No good deed goes unpunished.

[RoadKingLarry]

My son (28 YO) learned a valuable lesson early this morning. Seems he may have nodded off while driving home from work and managed to buy a small section of barbed wire fence. No injuries and just looks to be cosmetic damage on his truck.
He wasn't stuck but decided to do the right thing and report it. Called the it in and the highway patrol responded. The trooper made contact with the property owner to make sure no livestock would get out and get that end of it taken care of.

Then he wrote my son up for "too fast for conditions" $260 fine worth of reward for not just bailing out ont he issue.

Some days you just can't win.

I'm waiting on a call back from him so I can go instruct him in proper fence reair, if the land owner is willing to let him do the repairs.

[roo_ster]

My son (28 YO) learned a valuable lesson early this morning. Seems he may have nodded off while driving home from work and managed to buy a small section of barbed wire fence. No injuries and just looks to be cosmetic damage on his truck.
He wasn't stuck but decided to do the right thing and report it. Called the it in and the highway patrol responded. The trooper made contact with the property owner to make sure no livestock would get out and get that end of it taken care of.

Then he wrote my son up for "too fast for conditions" $260 fine worth of reward for not just bailing out ont he issue.

Some days you just can't win.

I'm waiting on a call back from him so I can go instruct him in proper fence reair, if the land owner is willing to let him do the repairs.

That is one to take to court, I would think.

[HankB]

So long as he was sober, instead of nodding off, wasn't he trying to dodge a deer, horse, or an oncoming car in his lane when he ran off the road?

[RoadKingLarry]

He was sober, on his way home from work at about 4:30AM or so when it happened.
Deer avoidance was my suggetion when he called me before the OHP showed up but I don't know if he went that route, the kid can't lie to save his life ( not that such is necessarily a bad thing). But from what I've heard if the OHP shows up someone is getting a ticket.  I've only had one "professional encounter" with the OHP since 1981 and I kind of think my CCW permit scored me a warning on that one

[never_retreat]

You never say you fell asleep. Its always I swerved to miss a (insert name of woodland creature).
Around here admitting to falling asleep will likely get you, Careless driving, reckless driving, failure to stay in lane, etc all at once.

There is that whole leaving the scene of an accident if he did. Unless you left to go find help that is.

[Tallpine]

There is that whole leaving the scene of an accident if he did. Unless you left to go find help that is.

So it is now a legal requirement to have a cell phone, and never have an accident in an area without cell phone service 

[never_retreat]

So it is now a legal requirement to have a cell phone, and never have an accident in an area without cell phone service 

No I was just saying that is the only viable excuse for leaving the scene of the accident.

[Tallpine]

No I was just saying that is the only viable excuse for leaving the scene of the accident.

I guess it varies by state.  In Montana, a rural non-injury single vehicle accident is generally go in the office and file a report later, or not at all - assuming your vehicle is still wheels down and can be driven.

[never_retreat]

Personally I think the only reason he should not have left that night was weather animals would get out through the busted fence.
If not stop by the next day with some tools and offer to fix it up.
I guess it depends on where you live, around here big farms are 100 ish acers, in other parts of the country you might not be able to find the farm house on a 1000+ acer farm.

[Tallpine]

Personally I think the only reason he should not have left that night was weather animals would get out through the busted fence.
If not stop by the next day with some tools and offer to fix it up.
I guess it depends on where you live, around here big farms are 100 ish acers, in other parts of the country you might not be able to find the farm house on a 1000+ acer farm.

Working ranches around here start in size at about 10,000 acres.  That's what it takes to actually sort of support a family, at ~40 acres per cow/calf pair.

Often those holdings aren't even contiguous.  But if you live in the area, you probably know where most of the landowners live.

[Lee]

Driving too fast for conditions? If slumber is the condition, 5 mph is too fast.
So if he was drunk and did that, would you expect the cop to cut him a break because he fessed up?
I understand the frustration, but I'm guessing the cop wanted to give him something to remember.
 Guessing he's the kind of kid that will- and not do it again, let alone run away.
A good friend of mine fell asleep at the wheel and died, leaving a wife and three small children.

[never_retreat]

No one is immune, I did it at 3 in the afternoon. Changed from the far right lane to the far left, 8 lanes over.
First place I looked was behind me, shockingly no carnage. Everyone else must have gotten out of the way. Hard to miss a candy apple red f350. I was shocked no one called the number on the back of the truck.
I expected to get back to the office and get a wtf from someone.

[Stand_watie]

....A good friend of mine fell asleep at the wheel and died, leaving a wife and three small children.

Brother fell asleep at the wheel and came inches (literally) from death and was off work for over a year. Cousin fell asleep at the wheel and killed a pedestrian and is lucky not to have done prison time. He still has to live with it though.

[230RN]

I had a little farmlet on a T intersection with my ground at the top of the T.  I put in a breakaway fence at that point so all I had to do is go out and hook up the wires again after some knucklehead failed to stop at the stop sign and went through the fence.  No streetlights, the intersection was dark as a bat's crotch.

Screech, bumpity-bump, dogs in the kennel barking.

Happened about once a year, usually at about 3AM (after the bars closed) and there was no question about the driver leaving the scene because they had to go over a 2 foot deep concrete lined ditch after they went through the fence, thereby  rendering their vehicles inoperable.  They usually ended up about 75 feet into the property.

Tow trucks, red lights, yellow lights, highway patrol, sometimes an ambulance, me out there in PJs with fence pliers... the whole bit.

I finally convinced the highway department to put up a humongous yellow-and-black striped reflective barricade.

Yes, livestock getting out is (was) a big concern.

Terry, 230RN

[MechAg94]

If you break a fence, report it to the owner, and work out getting it fixed, why do you need to report it to police?  The only reason for that is if you want a police report or need criminal prosecution. 

[RoadKingLarry]

I doubt that I would have called the law but I think he was a bit shook up.

I also doubt I would have run off the road and through a fence but that's a different subject.

[Brad Johnson]

Good on your son for staying and making sure all was well.  I'm not going to have much sympathy on the ticket part, though.  If you're so drowsy you can't safely operate your vehicle, the trip can wait until you are better rested.  No destination or schedule is that important. 

Your son is lucky all he has to do is fix a fence and pay a traffic fine.  I lost a close friend to an otherwise-really-good-guy driver who fell asleep at the wheel.  The drowsy driver killed a husband and father of three, and ruined his own life, because he was pushing himself way too hard so he wouldn't inconvenience his family's holiday schedule.  The accident happened on Christmas day.

Brad

[Firethorn]

Brother fell asleep at the wheel and came inches (literally) from death and was off work for over a year. Cousin fell asleep at the wheel and killed a pedestrian and is lucky not to have done prison time. He still has to live with it though.

Had an airman driving up with his family - wife & new son, apparently fell asleep less than 50 miles from base at around 1500, crossed the line and plowed into a semi.  No survivors.  The parents got a visit from both our commander and the commander of the training unit he had left from.

Yes, there was an inquiry from heck - as best as we can tell he had followed the recommended driving pattern(rest stops and such).

If you break a fence, report it to the owner, and work out getting it fixed, why do you need to report it to police?  The only reason for that is if you want a police report or need criminal prosecution.

Any advice on how to find the owner for a random fenced ranch plot?

[Stand_watie]

My first crash that I drove away from was with a 1973 delta 88 in 1987. No damage to anything but vehicle, damage was a bent wheel well and broken headlight. Sheriff deputy arrived at my home a few hours later 'investigating' and superciliously advised me that he could cite me for 'leaving the accident' because there was more than 400 dollars property damage. He did some choice sputtering and neck reddening when presented with the receipt for the vehicle ...275.00

[Tallpine]

I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandpa - not screaming and crying like the passengers in his car.

 

[Azrael256]

Any advice on how to find the owner for a random fenced ranch plot?

Depending on where you are, that might be easy.  The tax assessor's office here put their maps online.  Find the spot, look at the lot number, punch it in the search tool, BAM! Name, address, etc.

You can probably do that almost as quick with a visit to the courthouse in a rural area.

[KD5NRH]

Not sure what I passed at the Leon River bridge on US377 tonight, but there were car pieces scattered for at least 150ft in the ditch, a grass fire and a couple EMTs looking like they wished there was something for them to do.  Didn't see any pieces big enough to guess beyond the bumper cover was from a passenger car.