So I was driving on the freeway early this morning around 2:00am and I was just driving.. and I see the car in front of me switch lanes all of a sudden and failed to realize that he was in fact swerving to avoid an object.

The object was a Truck Tire.. and he had hit it and stood it upright. I didn't see it till it was about 20 foot from me and had no option but to hit it... so I did.







I pulled off the freeway and assesed the damage. 5 minutes later, another car came off the freeway with sizable front-end damage.

She got it while it was layin down, so basically the front lower half of her bumper just got the axe.

What's done on my car..
-Hood
-Grills
-Lower Lip
-AC Condenser
-Bumper

I'm glad my airbag didn't go off.. that woulda just been icing on the cake.

None the less.. here's my question for the Lawyers in the NAM Community...

Is there a chance that CalTrans, the orginization that maintains the freeways is able to be held responsible for the damages. The section of the freeway was a rather DARK section and I was unable to see this.. and a whole tire on the freeway should be maintained, don't you think? Anyway, I just need to know this before I go and start shuffling things outta my account.

NAM Legal-Eagles.. HELP A BRUTHA OUT!!!

Thanks...

-Steve

P.S. The other lady, was a Border Patrol officer... she works for the Government, so.. who knows?

 

Wow, sad.

I have no idea nor a lawyer but google "sourveign immunity".

 

From experiences I and friends had with similar happenings, this sort of damage almost always falls under the same umbrella as 'uninsured motorist' coverage. Technically, the responsibility starts first with the truck owner/company who lost the tire. Since this cannot always be determined, it becomes a generic 'road hazard' until the highway department is somehow notified, and it's only on them if they fail to remove the hazard in a reasonable amount of time. All of these situations are unfortunately difficult to pin to a responsible party, so it most often falls under comprehensive or 'unknown' responsible party coverage.

This is probably different from state to state.

 

If that's the case then what's up with people suing police departments for wrongful deaths and what not? If a Train-Crossing malfunctions and causes injury... does nothing happen too? If there's a huge pothole on the ground and a car falls into it, does nothing happen?

 

IMO, I believe Greatbear is correct. It is the responsibility of the driver who lost the wheel.

Not quite the same but similiar
http://www.usroads.com/journals/rilj/9702/ri970203.htm
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/script...l=2334&invol=1

This is what Greatbear said ... state has to know about it.
http://www.tire-blowouts.com/CM/FSDP...cus=topic&id=3

another
http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/Justic...2/jp071702.asp

As to police ... dunno. Maybe when human life is concerned, its a different issue?

 

Agreed, that the broad idea, whether it's a tire, pothole or any not-reasonably-preventable event, is they would need to know about it and not done anything within a reasonable amount of time.

(Not a lawyer, but learned a lot helping my wife study for the bar!!!)

 

In order for the State or any of it's agencies to be held liable, you have to prove it had notice of the danger and failed to act in a reasonable matter. Highly unlikely in this case, unless someone reported the tire in the road well before you came upon it.

 

Sovereign immunity isn't the issue. Torts claims Notice is.

 

I'm just lookin for someone to blame... I'm really upset with myself, that's that.

 

So here's what hasn't been said....

THAT STINKS! How crummy to have happen! Glad you're OK, cos especially with cars swerving all over, it could have been worse. You'll be covered, it will just be a big ole claim.

 

Remember that your insurance will handle the claim differently depending on whether the object you hit was moving or not. This is why a claim involving a deer jumping in front of your car is handled differently than a claim involving a stationary object like a rock in the road.

In general, it's better to hit something moving than something stationary, insurance-wise. The presumption is that you have more of a responsibility to avoid a stationary object than a moving one.

Make sure your insurance company knows that the tire was moving when you hit it. (From your description, it sounds like the first car hit it, uprighted it, and got it rolling).

 

Yah that sucker was rollin... it was dark too.

 

this same thing happened to me a few months back: dark section of road, tractor trailer tire TREAD (the whole thing) cars on both sides and a semi behind, I had no chance of swerving to avoid or putting my brakes on hard.
$1200 damage . Now my insurance company is attempting to put a surcharge on my policy saying it was an "at Fault" accident. I told them A) that if I had swerved or stopped I'd probably be dead and they would be loking at an entirely different claim and B) I'd see them in court (appeals) Stay tuned.
Jock

 

Let your insurance company know that someone else struck the tire and essentially put it in your path with nowhere to go, which is the truth. This makes a huge difference in how the case is treated. The company can fault you for striking a sationary object if they feel it's in their best interest. The game is completely different if the object is moving.

Edit: What they said above.

 

Here's two stories very similar to yours. My friend from work just had put a bodykit on his A4.... two weeks later driving behind a tracker trailer on 80E, changed lanes to run over a huge truck tire forcing his whole front bumper to go flying away. I believe he had his insurance company cover the damages.

Just about a month or two ago my manager was also driving on 80E when all of a sudden a desk, yes a DESK came sliding across the highway to whack his whole front end. New bumper, new radiator and his car is back.

I wish you some luck. It's very hard to get the state to pay for road damages.

 

So I just looked at my car... yah, it's worse than I thought. The Radiator support is cracked, the Radiator is warped but not leaking.. I was running warm this morning too. This is my only means of transportation... this isn't gonna get fixed in a day... I am so... so... foked.

 

This would be the case with CalTrans. I checked with a friend of mine who used to be a Senior Manager for CalTrans.

If the other car hadn't swerved, and hit it square, you might have had a lot more damage from a possible multi-car, chain reaction type collision. If the other car had managed to miss it entirely, you probably would have hit it square yourself.

I've been in a few situations where the car in front suddenly changes lanes and VOILA! Something I can't avoid is right in my path.

 

Thanks to those who have lended me their ears and their words of experience as well as the knowledge they offer. Thanks peoples.

 

the exact same thing happened to my husband's '04 about a month before AMVIV. Only ours was a 2-part claim.

First, a tractor trailer blew a tire and the tread came flying at him. Then, as he's trying to take evasive action, he swerves into the emergency lane and runs over a 8" x 8" block of wood. That was a great day I tell ya.

2 insurance claims; one comprehensive and the other collision. The insurance company wasn't upset at all about the tractor tread (they said, "it happens") but they were not very nice about the piece of wood he ran over (they said, "could have avoided that by not trying to avoid the tread").

They did eventually work with us. A $3853 claim. It ended up to be 3 weeks in the body shop, a new aero bumper, fog light housings, understrut system, splitter, new radiator supports, engine mount on the left side, paint, etc etc.

Road gators....sounds like they are quite common

 

I had an similar event. Greatbear's advice coincides with what I've heard-HWY dept etc won't be held at fault.

Insurance-comes down to whether it was avoidable (then you're at fault), or not (not at fault). Pretty much whether it's moving. So in my case, I said that the object had stopped moving but I couldn't avoid it. Bang-my fault. Insurance wouldn't cover. I should have stopped or slowed more if necessary, whatever-it's now a stationary object and you have to avoid it.

Now-If I would have said that it hadn't stopped moving, then it's an entirely different thing. Then it's possible that it's unavoidable. Then you might get it covered.

Of course, different states, laws, insurance companies-who knows? At least that's what happened in my case...

 

Some truck tires - particularly big ones - may have serial numbers that would allow tracking back to the owner.

 

Really? Hmmm... Maybe I should go back and run on the 5-Fwy tonight? LOL.. I'd be able to do me and the other car that got hit some justice.

 

In other news....

So today a buddy of mine comes in and brings is Sequoia in... asks me to see if he can find out what's up with his car... I did diagnostics, all systems were fine... had fuel... good spark.. everything was cool. But just seemed like the engine was chocking. So I thought maybe something was blocking the intake tract... so I opened up the intake plenum...

And yup... there was something blocking it alright.

Three little bricks of Cocaine.


So yah... now I gotta wait for the cops because of the two bricks of cocaine I just reported.



Why me?! Notice this stuff always happens to me? The weird stuff... I knew this month was rough starting with the ************...

 

OMG

We've found mice nests, bird nests, but never stashes!

 

And you kept one for yourself...?