Streakn1
Veteran Expediter
As drivers of commercial vehicles we are all targets for being blamed for damage to vehicles and property that we did not cause. Many attempts are made for you the owner of the CV or your insurance company to pay for the alledged damaged. Some states such as NJ are "at fault" states meaning that if the complaintant can prove that an object fell or flew off of your vehicle and damaged another, you are at fault and liable for the damage.
A cargo box or box trailer obviously is less likely than an open deck trailer to have freight or objects fly out and cause damage to another vehicle or property. We ALL are responsible to see that nothing can come loose, especially anyone with an open deck. An open deck such as ours makes for an easier target as we learned this past week.
While traveling through NJ such a claim was made. Interestingly enough, we had just done a driver change and full PTI less than two hours before the alledged incident. Our PTIs include a full securement check of any freight on the deck, inspection of the freight, plus tarp and deck surface check to see that no objects are loose that could become dangerous projectiles. We also stop every three hours or 150-200 miles to do a securement check when loaded.
Once we were notified that an incident had occurred we conducted another full inspection. All tools, freight, chains, straps, tarps, blocking,etc was accounted for and nothing found missing or loose. Nothing had fallen from our deck especially an object fitting the complaintants discription. At no time has any object fitting the discription been on our deck.Obviously the object that damaged said vehicle was thrown from another vehicle and appeared to fly off of our deck. Fortunately, the burden of proof showing that we had caused the damage worked in our favor.
A cargo box or box trailer obviously is less likely than an open deck trailer to have freight or objects fly out and cause damage to another vehicle or property. We ALL are responsible to see that nothing can come loose, especially anyone with an open deck. An open deck such as ours makes for an easier target as we learned this past week.
While traveling through NJ such a claim was made. Interestingly enough, we had just done a driver change and full PTI less than two hours before the alledged incident. Our PTIs include a full securement check of any freight on the deck, inspection of the freight, plus tarp and deck surface check to see that no objects are loose that could become dangerous projectiles. We also stop every three hours or 150-200 miles to do a securement check when loaded.
Once we were notified that an incident had occurred we conducted another full inspection. All tools, freight, chains, straps, tarps, blocking,etc was accounted for and nothing found missing or loose. Nothing had fallen from our deck especially an object fitting the complaintants discription. At no time has any object fitting the discription been on our deck.Obviously the object that damaged said vehicle was thrown from another vehicle and appeared to fly off of our deck. Fortunately, the burden of proof showing that we had caused the damage worked in our favor.
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