Question Regarding Debris Hit By Car In Front Of Me Already On Road Car

[Leafdriver333]

That sucks. Technically yes, but legally no way. Unless the debris actually came from the car itself. Unfortunately it’s just one of those things you have to suck up and take care of yourself.

Not entirely true.
When I called my insurance about a rock chip caused by a flying rock, the insurance agent asked if I happened to have the truck's license plate number, that caused the rock to fly up, after I explained what had happened.

 

[jmeer]

Was that on the 15? I'm guessing no by the lane markings. There was an accident and car fire today that had shut down all lanes even the carpool lane was backed up. If it is the south, maybe you can find out the info on the cars that were in the accident. It looks like it may have been part of another car that was not cleaned up.

You may be able to file a claim on your insurance, and see who they say is accountable, although it will likely be you (stupid I know). Believe it or not this happens all the time, I have had buckets shot into the front of my cars from the next lane, that broke my bumper. Suv's passing kicking up road shrapnel that exploded my tire when in the fast lane etc. I have always ended up sucking it up or paying for the damage.

This was westbound on the 8 coming from the 125

 

[jmeer]

Not entirely true.
When I called my insurance about a rock chip caused by a flying rock, the insurance agent asked if I happened to have the truck's license plate number, that caused the rock to fly up, after I explained what had happened.

I will definitely explore this option then. I haven't found a frame where the license plate is in focus on the TeslaCam yet though

 

[Brian's ReX]

The ethics of it are the vehicle in front of you is supposed to be responsible enough to avoid it. Because they weren't careful it is now flying towards you at high speed, making you unable to avoid it, etc. So technically it's the fault of the vehicle that kicked it towards you, or whatever vehicle it came off of in the first place. There is bad luck, but this case is purely the vehicle in front of them not doing what they were supposed to be doing.

I have yet to 'disagree' with a post. But this is the exception. Are you REALLY saying that it is the responsibility of the driver in front of you to "safely avoid road debris, and therefore assuring every other driver's safe passage"???????

I am dumfounded. This logic is just sad. If this debris was shot out of another vehicle's tires, and it happened in a fraction of a second (as many road debris incidents do), you REALLY think it's the responsibility of the affected driver to "safely avoid, and therefore guarantee safe passage of every subsequent vehicle"???

It's folks with this logic that have made our insurance rates so high!!

Wow.

 

[destructure00]

Not entirely true.
When I called my insurance about a rock chip caused by a flying rock, the insurance agent asked if I happened to have the truck's license plate number, that caused the rock to fly up, after I explained what had happened.

Every time I've had a windshield replaced I've been asked this question as well.

 

[Leafdriver333]

I have yet to 'disagree' with a post. But this is the exception. Are you REALLY saying that it is the responsibility of the driver in front of you to "safely avoid road debris, and therefore assuring every other driver's safe passage"???????

I am dumfounded. This logic is just sad. If this debris was shot out of another vehicle's tires, and it happened in a fraction of a second (as many road debris incidents do), you REALLY think it's the responsibility of the affected driver to "safely avoid, and therefore guarantee safe passage of every subsequent vehicle"???

It's folks with this logic that have made our insurance rates so high!!

Wow.

I am Korean-American and I watch Korean TV show called "Blackbox (Dashcam)" on Youtube.
They talk about whose responsibility it is for each accident caught on camera.
A real lawyer analyzes each scenario and I get dumbfounded as well a lot of times.
But Korean law says "with a reasonable amount of caution, the car in front should have been able to avoid the debris... blah blah blah.. And therefore, this guy has 30% fault and that guy has 70% fault."

So I think, even America, if you get a good lawyer, you can actually share the fault with the guy in the front.

 

[oldpueblo]

I have yet to 'disagree' with a post. But this is the exception. Are you REALLY saying that it is the responsibility of the driver in front of you to "safely avoid road debris, and therefore assuring every other driver's safe passage"???????

I am dumfounded. This logic is just sad. If this debris was shot out of another vehicle's tires, and it happened in a fraction of a second (as many road debris incidents do), you REALLY think it's the responsibility of the affected driver to "safely avoid, and therefore guarantee safe passage of every subsequent vehicle"???

It's folks with this logic that have made our insurance rates so high!!

Wow.

No, what I said is clearly listed in my post. I spoke in general terms that it's absolutely possible that the driver in front could be at fault in some scenarios. You are trying to make it sound like I said the car in front is at fault every time, which is again not what I said. There are multiple scenarios, that's why they have insurance investigate it. However it is absolutely true that in many cases drivers are not watching and avoiding what they should be, therefore causing damage to other drivers, in many cases cascading incidents. The optimal scenario of course is every car sees it and avoids it because they are all following at a safe distance and paying attention. I don't consider rock chips to be a fair example, since you can't really see them. But if I run over something larger and then send it flying at another car, I would be 100% at fault for it hitting that car since I set it in motion. We're all making assumptions here, if it did happen to that front driver just like it happened to this driver, then yeah that's bad luck. Someone is still originally at fault, but that may never be solved. But still should not be considered a collision since it was in motion. You brought up ethics, what's ethical about insurance hitting him with a collision claim instead of comprehensive when he had no way of avoiding it? What if someone runs over something and sends it sideways or diagonal, so even if a driver is following at the perfect distance they still get hit? That's rhetorical.

 

[SomeJoe7777]

Insurance companies will ask whether other vehicles kicked up the debris just to see if it's worth their while to try to subrogate (i.e. try to bring the other vehicle's insurance coverage into the mix and get them to pay for some or all of it), but that's a long shot.

To some extent, attempting to let insurance companies haggle it out with a liability claim depends on the degree of damage. A body scratch that needs just a repaint? Not worth it.

This is the type of stuff that your comprehensive insurance is for. Find out if the repair is more than your deductible, if so file a claim then pay the deductible out of pocket. If not, then just pay for the repair.

 

[jmeer]

Insurance companies will ask whether other vehicles kicked up the debris just to see if it's worth their while to try to subrogate (i.e. try to bring the other vehicle's insurance coverage into the mix and get them to pay for some or all of it), but that's a long shot.

To some extent, attempting to let insurance companies haggle it out with a liability claim depends on the degree of damage. A body scratch that needs just a repaint? Not worth it.

This is the type of stuff that your comprehensive insurance is for. Find out if the repair is more than your deductible, if so file a claim then pay the deductible out of pocket. If not, then just pay for the repair.

This is the plan that I ended up deciding on. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[duanra]

All this seems to me a matter of common sense. How can you blame somebody for driving over a debris. He should turm wildly to avoid it, hence hitting another car ?
It reminds me once I hit a goose on take-off and the goose ended up stuck in the engine. The boss reproched me that i didn't avoid the bird.....???!!!!!

 

[ngogas]

Covers under your comprehensive

 

[derotam]

I agree with the others that this is just a standard comprehensive claim for insurance... Basically if it is a moving object it can be said to be unavoidable.(for insurance purposes) as opposed to a non moving object which is *generally* avoidable unless you can prove to your insurance company's satisfaction that it was unavoidable.

Now it's just a matter of whether your deductible is more than the cost to repair.

 

[Daniel in SD]

I was driving down the highway and a piece of debris (that was already on the road) was kicked up by the driver in front of me. It ended up scratching rear passenger-side door.

Is the car in front of me at fault here?
View attachment 400402 View attachment 400403 View attachment 400404 View attachment 400405

It looks to me like you hit the road debris with your door, knocking it into the lane next to you, and putting it in the path of another vehicle. You should turn yourself in to the police immediately.

 

[jmeer]

It looks to me like you hit the road debris with your door, knocking it into the lane next to you, and putting it in the path of another vehicle. You should turn yourself in to the police immediately.

Really glad you can be a contributing member of society.

 

[C141medic]

Not entirely true.
When I called my insurance about a rock chip caused by a flying rock, the insurance agent asked if I happened to have the truck's license plate number, that caused the rock to fly up, after I explained what had happened.

Yeah, good luck trying to go after the driver of the vehicle that caused a rock to fly up at you.

 

[duanra]

Sue the rock !

 

[whatthe2]

Every time I've had a windshield replaced I've been asked this question as well.

In Colorado, a truck driver can be held responsible if it's a rock (or another item) that actually fell off the truck or out of the bed of the truck. If it's kicked up from the tires, no such luck. Former Police Officer and Level III Traffic Accident Investigator here so I've dealt with this numerous times. Maybe it's different in other states, but I wouldn't think so. However, Insurance companies certainly may try to go after anyone they want.

 

[jmeer]

Quote for touch-up repair ended up being less than my comprehensive deductible, so not going to even bother with insurance. I appreciate all of the help.

 

[ry-ballz]

It's probably going to depend on your state.
In Colorado that's considered a road hazard and would be the following vehicle's responsibility to avoid. This is the same as a pothole, or even a piece of asphalt kicked up by a truck.

However, if the piece fell off the front vehicle, that would be considered an accident and the vehicle would be in violation of the unsecured/spilling load law.

 

[jrh007]

Feels like a torts class.