Liability

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

Excuse me while I vent here for a bit.....I was gonna post and ask what the liability is to the driver of a vehicle who chooses not to clean the ice off of their vehicle and proceed to drive down the highway allowing the ice chunks to fly off and cause excessive damage (usually a broken windshield) to other drivers? After having my accident last week I have been a little critical of other drivers and I saw 3 cars today on the way home with SMASHED windshields. Then low and behold I almost got clobbered by a sheet of 1/2 inch thick of ice the size of the entire roof of a chevy Surburban:angry::angry::angry: I managed to swerve out of the way as it smashed on the pavement. Then I get home and there is a news story about all of the windshields that have been smashed and how the glass shops are backed up with business because of it. They then proceed to say that the drivers are subject to a $60.00 fine IF a police officer sees the ice fly off the offending vehicle!! WTF....that is criminal negligence!! Attempted murder!! SOMETHING?!?!?!?! For crying out loud, if a gravel truck drops a pebble and it cracks your windshield, you get their plate number and you get it replaced at their cost. The news show interviewed one driver who said they were just to lazy to clean off their roof. I'd like to clean his clock!!



There, I feel better.



TOXIC

 

[Jim B]

Amen, Tox. I have been on the recieving end of one of those ice chunks and not only did it crack my windshield, it dented my hood up pretty bad. Oo coarse i got stiffed into paying for the repair to the hood since i could not prove who's car it came from. Luckly in Mass we get free windshield replacement standard with our insurance so it was replaced for free.





What happened in your accident? I don't think i ever saw anything here on it. I hope your ok. It wasnt that nice shiny black chevy in the accident was it?

 

[Rick Hale]

Last year -- Daughter had a big sheet of Ice slid off a interstate sign - went through her wind shield a sliced the passenger seat. Lucky no one was in that seat--DOA--

The state started using fire truck to hose bown the signs to get the ice to drop.. What a mess..



Rick

 

[Edward Lea.]

I have occasionally saw stuff come off semi's but I guess I have never seen this or really heard anyone complain about cars. I have lived in Iowa my whole life, which is adding up now, and never heard of this being an issue with cars. Maybe we get more snow than ice.



Now that Tox has raised this issue I have a ice question. While visiting in Chicago one time I wondered what happens in cities like Chicago and New York when you all get ice storms. It appears to me that the ice has to come off those skyscrapers sooner or later. How many pedestrians are killed/injured by that stuff and is the building owner responsible?

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

Jim, I got rear ended on a major highway in slow moving traffic. A guy wasn't paying attention and rear ended a car behind me at about 50 mph and that vehicle then blasted me in the rear. Knocked out a filling, whiplash and messed up my back. My jeep is fixable. He hit me hard enough from behind to break my windshield.



Ed, it just happened here in DC, ice sheet fell off a building and sent a guy to the hospital!!





TOXIC

 

[Jeremy Theys2]

Any gravel truck has a sign on it that says stay back 100 feet. And also it specifically states they are not responsible for damage. This sign is on any gravel truck I have seen in the last 5 years. May be different in your location, but that sign gets them off the hook in ohio.



As for the ice, I'm not really sure the laws. I really don't think it's any worse than people that throw mud from their big off road trucks. I really don't condone not cleaning it, but I am not about to beat on a nice vehicle to break up ice that's on the roof. If it's loose and will come off with a brush or can get it by hand, I will remove it. Otherwise, It will come off in due time (melting or otherwise).



While we are on this subject, I would personally like to kick the crap out of the vast majority of smokers that choose to throw their cigarette butts out the window. I had a Firebird with T-tops that had a burn hole in the rear seat due to that problem. It's littering and comprised the vast majority of crap that is scattered along the roads.

 

[Greg J.]

...vast majority of smokers that choose to throw their cigarette butts out the window.

Some of us do have ashtrays and use them . The ones who irritate me are the ones who throw anything out of their vehicle, ie., paper trash, soda/beer cans, plastic water/soda bottles, used diapers (yep, I've seen it), etc, etc. The biggest problem we have around here are the coal trucks instead of gravel. I've had one windshield cracked by a coal truck going past me in the opposite direction. :blink:

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

JPT,



I don't like people that litter either but I'd much rather have Waterwings cigarette but hit my windshield than your sheet of ice because you were to lazy to clean off your roof. Never heard of anyone going to the hospital or being blinded by glass shards from a cigerette. I always clean my entire vehicle off. So should everyone else.



TOXIC

 

[Jeremy Theys2]

Toxic,

Don't get me wrong. I do clean off my vehicles whenever reasonable. What I won't do is beat up my vehicle when the ice is physically bonded to my car or truck to remove it. If the ice is formed to my vehicle, it will stay there. I am not going to take a hammer to my truck.

This is just one of the many things that happens in winter. There are many vehicles that are impossible to clean off (i.e. semi trailers). You just have to recognize the possibility and stay back a little farther.



This past week I had an inch thick layer of ice on top of my SUV. It was frozen solid completely around my roof rack. It wouldn't come off for days. I had to wait until the bottom layer melted enough that I could break it up in chunks. I recognize the safety concern of ice, but in this case there was no way that it would have slid off. I had to get out a screwdriver and cut grooves in it to break it up. Not fun.



We argue about some stupid stuff sometimes. I am soo sick of winter........

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

Didn't mean to bust your chops. Sorry it sounded that way but it is a no brainer to get it off (if you can) before it goes through the window of the mini van behind you with a baby in a carseat. I agree, I am not gonna take a hammer to mine either as long as I'm sure it won't fly off, but on my truck there's nothing to keep it from flying off. Funny thing, I saw HUGE sheets coming off of 2 school buses:angry:



TOXIC

 

[Greg Meyer]

Okay... here is a "hits home" post about this. My wife is a 4th grade teacher, she "partners" with the other 4th grade teacher in her school. Her partner came to work this morning and reported that she had been up almost the whole night with her neighbor/friend. Her neighbor's husband, a semi-driver, was headed home in his car when a chunk of ice came off a semi in front of him. The ice flew into his windshield...his car swerved off the road and he was killed.



We have had weird weather... my driveway is about two inches of ice between the "lanes" that were made by our vehicles... snow, rain and sub zero temps all came together to create a lot of ice...