Never a dull moment. Someone just drove through the fence and hit a tree in our Alabama yard!

[Faith-manor]

Thankfully, our grandsons were not out there playing. It is near the blueberry bushes and a shade tree where they like to hang out when it is hot. But they were inside finishing supper.

The driver lost control at the ditch, and had to have been driving insanely fast on that mountain road because they jumped the ditch, ran through the fence (not wood, it is PVC or whatever that pre painted stuff is), and ran forty feet into the yard and smacked the tree. It totally destroyed the front of the vehicle, and then the driver tried to back up and leave but the engine conked out. They tried to convince our daughter and son in law to NOT call the police. They won't say if they have car insurance. The neighbor was outside saw it, realized they were trying to leave the scene, and pulled his car up into the driveway to block it, and then got the other neighbor to park his truck in his driveway so they couldn't try to walk through the gap in the fence there. Thankfully, both of those neighbors have stayed out in the yard with our son in law so the driver and passenger do not try to leave again. They told DD that they do not want paramedics to come access them for injuries. Dd is a former paramedic, and says she suspects they are high. Sigh. I suspect they are uninsured. Of course, if high or drunk, they may be injured and not realize it, but she can't talk them into cooperating with EMS. I suppose the police could force the issue when they arrive.

I am just eternally grateful my grandbabies were indoors and very pleased that the neighbors came running to help!

So that is how my evening is going. Receiving photos from dd, calling the insurance after hours number, and waiting for dd to tell us what the police said.

Hope everyone else is having a better evening.

[kathyl]

Yikes!  Thank goodness for great neighbors.  I'm glad your dd and family are OK.

Time to put some whopping big boulders along the edge of your property.  😉 

[Faith-manor]

36 minutes ago, kathyl said:

Yikes!  Thank goodness for great neighbors.  I'm glad your dd and family are OK.

Time to put some whopping big boulders along the edge of your property.  😉 

Agreed. We need to source some.

[Melissa in Australia]

Awful

So glad the grand kids were inside

[Faith-manor]

31 minutes ago, Melissa in Australia said:

Awful

So glad the grand kids were inside

I know! The whole thought of them being in the path is just unthinkable.

Still no police officer. The call went in at 6:03 pm our time, and it is 8:47. The tow truck driver is there and has been waiting a LONG time, but he can't do anything with the vehicle until the police officer arrives.

[fairfarmhand]

25 minutes ago, Faith-manor said:

I know! The whole thought of them being in the path is just unthinkable.

Still no police officer. The call went in at 6:03 pm our time, and it is 8:47. The tow truck driver is there and has been waiting a LONG time, but he can't do anything with the vehicle until the police officer arrives.

This is the truth when you live rurally. It can take a long long time for law enforcement to arrive, 

[gardenmom5]

Wow.

They are probably high, and uninsured.  

A guy drove off the road below us, through the guard rail and down the hill.  You couldn't see the car from the road.   He didn't want us to call the police either. We did.  He was gone before they got there. 

[kbutton]

I know two people who had cars come through their house (didn’t live together). One was untouched. One died.

I’m so glad all is well and hope the get busted if they are high.

[Grace Hopper]

Wow, scary!

My bet is both high and uninsured and maybe even have outstanding warrants.

So glad the kids weren’t out there, and that no one in the car was seriously injured or killed. Hitting a tree can be deadly. 

[Faith-manor]

The police got there about 20 minutes ago. The driver is insured, the officer gave Dd the report number and when it would be ready, and so hopefully we can recover from her car insurance company and not have our home owner's premium go up due to making a claim. Fingers crossed. She told the police she was doing 55 mph coming over the hill (which had a blind corner as you crest it so there is a reason it says 35 mph and has a warning sign for the curve), lost control. The officer told our son in law he suspects she was going faster than that, veered for the corner, couldn't make it, dropped a wheel, jerked and over corrected. 

Now I am extra thankful the house sets up the hill a long way from the road, as does the swing set and sand box. Dd and sil are going to tell N and C that they cannot play any further down the hill than the plum trees which are about 70 feet away from the fence, 80 feet from the edge of the road. Hopefully that is enough buffer zone to keep them safe. The backyard doesn't work as well. It is only 30 feet wide, and fenced at the bluff because it is on the cove, 100 ft drop, then a 600 ft drop. We have safety fencing, but it just isn't a good space for the play equipment.

[Grace Hopper]

2 hours ago, kbutton said:

I know two people who had cars come through their house (didn’t live together). One was untouched. One died.

I’m so glad all is well and hope the get busted if they are high.

My cousin was killed by a drunk driver that drove into their living room.

 

<edited for privacy>

Edited September 11, 2023 by Grace Hopper

[kbutton]

@Faith-manor, there are a number of houses around here on steep corners that have built-in embankments with small trees planted into mounds of dirt, especially if they are on back roads or the curve is kind of unexpected. We have a lot of roads here with 90 degree jogs for no discernible geographical reason (flat as a pancake, no water feature). I assume once upon a time the roads ran around patches of farmland that they didn’t bother to get a right away through. 

[Grace Hopper]

7 minutes ago, kbutton said:

@Faith-manor, there are a number of houses around here on steep corners that have built-in embankments with small trees planted into mounds of dirt, especially if they are on back roads or the curve is kind of unexpected. We have a lot of roads here with 90 degree jogs for no discernible geographical reason (flat as a pancake, no water feature). I assume once upon a time the roads ran around patches of farmland that they didn’t bother to get a right away through. 

That would have me putting a berm, trees, and maybe some large landscaping rocks on the front side of my property. 

[Faith-manor]

10 minutes ago, Grace Hopper said:

That would have me putting a berm, trees, and maybe some large landscaping rocks on the front side of my property. 

I think we are going to do something along there. Mark is starting to research it. I don't think the county will let us disturb the ditch, but there must be something we can do to reinforce the fence, and prevent vehicles from coming through there. I mean, I don't want anyone to die if they lose control, but I feel pretty strongly about protecting our grandchildren. 

I wish the road had some serious rumble strips to get driver's attention. I wonder about double fencing, another row three feet inside the first so if a car hits the first one, it should maybe slow it down enough it can't penetrate the second row. 

[Scarlett]

If you got the name of the insurance and insured/driver you should be able to call them (insurance company) directly and get a claim started.  Do you know the name of insurance company yet?

[Faith-manor]

18 minutes ago, Scarlett said:

If you got the name of the insurance and insured/driver you should be able to call them (insurance company) directly and get a claim started.  Do you know the name of insurance company yet?

Yes, we now have that. The police officer collected all the info, gave it to son in law, and also said if would be in the report. He gave them the report number as well. 

[fraidycat]

10 hours ago, Faith-manor said:

I think we are going to do something along there. Mark is starting to research it. I don't think the county will let us disturb the ditch, but there must be something we can do to reinforce the fence, and prevent vehicles from coming through there. I mean, I don't want anyone to die if they lose control, but I feel pretty strongly about protecting our grandchildren. 

I wish the road had some serious rumble strips to get driver's attention. I wonder about double fencing, another row three feet inside the first so if a car hits the first one, it should maybe slow it down enough it can't penetrate the second row. 

Maybe just stronger fencing would work. If the original is PVC, what about stone/brick "posts" with wood or metal rails. Or even all metal with 4" or 6" metal tubing cemented down in the post holes with wood or metal rails or panels.

This and this is what I mean by metal tubing, not the skinny, round galvanized stuff. This is what my brother used for fence posts. He welded some square pieces on with holes drilled and we hung premade wood panels between for privacy fencing in town. He might need to replace the wood panels some day (or next owners might), but those posts are going to be standing straight and strong for decades. I'm willing to bet that these 1/4" thick metal (or more) tubes would do a decent job of slowing or stopping a vehicle.

 

Edited September 11, 2023 by fraidycat

[Kassia]

Wow, that is so scary.  Glad you are all okay.  

We had a drunk driver do something similar across the street, but there wasn't a house there yet - just a wooded lot.  It was a teenager and he was drunk and ended up breaking both legs and his arm in the crash.  He was passed out and we called the police.  We were the only people living on the street at that time (rural road and first to build in the development). He would have died if we weren't here to call for help.  

[kbutton]

The person that we know that died when the vehicle came through her house had a privacy fence, and the house was brick. That steel fencing that was linked would probably help somewhat, but I only if the posts were closer together than normal fencing.

I don’t think I ever found out if the driver in that case was drunk or had a medical emergency like a stroke.

[gardenmom5]

14 hours ago, Scarlett said:

If you got the name of the insurance and insured/driver you should be able to call them (insurance company) directly and get a claim started.  Do you know the name of insurance company yet?

Also keep in mind,  her insurance company will try to lowball you and press you to close your claim. 

Your insurance company is supposed to fight for your interests. 

Or a lawyer to make sure everything is paid for.  Including the total replacement value of the tree she hit. How much it would cost to have someone actually plant one the same size and species.   

[Faith-manor]

19 minutes ago, gardenmom5 said:

Also keep in mind,  her insurance company will try to lowball you and press you to close your claim. 

Your insurance company is supposed to fight for your interests. 

Or a lawyer to make sure everything is paid for.  Including the total replacement value of the tree she hit. How much it would cost to have someone actually plant one the same size and species.   

Thanks. We need to make a list of what we want, on the very high end so that with negotiation we settle for what we need and are happy to end up with. 

[gardenmom5]

4 hours ago, kbutton said:

The person that we know that died when the vehicle came through her house had a privacy fence, and the house was brick. That steel fencing that was linked would probably help somewhat, but I only if the posts were closer together than normal fencing.

I don’t think I ever found out if the driver in that case was drunk or had a medical emergency like a stroke.

I think people don't realize the force a car traveling at speed expends when it impacts something. Our neighbor has boulders in front of his yard. And a row of arborvitea.  He uses a forklift to move them.  If a car was going fast enough,  they'd move before the car stopped.

[Carol in Cal.]

Regarding a fence—I skidded down a hill in Vermont and right through a wire fence without any difficulty whatsoever.  Had I hit one of the fence posts I might have been stopped (and probably killed) but as it was, I had my wheels turned to the left which, once they entered the foot deep snow beyond the fence, made it finally turn left.  (Well, whip around to the left.). What stopped my car was a thicket of young trees that it knocked over but that slowed it down enough to stop.  

This was a surprise ice situation.  A passer by stopped to pull me out, and since they were headed to church I opted to go with them.  When we came back after church there were two other cars off the road in the same area as mine, and they had to be pulled out before I could be.  

The point is, when a car is going pretty fast it’s hard to stop it in a standard way.

I had friends who lived on a curve in a medium hilly street in SF who had their front stairs and garage door knocked out by bad drivers so many times that their insurance company paid them to put up large landscape rocks at the street and heavy, wide posts at the bottom of the stairs and far corner of the property.

[prairiewindmomma]

I second the boulder + arborvitae suggestion >wooden rail fence. Most counties won't install guard rail until there is a strong accident history of an area.  They might spring for attenuators. You can buy traffic delineators pretty inexpensively (those bright yellow posts) to highlight the danger/curve.....but you need at least 36" of height in whatever mass you have to effectively stop cars from breaking through. 

One of our previous houses had three rows of trees, and then some hedge bushes woven in.  It also worked effectively at keeping dust down from the gravel road and at providing habitat for birds.

[gardenmom5]

2 hours ago, Carol in Cal. said:

 

The point is, when a car is going pretty fast it’s hard to stop it in a standard way.

I had friends who lived on a curve in a medium hilly street in SF who had their front stairs and garage door knocked out by bad drivers so many times that their insurance company paid them to put up large landscape rocks at the street and heavy, wide posts at the bottom of the stairs and far corner of the property.

Dsil works in a secure facility. (well, now he works remotely) they have "bolsters" (can't think of the name) that are embedded in the road, and will pop up if a car approaches if security doens't turn it off.  Someone tried to run through security, and had a very sudden stop  . . .
Those types of bolsters, you often see in front of doors for stores so thieves can't drive through the doors - have to be installed very securely so a car can't move them.

2 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said:

I second the boulder + arborvitae suggestion >wooden rail fence. Most counties won't install guard rail until there is a strong accident history of an area.  They might spring for attenuators. You can buy traffic delineators pretty inexpensively (those bright yellow posts) to highlight the danger/curve.....but you need at least 36" of height in whatever mass you have to effectively stop cars from breaking through. 

One of our previous houses had three rows of trees, and then some hedge bushes woven in.  It also worked effectively at keeping dust down from the gravel road and at providing habitat for birds.

tbh - I've see too many guardrails that lost when a car plowed into them with a direct hit.  They seem to only work if it's a sideswipe.  Lots of sections have been replaced from hits.  The hill I live above - the guy I heard go off the road and went in search of (down the hill in the bushes from the road) - went right through the guard rails.   Another one went through tubular aluminum fencing that was supposed to stop cars . . . right into a water filled ditch at least 4' below the road.

 

eta:

the neighbors boulders are about 3' high.

Edited September 11, 2023 by gardenmom5

[pinball]

3 hours ago, gardenmom5 said:

they have "bolsters" (can't think of the name)

Bollards

[Scarlett]

I will give my standard advise to give insurance a chance before resorting to an attorney.  I don’t see how an attorney helps before you even hear an offer.  
 

Who is the insurance company?  Some are better than others. 

[gardenmom5]

1 hour ago, Scarlett said:

I will give my standard advise to give insurance a chance before resorting to an attorney.  I don’t see how an attorney helps before you even hear an offer.  
 

Who is the insurance company?  Some are better than others. 

also varies with if you have the same insurance company or different ones.
some companies do have home and auto.

[Arcadia]

On 9/10/2023 at 7:49 PM, Faith-manor said:

I wonder about double fencing, another row three feet inside the first so if a car hits the first one, it should maybe slow it down enough it can't penetrate the second row. 

Here some of the homes at street corners might use brick or concrete walls as an inner fence. They make it look decorative. 

[DawnM]

Oh my!

[Faith-manor]

Our insurance company has been informed. But the police report will take up to 15 business days to become available, so it is going to be a while before we even begin this process. The agent is pretty good and says a lot depends on her car insurance company in terms of how easy this claim will be to resolve because of course our insurance is going to recover from them.

So now we are in that hurry up and wait mode.

[Scarlett]

3 hours ago, Faith-manor said:

Our insurance company has been informed. But the police report will take up to 15 business days to become available, so it is going to be a while before we even begin this process. The agent is pretty good and says a lot depends on her car insurance company in terms of how easy this claim will be to resolve because of course our insurance is going to recover from them.

So now we are in that hurry up and wait mode.

Why do you have to wait for the police report? Call the drivers insurance company and file a claim. Liability can be established without a police report unless their is a dispute which in this case there won’t be a dispute. 

Edited September 12, 2023 by Scarlett

[Faith-manor]

On 9/12/2023 at 11:41 AM, Scarlett said:

Why do you have to wait for the police report? Call the drivers insurance company and file a claim. Liability can be established without a police report unless their is a dispute which in this case there won’t be a dispute. 

Not in all states. Neither insurance company is willing to do anything without the police report since there is no emergency repair required.

[Scarlett]

9 hours ago, Faith-manor said:

Not in all states. Neither insurance company is willing to do anything without the police report since there is no emergency repair required.

Interesting.