I was driving to work on a freeway in California going 65-70mph in the center-right lane of a 4 lane freeway. A car about 5 car lengths ahead and in the center-left lane hit a ladder that was lying on the ground. The ladder ricocheted over to my lane, had turned completely horizontal (about 10 ft wide), and was still sliding towards the right lane when I hit it. This happened in 1 second and there was nothing I could do to avoid it. It caused notable damage to my fender and undercarriage.
I had a dashcam video of the entire incident, including the license plate of the other car who hit the ladder before I did. I assume the ladder must have fallen off the back of a truck a few seconds earlier, but unfortunately the dash cam video did not show this.
I filed a claim with my insurance company, and they said it was 100% my fault because I did not have the license plate of the original vehicle that the ladder fell off of. The thing I find very strange is insurance refused to look at my dash cam footage. I even messaged it to them through their portal but I never received any response. They asked me about 100 questions about the incident, but didn't want to see what happened with their own eyes?
So my question is: is it truly 100% my fault that I hit a moving object which had ricocheted off another car?
A car hit a ladder on freeway, then ricocheted into my car- my fault?
byu/Initial_Towel_421 inInsurance
Posted by Initial_Towel_421
5 Comments
The accident may not be your fault, but since you have no idea who the person responsible is, the insurance company will use your coverage.
Not sure if you can see on the footage or if you physically handled the ladder, but if you can find who owned it you can sue them for damages for failing to secure their equipment.
Does your video show the ladder being knocked into your vehicle by another car, or does it merely show you striking what now appears to be a stationary in your path? If it is the latter, then it would create the appearance you were driving at an unsafe speed for conditions (CVC 22350) and were at fault.
Not sure what coverage do you have, most likely your insurance company is saying you will be 100% responsible for the repair cost. Your insurance clause may dictate you at fault in such a scenario.
The typical response is that the insurance company will cover the loss under your collision coverage but charge an at-fault point against you. That’s what happened to us. Ridiculous as it is virtually impossible in a freeway to have the information for the vehicle that originally lost the ladder (or iron bar in our case). At least damage was coverage (less
our hefty deductible)