Yesterday when I was driving on highway 14 W (for people that lived in Portland -Vancouver metro area) a white pickup truck passed my car.
The truck has it's tailgate down and looks like it was used to transport gravel. (plenty of rocks and gravels still on the truck bed).

Needless to say for the next few minutes the Fit got showered with gravels. A couple of big rocks even hit the windshield area and they scared the heck out of me.
After I got home I found rock chips all around the front of the car..windshield, A pillar, hood (just above the clear bra), and all around the bumper.
Really an upsetting sight.

I took a picture of the truck using my cell phone and wrote down it's license plate number during the "rock shower" but I'm not sure if that will be useful for anything.
Well, I sent and e-mail to my insurance a few minutes ago to see if there is anything I can do.

Thanks for letting me vent guys.

 

I think you should go to a police station to report it.

 

sooooo sorry man! that sucks big time. It seems there is always a nit witted arse hole out there somewhere, sadly your unlucky day to cross paths with him.

 

wow that sucks, hopefully something will be done about it. GL

 

Oh no!!! That's awful!

And it's common.

You will want to file a police report too. Lots of news stories on this happening, all over the U.S.

Bellingham WA:
Bellingham Herald / Blogs / Traffic Talk - Trucks don't need tarp over dirt, rock with six inches of freeboard

Boston, MA:
Falling off the wagon - The Boston Globe

Texas laws:
Trucking News - Texas governor signs tougher tarp law

I was behind a truck that had a piece of molding, house trim, tied to it, with the molding elevated towards the front of the truck, tied to a rack. At slow speeds, that's not a problem. At freeway speeds, there is wind resistance. And the molding broke, sending half of it flying my way. I didn't get hit, and it was in my old car. Could have really hurt someone.

Another time, I watched physics in action. You know, the thing about stuff in motion tending to stay in motion. And stuff that stands still, tending to stay still. A guy had just bought a bunch of sheet rock at Home Depot. Had it laying nicely in the bed of his truck. Came to stop. Everything fine. When the light turned green, he goosed the pedal, and the sheet rock fell out the back. It stayed motionless, while the truck scurried off. It's like pulling the tablecloth out from under dishes on the table. Same principle.

We can't always protect ourselves from doofus actions. But the more aware we are of the potential the better off we are.

Those little rocks might not fly out of the back of the truck at low speeds, or in no wind, or on smooth surfaces. But even with the care the person might put into securing their rocks, a bad pothole could fling all kinds of things. Give folks with loads lots of space whenever you can.

 

That stinks. I hope you can get his insurance company to pay for the repairs. It would not be fair if you had to pay your deductible. Nice thinking with the cell phone.

 

agh i hate that! it's happened to me a few times too.

 

I suggest that you pursue the issue with your law enforcement. Around here it is illegal to haul anything in a truck or trailer without a tarp preventing the contents from blowing/falling out. With your evidence, the truck driver would probably be contacted and fined.

 

or he will get a ticket for "demonstrating unsafe driving" by using a cell phone to take pictures on the highway lol.

 

Thanks for the sympathy and feedback everybody.
I will see what my insurance company says.
Hope to hear back from them soon.

 

 

hahahaha, yeah, i thought about that too. No cell phone use in CA while driving.

Although, I'd take a ticket for taking the picture of the truck with rocks falling out of it, if it made sure I didn't have to pay for my car insurance deductible. I'm willing to be the cell phone ticket is less than most people's deductible.

I believe it's less than $100 and who has a deductible less than $100? Not me.

 

Wouldn't hurt calling your local PD and asking "say this happened, could you do anything with this information?". No obligation to give them your name or anything. Good luck.

 

My past experience with insurance companies on this kind of damage is disappointing... though it's been years ago.
If I recall properly, if the object comes directly (no contact with the road first) from another vehicle and hits your car, your comprehensive policy will cover the damage, less your deductible. The gray area is when rocks/stones/pebbles fall from something like a gravel hauler, etc.... , and bounce on the road first, and then hit your vehicle. I suppose it all depends on your relationship with the insurance company you work with... I used to commute lots of highway miles and had to deal with gravel haulers damaging my windshields on a yearly basis...

YMMV -- and good luck pursuing your claim. I look forward to hearing how it's resolved for you...

 

There is a new law in Washington against making a call or sending a text message while driving. Not sure about taking a picture...although they might ban it too after hearing my case LOL.

I'll contact the local PD and see what they say..Thank you manxman and FirefighterErik for the suggestion.

 

I hate to sound like Captain Obvious here, but you don't need to tell them that you took a pic - just saying "I wrote down his license #" and giving it to them would suffice. And even be legal to boot.

 

Nothing sucks more than a big rock hit on your baby. Best protection is aviodance. I always try to avoid being behind any large truck. If I have to, I'll back off to give distance, and hope someone will slot into the gap to act as a shield for me. Another thing to watch for is when drivers in front of you are changing lanes, as road debris gets pushed over time out of the lane and into the gap between lanes. Often, just a slight move to the opposite edge of the lane can avoid a chip.

Worst one I had was a very large rock that hit our Sienna in the hood while we were on 8 going to San Diego. It went over the wind deflector and nailed the front hood, two 1/2 long gouges down to the primer, plus a dent on each. Rock exloded and showered the windshield with debris. Nice!

 

Man I'm sorry to hear that... I know that this is completely different from rocks but I got hit with three eggs on my brand new lexus when I was driving on halloween day.. Sum idiot teenager thought that was funny and I quickly turned around and chased him down and got his license plate number. I reported it to the cops and they came to my location which was at a gas station. I told him the description of the vehicle and the plate number. He ran it through and got an address. He told me to follow him and I did and we caught the kid who threw the eggs. He was dumb enough to leave the egg carton in his car lol... Then I pressed charges against him. The cops gave him bunches of tickets and he also had to go to court. The kid's parents had to give my car a detail job and also agreed to pay for any damages to my car. So hopefully you can do something with the plate number.

 

spdster-

Nice work!! Your problem solving skills are first rate. I would have done exactly the same under those circumstances.

 

I called Vancouver PD today and told to call the State Patrol because highway is not within their jurisdiction.
Called the State Patrol and told to work with my insurance since it's been a couple of days since the accident.

I guess it's back to waiting for the insurance company