Mailbox hit 6 times

[Darin1960]

Just to be clear, my mailbox was hit by folks simply running off road ,not by vandals . 5 out of 6 I found mirror of car and the other hit which was the first ,the car ran over mailbox and ended up in woods , had a knock at door at around 11pm a young girl shaken and crying said she had ran off road and needed to call someone. I called her boyfriend and let her wait for him in our foyer. She asked me not to call police and I sorta felt sorry for her . That time the mailbox was knocked off the post and landed in yard and was barely damaged somehow so I let it go. Btw , about 3 in morning I saw blue lights outside . A highway patrol and a rollback were getting car, apparently he spotted the car. Next morn the girl and boyfriend came to get car and it was gone, told them I did not call and patrol he just showed up.She did offer to pay and I let it go since she was already in a mess and I fixed box with a little effort. All the other hits were much worse , 3 out of 5 times the box was knocked off post with post broken 2 times. Foud mirror in ditch with the last one being driver side mirror which was a first. ( indicating they were way off road) and somehow went into 3ft deep ditch , hit a road sign and went on their merry way. From my observation, they are simply traveling too fast on the curve. I am a pretty good judge of speed and I see folks going by much faster that the posted speed limit all the time. I hear the roar of the grooves on the edge of road every night . Oh by the way somewhere in the conversation with the girl she said she was only doing 55, I responded oh , but the speed limit is 45" . Almost every single day while coming toward our drive anywhere from a mile away to a couple hundred ft away I have tail gaters that end up zooming around me . The speed limit in this area coming from towm is 40 for a while and 45 at about 1/2 mile before my house , it does not go to 55 until 500 ft on down the road past my house. With several wrecks over the years which included fatalities, speed is the problem not vandals. As far as putting boulders or booby traps ,already shared a story about a lawsuit where a guy simply reinforced his mail box and the driver sued him claiming injuries when they hit it and he was found liable. The dot engineer I talked to said I cannot place anything other tha a mail box on the right of way, no steel pipes, no rocks , no blinking signs . Now that I have moved the box way back and on the other side of my drive, it is very unlikely it will get hit being they would have to drive either over a cement culvert in my neighbors yard or thru a couple 10+ inch pines. Vandals could take it out but I have sone all I can for the time being. If it is taken out by vandals , I will address that when it happens.

[Jchemie]

Large, decorative bolders stratigicly placed near your mailbox. Make sure they are of at least 2,000 lbs. More legal than the city’s BS regulation about having a break away post. Listen, if some moron can’t drive properly and keep their vehicle on the road, then they deserve a reminder on their vehicle. Plus, hit & run seems to be the normal now days. What ever happened to admitting to your mistakes?

[C5c5]

Originally Posted by Jchemie

Plus, hit & run seems to be the normal now days. What ever happened to admitting to your mistakes?

Admitting mistakes requires humbleness and character - individual values.

People today are taught that being a good person means siding with the right causes. Less emphasis is placed upon critical self-examination as a person and of one's values, and more emphasis is placed upon whose side you are on.

When something bad happens, people first look to the outside and try to find someone else to blame. Its always someone else's fault or the system's fault.

It is no wonder less people take responsibility. They are trained to be perpetual victims.

If you do find someone or encounter someone that is self-aware and has agency, count yourself lucky.

[mrcat]

here in whitman co. our sheriff would arrest the driver and he would pay out the wasu. of course we have a bunch offarmers who would fix it them selves without asking.

[Kendorado]

Another case of too many lawyers and not enough work!!

[RVPioneer]

Originally Posted by Walt Graham

Remember you don't want someone to lose control of their car or truck and get killed but it doesn't hurt that they have some major damage to share the pain.

Wouldn’t someone driving into a mailbox be an indication that they have lost control of their vehicle?

[pattieatte]

Have you considered saving yourself all the work and just getting a P.O. Box?

[Glenn and Kathy]

Originally Posted by pattieatte

Have you considered saving yourself all the work and just getting a P.O. Box?

In some cases that may be a 20 mile round trip, but I am sure you would be happy to make the mail run for anyone in that situation.

Glenn

[Darin1960]

Unfortunately the world we live in seems to have lost its humbleness . I agree that every mistake , accident or whatever is accompanied by an excuse usually blaming something or someone. Years ago I was driving thru a Walmart parking lot pulling a 2 car trailer approx 32 ft long . When I made a turn I barely touched a parked car. It was an 84 buick 88 I believe, rusty faded dents on sides , a real junker . Anyway, since I touched the front plastic bumper with one of my rounded fenders it scuffed the bumper, hardly noticeable even on a shiny car and on this faded thing no one would have ever seen it. Well I left a note and a few days later got a call, ended up costing me 500.00 out of pocket, owner claimed front bumper had to be replaced . I got the address where to mail the check . a couple months went by and I had business in the general area of the cars owner address. I did a drive by and there sat the car in the yard and bumper was still the same one I had hit. Honestly I would have struggled to pay 200.00 for the entire car but none the less I did the right thing and who knows someone could have reported me and that would have been worse. These crappy drivers hitting my mailbox will one day be on the other side of this situation and perhaps they will gain a bit of humility and honesty. who knows.

[Bahamaniac]

Back in the day, folks used to bolt cow catcher steel grills to the front of their trucks. Stop sign and mailbox hunting was done for fun. People tired of the damage used to install cement filled pipes to mount their mailboxes to stop the damage. They would hear a loud crash and find a dead truck wrapped around the pole. The cops would be called and the teens went to jail. Parents would pay for damage and kids would have to walk for a while. Crude justice by all means, but it stopped the damages for a while. Word of mouth at school spread the incident and usually the kids found other ways to burn off steam without damaging other people's properties. No lawsuits involved and the instigators paid for their malicious crimes.

[Roger6730]

After replacing several mailboxes, a friend of mine, set a 4” well pipe about 8 ft off the road. Attached a 2” pipe, supported by a chain, and mounted his mailbox on the end of the pipe ( surrounded by some heavy steel). As he is a welder this was no challenge for him.
Now, and for the last 10 years, it just swings out of the way when the snow plows or whoever, hits it.

[FredV]

A neighbor of my parents in Ft. Myers FL. had the same issue with his mailbox. His solution was to pour a slab around his mailbox post with a hole sized so that the post was removable. His mail delivery occurred in the morning each day so he would put the mailbox out before work and his wife would bring in the box at noon. Every time his mailbox was hit was at night so this solved the problem.

[Uncle_Mike]

You see this solution all the time in areas of high snowfall, like Maine. The hanging/swinging box will survive snowplows, but vandals think it's a pinata...

[Tugboat]

We have a place in TN about 2 hours away. Had it about a year when for some reason we went through 11 mailboxes in 2 mouths. It is on a narrow street were cars coming down the hill will pull on our driveway apron to clear uphill bound cars. Found out it was a person who lived top of the hill when I approached her about it she it was my problem and move my mail box sh was not going to back to get around it.

I built a swing away out of 4 inch heavy wall square tube cut at a angle wit a round Tobe in side and a spring to recenter after hitting. Mad a box out of 1/4 inch plate and mounted on a cutting blade from a 30 inch wood chipper.

She hit it one time at a good speed. It works perfectly and swings out of the way and came back and ripped open both right side doors and rear fender.

She called the police and they gave her a ticket as the box is not in the right of way it is 2 feet in on to our land.

Her boyfriend came by with his jacked up 4X4 and ended up taking up his truck and ending up on it's side in the 4foot ditch next to the driveway.