As some of you may recall I had a big chunk of truck tire take off most of my oem front lip so I called the local Dept. of Transportation office to find out if they would replace it.

The lady had me take photos, file a police reportt, and get 2 estimates - which I did. This was all sent off to Tallahassee. Recently I got a msg from Tallahassee giving me a claim # and they also said I'd get a letter in the mail.

Here's what they said...

"Dear Mr. xxxx,

We were not on constructive notice of a possible hazard at this location. No previous complaints had been received and no prior accidents had been reported at this location.

While we regret your damages, we do not believe that our department can reasonably be held liable for any part thereof unless it can be shown that we placed the debris in the roadway or that, once aware of it's presence, we failed to remove it.

Travelers are constantly depositing miscellaneous road debris on highways, often without knowing it. This presents hazards of varying degrees to following drivers who fail to see it or are otherwise unable to avoid contact with it. Whenever we become aware of such hazards, we make every effort to take prompt and appropriate remedial action.

While we sincerely regret this unfortunate incident, we are respectfully denying your claim because there are no material facts or documentary evidence to substantiate a hazard or any negligence that can be attributed to this Department."

Yours truly,
Annette Rogers
Investigations Specialist
Office of the General Counsel

So why did they have me send all that crap in ? I'm NOT thrilled about this whatsoever...bastardz....

(I had been following a Lexus SUV in the left lane of a 2-lane freeway with a vehicle behind me and one next to me, so when the Lexus cleared the 9" high piece of tire I had to hit as I had no way to avoid it.)

I told you guys I'd let you know what I found out...any ideas?

 

You could always file in small claims court

 

I think you are just going to have to take this one in the ***. At least they responded to you with a full description of thier reasoning. And I can't really see how they can be held accountable for every chunk of tire that falls off a truck. If you could have located the truck that the tire came off of and got his license plate number you might have been able to attack him. Either way is sucks that it happened but people also get struck by lightning. If this is the worst thing that ever happens to you; you'll die a happy man.

 

I hate SUVs. They block our view, tailgate like a motherfu*ker, ,and then have the nerve to blame us for having too small vehicles to be seen before they run us over. DEATH TO SUV'S!!!!!!! That really sucks to have that happen. I almost had the same thing happen, but mine involved a dog. That **** pisses me off!!!

 

i'm presently suing micky d's for there coffee being too hot and the warning label too small to read for the hearing impaired.

 

I agree, even so, I'm sort of a patient Pit Bull when it comes to sh*t like this.
I just sent an e-mail to the Lieutenant Governor.

 

....who probably deleted it, then downloaded more ****.

 

I wouldn't have expected anything... if it was in the middle of highway, it coudln't have been there for very long. nothing they could have done...


a funnier story. last month, a local guy in a lowered focus with some front body kit (low to the ground) riped off his front bumper driving into a wendys entance. (it was at an angle to the road) he filed a complaint with weddys. and they just repaid him for it LOL... and now they gota put up a cation sign or something at the entance LOL..

 

If you get a ding in your windshield after following a gravel truck, and take down the licence plate of the truck, ICBC will fix your windshield completely free. Insurance covers the windshield, and ICBC makes the trucking company pay your deductable.

Make sure to take down the time, date and road of which you were travelling on.


ICBC is pretty reasonable, IMHO

 

what is ICBC?

 

car insuracnce company in BC, Canada...

 

my friend had a '93 civic CX w/ b16 swap. he was roll'n down the interstate at about 2am and hit a complete semi wheel w/ tire. just be happy you didn't hit that.

It pushed up his radiator support, blew his radiator, dented his hood, shattered his front lip, and sent him flying through the air.

 

what sucks worse is that guy who bought the feed lip a fews ago and made copys. he put the real one on last week and had his car repainted with the lip on it. one week later the feed lip is destroyed

I just put my copy on today but my car is much higher, we'll see what happens to mine

 

ouch that sucks. Well if you're looking to get a new stock OEM lip, I might have one for sale.

This may be a stupid question, but I bought the OEM lip from Mazda for $320 and now I'm thinking about replicating them also like wormiez. The Feed lip is nice but sits lower than the stock but i already scrape with the stock lip. I could replicate them pretty easily, just worried about copyright laws and junk. What do u guys think? And was wondering if people would be interested.

 

That's pretty f*cked up, but I'm used to the whole government thing not helping much. All I can say is suck it up man. Sorry for the loss

 

Well, I really didn't expect anything from them anyhow. It's not a big deal as the part that was on there was sort of getting ratty anyway - had a big split in it.
Just thought I'd give it a shot...doesn't hurt to try.

 

You should do some more diggin.....im also in Fl and there are always some type of case or something involving road debris.....check out "Help me Howard" or "Shame on You"....news station maybe somemore negative publicity will get them off their asses.

 

I wouldn't worry about copyright laws or anything of that sort. What about all those companies that recreate OEM body panels and the like?

Anyways, I'd probably be interested. My front spoiler is in ok condition, but it's definitely seen better days.

 

I wonder if the tire trea you hit was from a DOT approved tire. If so, then they are responsible for it failing and creating a hazzard for other drivers.

The DOT creates to tests to determin the reliability and safety of a product, in turn they are signing off on a product which makes them liable to some degree.

I am sure the creator of the DOT was just out to make a few bucks by making product makers pay to get DOT approval. If you can screw them back easily, I say go for it.

J

 

I highly doubt any body kit manufacturer goes through the trouble of getting a patent or copyright for a kit. Maybe a few of the largest makers but I doubt it. A patent on a body kit would be almost impossible.

 

Well, ok. I'll start making one copy of the OEM lip and post pictures when I'm done.