have exemptions for weight overloading the roadways.....

My main gripe is....we have an old bridge on WV18...there are signs posted at both ends of the road (25 or so miles of road) that the bridge has an 8 ton limit.....when you see a truck that when empty exceeds the 8 ton limit, fully loaded, pulling a lowboy trailer with a D8 cross the bridge......and complain to the Sheriff, and nothing is done......all you can do is wait, eventually that bridge will collapse, and if we are lucky the Sheriff will be fishing underneath it....

I wrote a letter to the County Commissioners asking them to have the Logging, Oil & Gas, and Coal companies build us a new bridge....."if they want to use that one" or make them drive well over 100 miles to go around.....no answer as yet....

SB

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Diesels:
'85 300D, "Max, Blue Benz", 155K, 27.0 MPG
'84 190D 2.2, "Eva, Brown Benz", 142K, 40.2 MPG
'77 240D (parts car)
'67 Eicher ES 202 Tractor "Otto" (2cyl, Air Cooled, 30HP)
Gassers:
'94 Ford F-150, "Henry", 170K (300 Six) 17.5 MPG
'85 190E 2.3, 148K....Parts Car
'58 Dodge W300M Powerwagon (Flat Fenders) Less than 10 MPG