Hitting road debris,what to do? | GTAMotorcycle.com

Hitting road debris,what to do?

ironryder

ironryder

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Hi all, just the other night on the 403 near Hamilton, the car 2 sec in front of me ran over a strip of truck tire.(as i known that after) by the time i saw it was too late to react and i also ran over it,it was a large strip that was laying across the entire passing lane.like 20 meter ahead a truck was on the side of the road,and we both pull over and found that was the actual truck that the tire came from.OPP was call and me and the other driver was told that is our fault we should have seen it and avoid it, and damage is under $1000. long story short,info was exchange and OPP made a report.
My question is that would i found at fault if i report this to my insurance? i'm hoping the trucking company would pay for my damage,put being a trucker myself i know tucking company properly tell you to go FUC# yourself.If thats the case i think i'll take them to small claim,because the debris came from the truck and it should not be on the road.just like when truck wheel fly off and kill ppl, should they have seen it and avoid it? i don't think so.
But i like to know from an insurance agent point of view as how this usually get resolve,so plz if you don't work in the industry...keep your 2 cents to yourself. :thumbup:
 
A number of years ago, unknown to me, a rubber suspension snubber fell off my pickup and bounced across the hood of some babes car. Her mother was with her and they caught up with me and pointed out the damage (Very minor dent). However it was Miss Prissy Two Shoes first new car (POS girly thing) but it was basically my fault and my insurance company paid the claim. The story is longer as I thought there were better ways of handling things etc but the bottom line, as I understand it, is if your vehicle or a piece of it hits something else, you are liable.

Was the OPP with you in your vehicle at the time of the incident to know the exact conditions you were under and if avoidance was possible?

Were you expected to swerve into another lane risking greater damage?

I was on the other end of the stick and my rates didn't go up IIRC.

The difference may be that the rubber bit from my pickup was still bouncing. In your case, correct me if I am wrong, you and the other driver ran into or over a stationary object.

I'm not an insurance guru but my 2 cents.

PS
I saw a program on how they retread tires and I wasn't impressed. If you ever hear a loud slap, slap, slap coming from a semi get way fast.
 
Once something has fallen off another car, it is no longer that car's fault (if I recall), as technically you should be leaving enough distance to avoid it, at least in theory.

I remember a few years back during winter I was in an accident on the 401 (spun out and hit the guardrail during a snowstorm, no other cars involved). About 10 mins later, someone pulled over claiming I had hit them while I was waiting in the tow truck for police to show up. Long story short, he had run over my bumper (which was laying in the lane somewhere), and wanted to say it was my fault. When the police showed up, they told him to go through his insurance for collision, as he hit debris from my vehicle. I believe as others had said, if the part actually came off my car and hit him then I might have been at fault (since it was not stationary/hadn't already came to a complete stop). He didn't have collision, hence why he was trying to put the blame on me.

One exception to this however is if a transport truck/dump truck is dumping crap on the road (from its cargo). I've heard stories before where people have noted the company and plate, then called in and had repairs handled by the trucking companies insurance, since the trucks were improperly loaded/secured. The same could likely be said if something came off the roof of a car/truck, but good luck claiming, as you'll likely be stopped while they continue on not even noticing anything happened.
 
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A few years back a large chunk of ice fell off a truck and landed on my vehicle obliterating the left front fender and damaging the hood. It also turned a small stone chip on my windshield into a crack that spanned the entire glass.
I was unable to get the truck to stop but did get the company name and license plate.
I called the truck company and was basically told to %~={ off and call my insurance.
Long story short, it ended up being a claim and I had to pay the deductible
 
An at-fault collision is usually defined as you striking something on the road - the tire debris would be exactly that. As mentioned before, in theory you should be far enough back and going at a certain speed that would allow you to avoid such hazards. However, if something's flying through the air (i.e rocks off a dump truck), or moves quickly in front of you (i.e. deer) the insurance company would in most cases not rate it as an at-fault. Regarding your situation, as far as I know, if you don't report it to your insurance company, I doubt the cop or trucker would either, especially since the damage was less than $1000.
 
An excellent argument can be made that this qualifies as a DCPD claim. The rule in your favour is a load from third party vehicle fell and landed on your car.
In the pre no fault era (1990) you had the right to bring zn action against the truck.
No fault has taken that right away. Therefore you can now claim under your own DCPD coverage.
If I was handling your claim, based on what you've advised here, I would pay your claim.
And tell the police to stick to giving speeding tickets and not pretend to be insurance experts.
 
Platinum Cycle said:
An excellent argument can be made that this qualifies as a DCPD claim. The rule in your favour is a load from third party vehicle fell and landed on your car.
In the pre no fault era (1990) you had the right to bring zn action against the truck.
No fault has taken that right away. Therefore you can now claim under your own DCPD coverage.
If I was handling your claim, based on what you've advised here, I would pay your claim.
And tell the police to stick to giving speeding tickets and not pretend to be insurance experts.
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thank you for your reply ,as i needed some professional opinions :thumbup: so if i make a claim to my insurance,would i be found at fault of any % at all? would i be able to tell the trucking company to just pay my repairs and to avoid a claim?
 
you might be 25% at fault...........talk to YOUR agent....
 
GSXMAER said:
you might be 25% at fault...........talk to YOUR agent....
Click to expand...

FYI, since the insurance reforms in September 2010, any claim where you are deemed 25% (or less) at fault cannot cause your rates to increase.
 
Years Ago i large piece of ice fell from a over pass and hit my glass and cracked it from one end to the other.... i contact the city and they paid for my new windshield..... worth a call
 
Nobbie, a similar thing happened to my wife, with a tire coming off and hitting someone's house. Even though our rates did not increase, the insurance company would not renew our insurance at the end of the contract, as it had been our second claim in less that x years. we had to go elsewhere for "high risk people" and paid for many years.
 
nobbie48 said:
if your vehicle or a piece of it hits something else, you are liable.

The difference may be that the rubber bit from my pickup was still bouncing. In your case, correct me if I am wrong, you and the other driver ran into or over a stationary object.

I'm not an insurance guru but my 2 cents.

PS
I saw a program on how they retread tires and I wasn't impressed. If you ever hear a loud slap, slap, slap coming from a semi get way fast.
Click to expand...

Good point about a stationary vs moving object. I wonder how the scene is handled if car in front 'kicks up' debris. Now it is a moving object which they owned by default of having hit being stationary. Hopefully Viffer can weigh in on this.

As for retreads, I can tell you fairly definitively that if done right (most processes and glues have been perfected over the years) that the most common retread failure is due to heat from the tire having picked up a puncture that lowers the PSI and if left undiscovered will cause premature failure. A trucker that stops often to knuckle his tires decreases dramatically the odds of a retread failure. Technically though, he could check his tires at noon and have picked up puncture of severe enough size to cause a quick PSI drop by 1230pm and not check tires again for another 2 hours or many more even. I used to study the road in detail and was able to often visually see a bolt or muffler clamp and swerve in time to usually manage a miss if running in the daylight. If you think you got a hit or partial hit, I used to pull over to check. I do the same on the bike and once I pulled screw out before it had worked itself in deep enough to puncture.
 
nesobriquet said:
Good point about a stationary vs moving object. I wonder how the scene is handled if car in front 'kicks up' debris. Now it is a moving object which they owned by default of having hit being stationary. Hopefully Viffer can weigh in on this.
Click to expand...

Platinum_Cycle can answer these questions best -- I don't deal with Fault Determination and that sort of thing.
 
nesobriquet said:
Good point about a stationary vs moving object. I wonder how the scene is handled if car in front 'kicks up' debris. Now it is a moving object which they owned by default of having hit being stationary. Hopefully Viffer can weigh in on this.
Click to expand...
To the OP, the only way you will be not at fault, is if the object came directly from the original vehicle and hit/landed on your car without bouncing or coming into contact with the ground first. If you ever run over anything on the road the story is "I was behind a garbage truck and this huge blown tire tread flew out the top and landed right on the front of my car, at which point I ran it over causing all this damage."

If you ran it over, you'll be at fault. Best to pay for the damage yourself, or submit a claim and pay 10x as much as the repair over the next 5 years.

-Jamie M.
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