Damaged a road sign

cravings

hi all

today i was reversing my van.. long story short, my roof-rack clipped the underside of a road sign and damaged it slightly.

the sign is still there, visible etc.. (van is fine)

i've googled, and searched here.. who should i inform? who owns the sign?

it's a blue "motorway ahead" sign..

thanks if anyone can advise.

Tail Docker

sssssshhhh. Be grand..

coylemj

OP, your honesty is commendable but realistically I wouldn't report it. If it was anyone else but a state body, you could make an offer to pay for the damage to keep your insurance company out of it and it would be sorted in a few weeks but that won't happen when an army of pen pushers get involved.

You may find that if you report it to them, they will insist on getting your insurance details and then they'll probably demand that your insurance pays for the whole sign to be replaced in which case you can kiss goodbye to your no-claims bonus. That will be the easier option for them rather than going to tender to get quotes to repair the damage.

cravings

heh, thanks both, for your kind words there.

many people saw this happen (there was heavy, slow moving traffic).

also, one person in a car made a big deal of taking photos and shouting at me... do those sorts of people actually go home and report stuff like that?

MarkR

Were you reversing back to an off ramp? *popcorn*

Depends on the mood of those who saw you, really. They would report it to the gardai, who will see if the witness would be willing to go to court as a witness. To be honest, I wouldn't go looking for trouble, but nothing you could do to make it better now.

Kenny Logins

cravings wrote: »

heh, thanks both, for your kind words there.

many people saw this happen (there was heavy, slow moving traffic).

also, one person in a car made a big deal of taking photos and shouting at me... do those sorts of people actually go home and report stuff like that?

What exactly were you doing?

NipNip

cravings wrote: »

heh, thanks both, for your kind words there.

many people saw this happen (there was heavy, slow moving traffic).

also, one person in a car made a big deal of taking photos and shouting at me... do those sorts of people actually go home and report stuff like that?

God I hate busy bodies!
My concern would be that if joe holy reports the incident, would you be worse off for not reporting it yourself?
Knowing councils, signs probably cost as much as a small car to replace..
I'd keep my snout down to be honest and hope that nothing comes from it. No doubt you'd be looking at a charge of dangerous driving if the sh€t hits the fan.

bmc58

cravings wrote: »

hi all

today i was reversing my van.. long story short, my roof-rack clipped the underside of a road sign and damaged it slightly.

the sign is still there, visible etc.. (van is fine)

i've googled, and searched here.. who should i inform? who owns the sign?

it's a blue "motorway ahead" sign..

thanks if anyone can advise.

Move along.Nothing to see here.

cravings

it was a fairly clumsy and inelegant manoever alright, and i make no claim that it was correct etc.

i just went past the inobvious little alley i was directed to, obviously didn't realise that was the turn till past it. decision was made to drive up onto the path / bike lane and reverse... which is where the sign was clipped.

not correct at all.. it was rush hour, traffic was very heavy, would have literally taken a half hour to go round to get to the same point again. there were no bikes or pedestrians. i had someone walk behind the van even but they were inexperienced and stayed right behind the van out of sight of either mirror so as i reversed slowly i was mostly concerned that i couldn't see them... and crunch.

they hadn't noticed the sign up high, and neither had i.

i'm not proud...

ironclaw

I was involved in a minor accident that involved a side ways trip onto the central median at speed and the flattening of the only sign on said median (Literally you couldn't hit it if you tried). Nothing ever came of it even when reported and with Gardai involved. And like yourself, we offered to pay. Funnily enough, the council had it replaced less than 6 hours later. Incredible what they can do when they need to.

Toyotafanboi

OP, i'd still go with this answer.

Tail Docker wrote: »

sssssshhhh. Be grand..

even if someone was shouting at you or taking photos etc. you've "commited the crime" and clearly you've tried hard to contact the relevant people to set things straight and found it impossible to establish who to contact, so any busybody who was considering reporting you will have lost interest in this the minute that they discovered it wasn't easy to find out who to contact.

i'd enjoy my saturday and forget all about it.

cravings

i haven't tried that hard, i've googled a bit, and asked some people.

i'll mail or phone the NRA.

thanks all.

(i'll gladly point out that that person was operating his phone while drivingand that the photo is proof of that, and that he had a child in the car at the time, if it comes up...)

georgefalls

If said busy body has reported it. Your defence is you have written to the local council, outlining what has happened.
Must've gotten lost in the post Guv, honest..!

djimi

ironclaw wrote: »

I was involved in a minor accident that involved a side ways trip onto the central median at speed and the flattening of the only sign on said median (Literally you couldn't hit it if you tried). Nothing ever came of it even when reported and with Gardai involved. And like yourself, we offered to pay. Funnily enough, the council had it replaced less than 6 hours later. Incredible what they can do when they need to.

Just to counter this story, I know of a lad who flattened a lamppost one night and (allegedly anyway) got a huge bill from the council for repairs. It might depend on the circumstances and the actual damage done; in this case he absolutely totalled the light (as opposed to causing what sounds like relatively minor damage to a sign).

cravings

just to add a minor detail, looking at the damage to the sign, and measuring the height of my van and the height of the sign etc, it was definitely already damaged before.. so there's no way i caused the full extent of the damage.. but sure... i did do some of it.

ironclaw

djimi wrote: »

Just to counter this story, I know of a lad who flattened a lamppost one night and (allegedly anyway) got a huge bill from the council for repairs. It might depend on the circumstances and the actual damage done; in this case he absolutely totalled the light (as opposed to causing what sounds like relatively minor damage to a sign).

Yeah, a relative worked for the ESB and often anything involving lamp posts they needed to be called out to isolate it etc. So I'd imagine there would be a bill there in addition the cost of the light itself. Saying that, I've heard people get bills for signs too, so perhaps I was lucky.

HurtLocker

cravings wrote: »

heh, thanks both, for your kind words there.

many people saw this happen (there was heavy, slow moving traffic).

also, one person in a car made a big deal of taking photos and shouting at me... do those sorts of people actually go home and report stuff like that?

For anyone who wonders what the high horses who arrive on any thread on this website do during the day and the type of person a high horse brigade member is. F*ckin busybodies

HandsomeDan

HurtLocker wrote: »

For anyone who wonders what the high horses who arrive on any thread on this website do during the day and the type of person a high horse brigade member is. F*ckin busybodies

Hell there's even a member on here who's user name is highhorse.

...

And who op do you think will up the bill to fix your carelessness? Thats right joe soap tax payer. Whoever recorded you on their phone ought to be commended. And if you've any conscience you'll immediately contact the nra and offer your ass.

Jesus.

cravings wrote: »

heh, thanks both, for your kind words there. many people saw this happen (there was heavy, slow moving traffic).also, one person in a car made a big deal of taking photos and shouting at me... do those sorts of people actually go home and report stuff like that?

I never used to think so but since joining this Forum I've realised that sadly there are people like that out there.

You know, people with no lives

Jesus.

HandsomeDan wrote: »

Hell there's even a member on here who's user name is highhorse.And who op do you think will up the bill to fix your carelessness? Thats right joe soap tax payer. Whoever recorded you on their phone ought to be commended. And if you've any conscience you'll immediately contact the nra and offer your ass.

biko

Jesus, if you think someone is a troll then report the post instead of thankswhoring and disrupting the thread.

OP, I hope you have an answer. I am closing the thread as it will just descend further into quarrelling.