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Oil spilled on roadway

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fourstyx

Junior Member
Washington State

hello, i am from washington state, today i was in a car accident i was going the speed limit in normal road condition's, i was coming around a corner and there was large rocks in the road , as i swerved from the rocks that is not what made me lose control, i lost control in a large oil spill around the corner returning to my lane , i had no chance to react or slow down that stretched down the highway, i rolled my car off an embankment, i suffered minor injury's no aid car was called, many people said that the oil and rocks had been there long before i crashed, i only have liability insurance and the state patrol didnt tick me because it was my fault,

my car is totaled and im suffering emotional stress, is there anyway that i can get a tort claim?
 
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fourstyx

Junior Member
well i dont know if i could go about finding that because it could have been someone who hit the rocks pior but many people have told me that the oil had been spilt for hours before i even came across, the point i want to make is im a rural area and from what i was told is there is suppost to be state patrols regularly driving the roads to make sure its safe because we are by a pass,

so im saying am i and the people around me not as important because are population
 

justalayman

Senior Member
well i dont know if i could go about finding that because it could have been someone who hit the rocks pior but many people have told me that the oil had been spilt for hours before i even came across, the point i want to make is im a rural area and from what i was told is there is suppost to be state patrols regularly driving the roads to make sure its safe because we are by a pass,

so im saying am i and the people around me not as important because are population
so, were these rocks like from a rock slide?

and the patrols are not a guarantee there will not be rocks on the road. If you are in an area where there are rock slides, you need to drive with caution expecting to find rocks on the roadway. That's why they put signs up that say:

watch out for falling rocks
 

ecmst12

Senior Member
"Hours" is not long enough that the city could be reasonably expected to know about and clean up the spill. Especially if the person who did the spilling didn't report it. There may be someone who is liable for your accident, but it's not the city.
 

fourstyx

Junior Member
sorry for being illiterate atm, im just a little tired. what i was trying to say is an oil spill would probably be cleaned up quickly if it was in the middle of a city, as to where i am which is about 40 miles out a large city and 8 from a smaller town, and witnesses say that the oil had been there at least 2 hours before i had my accident. so im wondering if it wasn't cleaned up because a priority issue Also there is suppose to be state patrols up and down the highway. its hard to describe how much police activity there is an the area, these is generally alway a cop driving up and down the highway its hard to not go between three towns and not see the incident. if u have any questions to ask to help understand ask,
 

fourstyx

Junior Member
the rocks might have been caused from a slide, but there is no "watch for falling rocks" it wasnt the evading of the rocks that caused my accident it was going back to my lane and hitting the oil
 

fourstyx

Junior Member
so basicly im ****ed? i have emotional stress a totaled car, and its not my fauly but there is no one that should be paying for it?? because liability insurance wont
 

FlyingRon

Senior Member
so basicly im ****ed? i have emotional stress a totaled car, and its not my fauly but there is no one that should be paying for it?? because liability insurance wont
Yep. Here's a fundamental truth for you. Excrement happens. Sometimes it's not your fault, but sometimes it's not anybody else's either (or even if it is, there's no way to collect from them).

If you couldn't deal with losing the car, you needed to have the appropriate insurance.

Somebody (BIG) clobbered my car in the Charlotte airport parking lot while I was out of town. Yeah, someone else is at fault, but I'm stuck dealing with it since the guilty party never fessed up.
 

fourstyx

Junior Member
it does make me want full coverage but its hard going to school, working and payng bills alone lol,

okay one last scenario, the state trooper said he got there so fast because he was on a call to pick the rocks up, if i found out when he got the call to clean up the rocks, and it turned out to be long before hand and was just now getting there from negligence i.e he wasnt on another call.
 

ecmst12

Senior Member
That is not negligence, period. If you can't find out who spilled the oil, then you are out of luck. And even if you DO find out, all you can claim is the value of your car. "Emotional stress" is part of life and not compensable.
 

fourstyx

Junior Member
im failing to see how , the Department of Transportation is not responsible for keeping the roads safe , especially when there has been been oil and debris covering the road way for hours, how is it not negligent if they had been notified and failed to act for a long period of time.

i would happily settle for the cost of my car, its an old classic that was only made for a few years
 
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aldaron

Member
Your responsible for driving your car the state isn't. Did you take a drivers test to get your DL? If you hit some thing its your fault for driving too fast and or not controlling your car in a safe and prudent manner.
 

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