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'Warning: Stay at least 200 feet back'
Tied to the undercarriage with only a short piece of twine, the tailpipe of the old VW bug swayed frantically under the vehicle's chassis. I managed to change lanes only seconds before the makeshift attachment flew loose and bumped and skidded into the lane, causing countless vehicles to swerve out of its path.
There was something about the ladder on the back of the pickup in front of me that made me take pause. It might have been the way it seemed to be rattling just a little too violently. Or it might have been the single bungee cord assigned to hold it down. Since I was in the slow lane with thick traffic to my left, there was nowhere for me to go. So I let up on the gas and let the distance between my vehicle and the ladder-bearer increase.
When the ladder finally flew off the truck, I had to think quickly and make two nimble steering moves to avoid crashing into it. Then I had to convince my heart that it was OK to resume beating.
I wasn't so lucky the time I was driving on the freeway and a pebble became a projectile that punched a hole the size of BB in my windshield. As I recall, the repair was just enough to cause my wallet severe pain, but not enough to meet my insurance deductible.
It's been years since these incidents occurred, but the memory of the aggravation they caused came back to me when I recently drove by an open-top big rig hauler barreling down the 15 Freeway with a curious sign plastered on the back of the last, enormous bed. In large black and red letters, a sign admonished: "WARNING -- STAY AT LEAST 200 FEET BACK. NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR WINDSHIELD DAMAGE."
As I drove by the rig, I could hear tiny pellets of aggregate material bouncing off my windshield. I couldn't help wondering how many people read that sign after their car had just taken a rock shower, and believed what it said.
Here's a little note of correction to the trucking company. According to the California Vehicle Code, a vehicle cannot be driven or moved on any highway unless the vehicle is so constructed, covered, or loaded as to prevent any of its contents or load from dropping, sifting, leaking, blowing, spilling, or otherwise escaping from the vehicle.
There are only two exceptions to this law, two things that can be legally dropped on the roadways in the state of California. As I can attest, it was not clear water or feathers from live birds that went pinging off my windshield as I drove by that hauler.
There are other, more extensive tenets of this code for vehicles carrying aggregate materials. For instance, the cargo area of vehicles hauling these materials cannot have any cracks or holes, they must have properly functioning seals on all hinged openings, splash flaps behind every tire, and a center flap at the location of the dump release gates.
The law is all-inclusive. Whether your big rig hauler has materials spewing from it or your VW bug loses its makeshift twine muffler bracket, if your vehicle's refuse damages another vehicle, all the wishful thinking that you can muster and the biggest sign in the world are not going to absolve you from liability.
