someone ran over my mailbox

[accordionman]

hello to all,
sat. morning 12:45AM. someone ran over my mailbox. i heard the crash,
and got up, then i heard them leave. it sounded like they had some damage,
as the vehicle was going thump, thump. when the deputy came, i found
broken parts of an amber lens, possibly a turn signal lens. i gave them to the
deputy. this is an ongoing problem in rural areas. i don't know what thrill they
get out of destroying other peoples property. it seems they run over it, or
bash it. i know some people who take extreme measures to make sure when it
happens to them, the vehicle does not get away. i have a friend who made a
post for his mailbox, that was set in concrete, and when it was hit, they were
not able to drive away. in fact when the tow truck tried to move the vehicle,
it peeled away the bottom of the floor, in the car, and made a big hole.
accordionman
william l. brown
wright city, mo.

 

[fivestring]

Sounds like you need that neighbor to make your replacement mailbox! /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[KubotaSteve]

I heard of a guy using well casing and filling it full of concrete. The only problem is you could possibly be held liable if someone is injured on your post. We all know how the lawsuits can be these days.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I heard of a guy using well casing and filling it full of concrete. The only problem is you could possibly be held liable if someone is injured on your post. We all know how the lawsuits can be these days. )</font>

Yup, someone does something really stupid and hurts an innocent, they deserve to be sued.

Consider this scenario. Your daughter is doing thirty miles an hour on a rural road. Just for a second she allows her attention to shift to your fussy grandchild in the back seat. She drifts over on to the shoulder, less than an eighth turn of her steering wheel. She impacts the casing filled with concrete mailbox.

Keep in mind on state highways they've just about got all the overpass pillars protected from errant vehicles with concrete guardrails. Sign posts are for the most part designed now with sheer bolts so they will give when a car hits them.

Yet someone ticked off because their mailbox got hammered has the right to put a deadly obstacle on the roadway?

What if the person who hits it was your grandchild on your fourwheeler moving over because of a car coming? Does he deserve to die for the sin of being on a public highway?

I think a little reason is in line on this discussion. Vandals aren't the only people who run into mailboxes.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Well spoken and fully agree. There are other ways to deal with these types of people. Cameras are very cheap now and it is easy to set up a camera somewhere to catch a license plate number or car description and show it to the police.

 

[chucko]

The trick is to build something that looks like it would bust the car all up yet be breakway.

I know a guy that put stucko over some Styrofoam block

 

[shvl73]

My post (4x4) is located further back & about 12' past a telephone pole. The pole appears to be large & somewhat immobile. If a person hits a post that is solid & immobile & causes themselves or a passenger injury or death, the homeowner is liable, but that same driver hits a telephone pole with the same results, it's a blameless tradegy? I do realize our judicial system has evolved to this line of thinking, however I cannot agree.
I think if a person places a object in such a manner with the intent of causing bodily harm, thats an area where I agree they would have liability, however a person placing a post that is by intent, vandal-proof & placed in a location appropriate for a mailbox post, any person striking that, either purposely or by accident should bear the responsibility. I don't think anyone here wants to harm another person (especially someones grandchild) with their actions. Most of the suggestions for rugged mailbox posts are born out of frustration at having vandals repeatedly causing destruction with very few getting caught & those that do not having to pay for the damages.
I hope I haven't angered anyone as that is not my intent.

 

[Hambone]

There was a thread a while back on this.
Someone talked about a post they had put up. A big wash basin buried in the ground, filled with concrete, with the post coming out of middle. That way it would fall over when hit, except the tub would come out of the ground and wedge under the car. Car would not get away and would be safe enough.

 

[KubotaSteve]

Harv, I was just stating what I had heard. I was not condoning that type of behavoir. I myself use one of the cheap plastic type mailboxes with lagbolts to the 4X4 as the directions state. I've ran into the mailbox itself with the tractor and it just bounces around and no problem. Around where I live, the kids look for the tough mailboxes for a challenge and the fancy designed mailboxes to piss people off. I figure my mailbox is a plain jane so they won't bother it and if they do it's easy to repair.

 

[Tractors4u]

I heard this guy telling about his mother's mailbox that kept getting ran over. He welded a pipe to a large diameter spring. The bottom of the spring was set in concrete. When the post was ran over it folded and popped back up. Once someone backed into it and he said it sounded like a jackhammer bouncing off the back of the car.