brandons
Member
Hey guys, don't know if you remember when I posted about 3 weeks ago about buying a new Saturn Ion 2 or not, but just figured I would share my greif here..... I wrecked it
Since the remains of the hurricane came up through PA had problems with flooding. It's all so ironic though. I spend 4 hours friday evening trying to stop cars on a 4 lane highway from driving into flood waters that came up onto the road. I also pushed 3 cars out of the water. Sunday night I came home from being at my g/f's for the weekend and decided I was going to see if I could make it to work (started a new job on monday). There was a road closed sign ahead right before a road that goes around the head of a mountain that is pretty much a big cliff. Thinking that the rocks probably fell onto the road from water I went up over the mountain via a dirt road... pretty much a trail. Car made it fine and I didn't see anything wrong with the road so I started heading towards the place i was going to work. I was glancing at my speedo because the cops sit in that area and the nex thing i know there is this big white thing in front of me. I slammed my brakes on and locked up all my tires (didn't get the anti-lock brakes) and see all these little white things fly all over the place as a big thing flys up overtop my car. I pulled into the parking lot and got out swearing and yelling.
Looked at what I hit and here it was a barrier that was in the road. This is like 5 MILES away from the road closed ahead sign. Look over in the parking lot next door and there is a motorcycle making his way over. He asks if I'm ok and I was like "yea, except I bought the car three weeks ago and did the first oil change on it today.... I'm really angry and this sucks". He's like I know, I squeeled my tires and almost hit the barricade too. We talked and he gave me his name and phone number in case it would help me at all for insurance and what not.
So I get in my car with a dented hood and scuffed bumper and the likes and drive to the nearest gas station. I call the police and they refuse to right me a report saying that there were no lights or anything on the barrier saying because I left the seen (didn't have a cell phone what could I do). They said they can send a trooper, but if he wanted he would give me a ticket for passing a barricade. Oh YAY! So I thanked them for nothing and went hom got the camera and went back to the scene and took pictures of the barricade and my skid marks on the road. Did research on the internet and found the regulations for setting up a barricade. According to PA law it has to have a minimum of 270 sq inces of retroreflective tape and since it was a type I barricade and it was nighttime it needed to have a blinking light fixture on it, which it had no light and no reflective tape. Also, the colors are to be white base with orange stripes at a 45 degree. The barricade was white with black stripes and it was done with a paintbrush wit normal household paint. The law also says if it is for overnight it is to be a type III barricade which it was not. So not only did they not use the right barricade they set up the wrong one incorrectly.
So I call my insurance and they were impressed with my research and were very pleased that I took pictures of the barricade. They gave me two options, pursue it myself or have them pursue penndot for me. I am choosing the first because if I fail they will still attempt as a last resort. So I called up my local counties penndot and got transferred 3 times till i got this one guy. I told him that I ran into a barrier and would like to file a complaint saying I looked up the laws and it did not meet regulation. He asked if I had a police report and I told him no because they wouldn't give me one. He's like well unless you have a police report I WILL NOT file a complaint. So I was like "OK thank you so much sir" just to be an ass and hugn up.... called the state police and they said they would send someone down, but he would probably not fill out a report for me. Anyways I waited at work and the cop didn't show up, and eventually left me a message saying I can go to a state police station and get a report filled out and the number I needed. So when I get off my second job 12AM I'll drive to the one closest to my home about and hour to and hour and a half from work 30 minutes from home and ask them to fill it out since there are cops there 24/7. If they won't give me a report I don't know what to do. The only thing I can think of is call back to penndot and if they refuse to fill out a report I'll tell them that i'll see them in small claims court then. It sucks because the barrier was totally unexpected and it wasn't even lit up. It was just sitting there in the middle of the road. UGH... guess this is what I guess for buying a brand new car. Should stuck with the crappy one I hated so that I could just laugh and be like "that sucks"
Since the remains of the hurricane came up through PA had problems with flooding. It's all so ironic though. I spend 4 hours friday evening trying to stop cars on a 4 lane highway from driving into flood waters that came up onto the road. I also pushed 3 cars out of the water. Sunday night I came home from being at my g/f's for the weekend and decided I was going to see if I could make it to work (started a new job on monday). There was a road closed sign ahead right before a road that goes around the head of a mountain that is pretty much a big cliff. Thinking that the rocks probably fell onto the road from water I went up over the mountain via a dirt road... pretty much a trail. Car made it fine and I didn't see anything wrong with the road so I started heading towards the place i was going to work. I was glancing at my speedo because the cops sit in that area and the nex thing i know there is this big white thing in front of me. I slammed my brakes on and locked up all my tires (didn't get the anti-lock brakes) and see all these little white things fly all over the place as a big thing flys up overtop my car. I pulled into the parking lot and got out swearing and yelling.
Looked at what I hit and here it was a barrier that was in the road. This is like 5 MILES away from the road closed ahead sign. Look over in the parking lot next door and there is a motorcycle making his way over. He asks if I'm ok and I was like "yea, except I bought the car three weeks ago and did the first oil change on it today.... I'm really angry and this sucks". He's like I know, I squeeled my tires and almost hit the barricade too. We talked and he gave me his name and phone number in case it would help me at all for insurance and what not.
So I get in my car with a dented hood and scuffed bumper and the likes and drive to the nearest gas station. I call the police and they refuse to right me a report saying that there were no lights or anything on the barrier saying because I left the seen (didn't have a cell phone what could I do). They said they can send a trooper, but if he wanted he would give me a ticket for passing a barricade. Oh YAY! So I thanked them for nothing and went hom got the camera and went back to the scene and took pictures of the barricade and my skid marks on the road. Did research on the internet and found the regulations for setting up a barricade. According to PA law it has to have a minimum of 270 sq inces of retroreflective tape and since it was a type I barricade and it was nighttime it needed to have a blinking light fixture on it, which it had no light and no reflective tape. Also, the colors are to be white base with orange stripes at a 45 degree. The barricade was white with black stripes and it was done with a paintbrush wit normal household paint. The law also says if it is for overnight it is to be a type III barricade which it was not. So not only did they not use the right barricade they set up the wrong one incorrectly.
So I call my insurance and they were impressed with my research and were very pleased that I took pictures of the barricade. They gave me two options, pursue it myself or have them pursue penndot for me. I am choosing the first because if I fail they will still attempt as a last resort. So I called up my local counties penndot and got transferred 3 times till i got this one guy. I told him that I ran into a barrier and would like to file a complaint saying I looked up the laws and it did not meet regulation. He asked if I had a police report and I told him no because they wouldn't give me one. He's like well unless you have a police report I WILL NOT file a complaint. So I was like "OK thank you so much sir" just to be an ass and hugn up.... called the state police and they said they would send someone down, but he would probably not fill out a report for me. Anyways I waited at work and the cop didn't show up, and eventually left me a message saying I can go to a state police station and get a report filled out and the number I needed. So when I get off my second job 12AM I'll drive to the one closest to my home about and hour to and hour and a half from work 30 minutes from home and ask them to fill it out since there are cops there 24/7. If they won't give me a report I don't know what to do. The only thing I can think of is call back to penndot and if they refuse to fill out a report I'll tell them that i'll see them in small claims court then. It sucks because the barrier was totally unexpected and it wasn't even lit up. It was just sitting there in the middle of the road. UGH... guess this is what I guess for buying a brand new car. Should stuck with the crappy one I hated so that I could just laugh and be like "that sucks"