Ban construction vehicles from highways

[iron_ring]

I realize this will never happen, but I've had this idea for some time that construction related vehicles should be banned from using highways. Why? Because of incidents like yesterday. The wife and I are heading home in our weeks old S4, merging from one highway to another (417 to the 416 split for the locals) and ended up having to pass a semi hauling an excavator. The excavator had apparently been recently excavating because as I approached I realized that it was spewing gravel all over the highway.

Thankfully the shoulder is paved and I was able to essentially exit my lane and use the shoulder to rocket past and get out of the debris field. I checked her out when we got home and still rock chip free (knock on wood) but it got me thinking more seriously about this idea. Within 6 months of driving my previous car on this highway, I had several rock chips on the leading edge of the hood, some down to the metal. Within a year, I had to replace the windshield due to a rock hit that cracked it. Where the hell are all these rocks coming from?

Sure, some of it is coming off the shoulders when people pull over and merge back on, but I've lost track of how many times I've seen dump trucks/cement trucks just shitting rocks all over the highway. Sometimes its what they're carrying, sometimes its because they just left a construction site and are just caked in mud. I would guess that a large percentage of the damage being done to our cars is due to these clowns peppering the roads with gravel. They get on the highway and we pay.

So, here's my little fantasy. As a default construction vehicles are not allowed on highways. Most states and provinces have clear numbering/naming for what is considered a highway (400 series roads in Ontario for example). Construction vehicles that want to use the highway must pay into a state/provincial insurance policy that would pay to repair rock-chips and windshields. I know, I know. Completely unfeasible. But still, I'm not the one dumping gravel all over the road. Why do I have to pay to fix it?

[RickFLS4]

I don't think I have ever driven on a highway in South Florida and not come across a construction vehicle over the 25+ years I've been here. Many / most are there for construction on the highway, so it would be difficult to ban them even with wishful thinking. My defenses: drive an Audi instead of a Porsche and have paint protection film installed when I get a new car.

From time to time I do wish construction projects were more comprehensive so the construction isn't obsolete a few years after completed (e.g. go ahead and add 2 lanes instead of 1 now and another one in a few years). However, it is a double-edged sword as more comprehensive construction projects that take longer are also a longer nightmare.

[brainpan]

Fyi, In Ontario, gravel falling from a cvor registered truck can be considered an unsecured load. MTO would charge the driver with a cvor violation

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[MrFunk]

Fyi, In Ontario, gravel falling from a cvor registered truck can be considered an unsecured load. MTO would charge the driver with a cvor violation

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Exactly.
There are regulations around this... you should have gotten the license and reported him to the police as well as called the trucking company if it was labeled - but I'm sure you didn't want to spend any more time behind him than necessary...

[Moose201]

My fantasy is to be a state trooper for a day. All I would do is pull over untarped gravel trucks and left lane bandits.

[mattchat]

Exactly.
There are regulations around this... you should have gotten the license and reported him to the police as well as called the trucking company if it was labeled - but I'm sure you didn't want to spend any more time behind him than necessary...

Yup, all flatbeads are technically supposed to carry brooms so in situations when they tie down loads they brush off the deck before transport. I used to haul drywall back in the day and we nearly got fined at a checkstop when we had some dirt clumps on our deck from a dynolift. It's just common courtesy but trust me after a long day, you are lazy! Still needs to get done, though.

[audistealth]

That would be a dream. My car's frontal area looks like a crater faced teenager :(

[Subsonic]

My fantasy is to be a state trooper for a day. All I would do is pull over untarped gravel trucks and left lane bandits.

I would buy you all the donuts and coffee you could stand if you did that! Could I bribe you in to adding people who don't use turn signals to that list? :D

[dangerous_dave7]

I would buy you all the donuts and coffee you could stand if you did that! Could I bribe you in to adding people who don't use turn signals to that list? :D

By people who don't use turn signals, you mean most of the Denver metro area right? Lol ... I swear we have the worst drivers, worse than when i lived in Arizona with all the old "snowbirds"

By the way - you are getting rid of your BBS'? What'd you get?


Sorry to derail thread, I hate trucks spilling gravel too [up]

[Subsonic]

Haha, yeah, pretty much but actually the drivers here are, for the most part except when it's anything but perfectly dry roads (one rain drop or snowflake seems to freak people out here), pretty good compared to south Louisiana lol. At least down there they don't slow down just because it's raining or has rained unless there's a good reason.

Yeah, selling the BBS just debating if I want to keep the OEM Contis or buy new tires. I ordered some 19x9.5" BC Forged HC52's (matte black lip with crystal coffee face, kinda wanted to do the crystal burgundy face but decided that was too noticeable/rememberable and just asking for trouble). I'd prefer to put a 265 tire as I don't like the stretched look of the 255's I've seen on that width but the PSS sound like I may have rubbing issues especially if I lower it. No rush, I've got a month to figure it out!

The front end of my car has one nice, noticeable chip and a few more smaller ones. Windshield that I had replaced a few months ago is already pitted everywhere with little microchips. And I haven't even been behind any gravel trucks or the like. I just figure it's the price I pay for being a skier and traveling in the mountains. I can always have the front end repainted if it gets too bad. My car is used to the body shop and paint booth at this point lol

[SwankPeRFection]

Case in point, this is why I don't follow anything on the road. I have been known to pass a bunch of cars or trucks, whatever so that I'm first and not following anything. I normally drive 5-10 over the limit and everyone just ends up holding me up anyway. If I can pass them, I do, then I'm free to drive and free from debris fields.

[Subsonic]

Good luck finding the end of traffic around here. You're almost always going to be stuck behind somebody and if you try to leave room people will just change lanes in front of you and fill it up.

[drob23]

My fantasy is to be a state trooper for a day. All I would do is pull over untarped gravel trucks and left lane bandits.

Haha, me too, left lane bandits are the bane of my existence.

[SwankPeRFection]

Good luck finding the end of traffic around here. You're almost always going to be stuck behind somebody and if you try to leave room people will just change lanes in front of you and fill it up.

Then break the law or get behind the least destructive vehicle. Pick one that works for you. [;)]

[Subsonic]

I do my best to get away from semis for sure. Quick bursts of triple digits works well!

[raudiace4]

I've lost count of how many time I've felt big rocks being flung onto the front end of my car because of shitty road debris and construction vehicles dumping tiny rocks on the freeways.

[iron_ring]

Exactly.
There are regulations around this... you should have gotten the license and reported him to the police as well as called the trucking company if it was labeled - but I'm sure you didn't want to spend any more time behind him than necessary...


Interesting. I didn't know that. But for the sake of argument, then what? I report the truck, the company gets a fine and all is right in the world, but I'm still left with a couple grand worth of repainting and a crack in my windshield that's really bumming me out.

And do they even get a fine? I call the ministry and tell them "Hey, dump truck with the licence plate ABCD 123 dumped a handful of gravel on the highway" and that company gets a $1000 fine in the mail the next day based on my word? Part of me suspects they might not even get as much as a phone call.

[Moose201]

Case in point, this is why I don't follow anything on the road. I have been known to pass a bunch of cars or trucks, whatever so that I'm first and not following anything. I normally drive 5-10 over the limit and everyone just ends up holding me up anyway. If I can pass them, I do, then I'm free to drive and free from debris fields.

One of the rules that I live by when driving. Doubly so for any kind of truck or anything pulling a trailer. My Dad once followed a truck with an open bed that had a few tires in it. The truck hit a bump, one of the tires was propelled and thank God bounced in front of his car and over it. He actually pulled up on the guy, flashed his headlights and made him pull over.

[Moose201]

I would buy you all the donuts and coffee you could stand if you did that! Could I bribe you in to adding people who don't use turn signals to that list? :D

Ah, it seems that 2013 Ibis 6MT drivers think alike. [;)]

[LYKUNO]

Don't these signs just piss you off?

http://luckydogwms.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8345229ae69e20133f49302c0970b-pi

[Pilfer]

I've lost count of how many time I've felt big rocks being flung onto the front end of my car because of shitty road debris and construction vehicles dumping tiny rocks on the freeways.

Me too, fucking bullshit


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[audistealth]

Don't these signs just piss you off?

http://luckydogwms.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8345229ae69e20133f49302c0970b-pihttp://luckydogwms.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8345229ae69e20133f49302c0970b-pi

Yes, because they should be responsible for their (in)actions. Or at least, rinse down their truck before departing the site. Why should we have to pay for their negligence?

[helix139]

Don't these signs just piss you off?

http://luckydogwms.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8345229ae69e20133f49302c0970b-pihttp://luckydogwms.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8345229ae69e20133f49302c0970b-pi

Just saying you're not responsible for something doesn't make you legally not responsible. If that were the case I'd put up a sign on my car that says "warning: not responsible for bullet holes in dump truck tires."

[GeoJoe]

If you get damage from an object coming from a truck and claim it on insurance, make sure you say that the object came from the truck, and not from the road.

Even if it came from the truck, bounced off the road and hit your car, many insurance agencies will expect you to be able to avoid such objects coming from the road.

If you were hit with something flying directly off the truck, that's usually covered and is definately the fault of the vehicle in front of you.


http://forum.slowtwitch.com/forum/Slowtwitch_Forums_C1/Lavender_Room_F4/Question_for_the_Lawyers_About_Dump_Trucks_P407618 9/

[SwankPeRFection]

^^^^ Ya, except those signs have been changed now to say "Not responsible for objects coming from road." Because they know when the truck drops it, it hits the road first and bounces up. Regardless, ya, it came from the truck and hit my window! No, it didn't come from the road! Technically this isn't a lie, because the rock "came" from the truck and not from the road since it didn't originate from the road. Lol

[Kandiru]

How about the multicar accident on the bridge after a landscaper's trailer broke an axle and spilled out small round rocks all over?

Start flying, 20x lower death rates, watch this:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NVAKCNJ25A&feature=player_detailpage

[SwankPeRFection]

^^^ Holy FU**! I had to watch that a few times to figure out where it came from. I think I would have run that ahole with the trailer off the road if that happened!

[iron_ring]

How about the multicar accident on the bridge after a landscaper's trailer broke an axle and spilled out small round rocks all over?

Start flying, 20x lower death rates, watch this:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NVAKCNJ25A&feature=player_detailpage

Wow. That's insane. That driver is lucky to be alive. There was a guy killed by road debris here in Ottawa a few years back. He was just driving along on the highway when a chunk of metal punched through the windshield and into his head. Killed him instantly. I don't think they ever figured out where the chunk of metal came from.

[Comilligan]

My fantasy is to be a state trooper for a day. All I would do is pull over untarped gravel trucks and left lane bandits.

we share at least one similar fantasy!