I had my mail box built on the 'upwind' side of the bridge over the bar ditch in front of my home for a reason. You CAN directly hit the box, but only if you are driving on the wrong side of the road. I have gone out for the morning paper and found car parts that were left by someone who found the bridge side before the mail box that still stands because the sides of the bar ditch put the bumper lower than the top of the road.
If this situtation were to hurt someone, I would feel bad but I doubt there is anything I could have done to prevent that from occuring, except for not providing a way to get to my home.
So, a person who has a concrete block fence in their front yard is criminally liable if someone hits the fence? How about a large tree by the side of the road? How about bridge abutments?
Suppose that person ran off the road and killed someone? Would they be not liable because the person was in the wrong place?
No problem. How would the case have been settled if the woman ran off the road and hit a legally parked dump truck? How avout if she had hit a bridge abutment? A tree? She would have still been injured.
Just goes to show that lawyers and juries can twist anything around to suit their needs.
Very simple. The mail box had been knocked down many times. The home owner had made it clear to the authorities that he was disgruntled about the number of times his box had been destroyed and replaced. He made it clear to the neighbors and friends that he built his "super mailbox" so the next person to hit it would pay dearly for their mistake whether they did it on purpose or not. The only thing twisted was an individual so bent on revenge that he set conditions that would on purpose cause injury and possible death. As pointed out in the case he could have moved the mailbox to another location or had his mail delievered to a PO Box, but both were considered by him to be too much of a problem. As to the other comments you made regarding parked dump trucks etc, give it a rest. You know very well there is a difference between an accident and injury & death resulting by someone setting up conditions with the intent to directly cause damage to property or person. A concrete wall around your flying site with a locked gate to prevent 4 wheelers getting in is legal and some one hitting it is most likely an accident. Setting up pungy sticks on a field with the intent to do damage to a vehicle, which may go out of control is clear intention to do harm for a non-life threating civil offense. Maybe I am wrong and you would like to back to the ancient days of the Roman Empire where land owners displayed the heads of tresspassers on their fences to ward off anyone thinking about crossing their land without asking first. I bet you would feel real macho with a few kids heads posted at the front the flying field gate to show what happens when they were stupid enough or ignorant enough to tresspass on a dirt bike or 4 wheel on your field. No Thanks Ceaser of the Field. For all its faults, I will take civilized law over your kind any day.
got sick of having to replace his mailbox when it got hit by cars, so his last
were badly injured. The home owner ended up with both criminal charges and a
the mailbox on purpose. The point is that setting up a barrier or trap that can cause death or injury to prevent an act of vandilism >is not and should not be
For what it`s worth, my wife and I have similar experience with cars ending up in our yard at a sharp turn in the road. Easily, three or four cars a year would end up in our yard. We were told by both the township and a Lawyer that we would be responsible for any injures people sustained if we lined the front of the yard with large rocks. Keep in mind we were not protecting our yard, so much as our kids possibly playing in that area. We even had one kid total his Moms car on a tree in our yard and sent several of his friends to the hospital. Absolutely nothing was done about it. I was told by the police that because his insurance would go up that that was punishment enough. Two months later he ran a red light and hit another car broad side with big time injuries. I used to get so angry at another teen up the street, taking the corner so fast and coming so close to my kids riding their bikes, I talked to her parents several times and also the police, again nothing from anyone. Hell, she used to give me the finger when she drove by. Amazing what several ounces of CA can do. Personally, always try to do the right thing first, if that don`t work, well, you know what to do. rick markel
Bummer. Now they gotta re-sod the burn spot once they tow what is left of dumbass's truck off the field. Maybe they can sell the scrap metal to defray the cost of the sod!
True.....but how many times have we " trespassed" and " not vandalized " Kids playing some hoop in the driveway, and the ball gets knocked over in "Mrs. Jones yard and the kid runs over to retrive it??? Kids/teenagers walking to school/or " its getting late and I need to be home...." So they take a short cut across some feild,( might take one across a R/C feild with those "car traps" and get hurt if they dont see them) across someones yard???? ECt, ECT, ECT,ECT..... I work at a cemetery and we see kids/teens walking to and from school every day cutting across areas of the cemetery that we have posted " No Trespassing" just to save some time. We dont care....there not vandalizing. My boss caught a guy driving his R/C nitro buggy at an area in cemetery were we dump our dirt from grave diggings. I asked my boss if he chased him away. My boss said " No, why should I Mike. I let you and Eric fly your planes in H feild so why should I tell him to leave? He is not harming the cemetery." Some years ago, we had some atv's running around our feild.....our soluition to stop it: drive some fence posts in the ground stiking out 4 feet from the ground close together were they entered. Worked very well as a baricade, never had atv's runnin around H feild since we did that.
It goes both ways. I would be crushed if my teenage daughter was killed like that. I hope that I taught her better, though.
Why dont you ask these questions to the parents of the many teens I had to dig graves for and backfill. What would cause one young lad whom was brought up by good loving parents, taught to respect others and was a grade A student in school to take a 45 and splatter his brains out in his home?????........hes buried in section LL of my cemetery. What would cause a young miss on OCT, 30th of 20003(that was her birthday) to tie a rope around a treelimb....in the cemetery..... make a noose and hang her self???? Some may joke and say " she did not have far to go"......well not joking she did not have to go.......shes buried 50 feet from the tree she used in a section we call C Triangle.
So Paul, I cant relly answer those question.....I dont know what goes on a persons mind when they decide to tear up a R/C feild........I try my best as a parent to raise my kids lovingly, teach them to respect others and there property......And I say the same as you.....I hope that I have taught them better.
So, you are saying that the woman and child were the ones who kept knocking down his mailbox? He did not set out to kill anyone. The woman's injuries are an accident as she was not intent on running off the road. Once off the road, ANYTHING she hit could have caused injury, hence the dumptruck statement. Suppose he said he was going to park his dumptruck next to the mailbox and she hit it.
What if, what if, what if. You can play that game until the cows come home and it doesn't change the fact that idiots are tearing up flying sites and you people will play Europeans and sit around and wait for someone else to deal with it.
Of course, the real-ator will be sued when the siblings of the improperly raised kids hit the "FOR SALE" sign while out four wheeling in the new SUV their parents bought with the money they made suing everybody that made the nails, milled the lumber, bred the grass seed, made the tires, installed the tires, made the pump that put air in the tires, made the vehicle, made it WITH the guy that made the vehicle, made the hammer, made the handle for the hammer, milled the lumber that was used to make the handle for the hammer, God for making it dark at night, God for making the air that was put into the tires, the headlight company for not making the headlights bright enough at night, etc. etc. etc. Oh, I forgot the parents themselves for not teaching their kids to respect the laws of this country and respecting the property of others and..... Sorry, guess I went off to La la land with that last sentence. Too fantastic to imagine, I guess. I think the vandals should be caught, the vehicle impounded and crushed, and the parents of the kids bitch-slapped on the local cable channel for all to see. Oh yeah, and billed for the damage to the field and the cost of crushing the truck. Boot to the head.
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