WSDOT saving taxpayer money by going after insurers
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SEATTLE -- Hundreds of car crashes cause millions of dollars of damage to Washington highways every year, but it isn't always taxpayers who are stuck with the bill.
Investigators say part of a big truck came loose on I-82 near Yakima in 2006 and caused some serious damage.
"I Would assume they were moving at freeway speed and weren't paying attention and hit the bridge," said Streator Johnson, an investigator with the Washington State Department of Transportation.
While the highway is the state's responsibility, Washington taxpayers didn't foot the bill for the bridge fix.
After investigating the crash, Johnson and his team helped recover nearly $1 million from an insurance company to help repair the battered bridge.
"The person who's responsible should ultimately pay for the repair," Johnson said. "And that's our goal."
On average, state highways and other facilities suffer $9.3 million in damages each year, according to WSDOT.
Investigators match up reports of damage with Washington State Patrol accident reports. Then they go after whoever caused the damage, so taxpayers don't get stuck with the bill.
Johnson said sometimes it takes a little detective work to find the responsible party.
"Sometimes people don't live where it says in the report or they're not interested in being found," he said.
Smashed up guardrails are the most common type of damage, and the state says the average bill for a bent guardrail is about $2,100.
"Taxpayer dollars should not be paying when someone, through their own negligence, damages that guardrail," Johnson said.
WSDOT collected 3,600 payments last year, totaling nearly $7 million. Johnson said the department only files claims when the responsible party is clearly identified.
Investigators say part of a big truck came loose on I-82 near Yakima in 2006 and caused some serious damage.
"I Would assume they were moving at freeway speed and weren't paying attention and hit the bridge," said Streator Johnson, an investigator with the Washington State Department of Transportation.
While the highway is the state's responsibility, Washington taxpayers didn't foot the bill for the bridge fix.
After investigating the crash, Johnson and his team helped recover nearly $1 million from an insurance company to help repair the battered bridge.
"The person who's responsible should ultimately pay for the repair," Johnson said. "And that's our goal."
On average, state highways and other facilities suffer $9.3 million in damages each year, according to WSDOT.
Investigators match up reports of damage with Washington State Patrol accident reports. Then they go after whoever caused the damage, so taxpayers don't get stuck with the bill.
Johnson said sometimes it takes a little detective work to find the responsible party.
"Sometimes people don't live where it says in the report or they're not interested in being found," he said.
Smashed up guardrails are the most common type of damage, and the state says the average bill for a bent guardrail is about $2,100.
"Taxpayer dollars should not be paying when someone, through their own negligence, damages that guardrail," Johnson said.
WSDOT collected 3,600 payments last year, totaling nearly $7 million. Johnson said the department only files claims when the responsible party is clearly identified.
If they did not go after the drivers and collect that would be normal for the way this state runs.... If you break it you need to buy it. That is how I was raised and how my kids are being raised. It is called personal responsability. When you are on the road you have to have insurance and not just because it is the law!! I have always had car insurance, ten plus years before it was required.
Shouldn't they be doing that anyway? I think it's more of a story that WSDOT is being lazy and not going after the insurers.Â
What if the driver has no insurances like so many out there?
 @keri555 So...should WSDOT just not try?
Why feel sorry for the driver who caused the damage? If there is no coverage, there are laws and ways to deal with that. If someone hits YOUR car, and has no insurance, do you just shrug it off? That's what uninsured/under-insured coverage is for.
And the insurances rates then go up for everyone to compensate. Â We pay for it one way or another.
 @keri555 No, "we" don't pay for it - the company pays for it, then they raise the driver's rates.
I get the impression that some of you people feel "sorry" for the insurance company...why? THEY set the rate the driver pays, THEY "should have" set it high enough to compensate for the risk this driver posed...it's their business to do that!
It's not like they aren't making profits from their customers - and the part of the business of insurance IS insuring that those impacted by their customers actions are paid for that impact.
And by the way, was this a slow news day? This is not news. This has been the case for as long as I've had a driver's license...which has been a while.
 @missbertie It's news to me. I had thought the state just had to pay to fix the damages unless they were due to gross negligence, and even then, many insurance policies won't cover that kind of negligence.
WSDOT charges an exorbitant amount or a guardrail. If that's what it really costs them to replace it, they need to fire the whole department and start over with real workers who know how to do a job cheaply and efficiently.
 @missbertie "WSDOT charges an exorbitant amount or a guardrail."
Actually, they don't - and no matter what they charge, shouldn't that just make the bad drivers think more about not damaging State property?
@missbertie Operations involving highway work are not like planting a tree in your backyard. Not only are the prices high for the metal involved that needs to be replaced, but the manpower involved in making it a safe operation is very costly as well. You need traffic control which involves equipment usually 2-3 trucks to route traffic safely around the work area so that the workers can do the job in a safe envirionment. you also need that manpower to operate all the equipment and trucks. Being a DOT worker myself in the Seattle area I know this stuff all too well. Everytime I get out of the truck on the freeway I am putting myself in harms way to make the roadway safe for the public and get back home to my family safely every night. What we need are better drivers that pay attention to their driving. Being out on the roadway every day I can tell you countless stories of the stupid things people do while driving, talking and texting being the least of these.
 @matnes86  @missbertie
"What we need are better drivers that pay attention"
Well stated - the "people" never seem to understand that the workers are taking a risk that most people would not.
 @missbertie I think you haven't priced metals lately!
...what they "saved" us is wiped out by what the cost us.
Engineering mistakes that caused on/off ramps to be tore out & redone, mistakes/cracks on the new 520 pontoons
Freeway sound barriers/ sound curtains on the ship canal
(for a start)
WSDOT could save a tons of money. Think for a moment... Have you ever noticed these folks working on the roadways? It is apparent that for the one actual person working, there are at least three or four others wearing their pants gloves. To be quite honest, I am not sure that WSDOT has the ability to install, let alone replace guard rails, as they are usually subbed out to a private contractor. As a side note, anyone who drives between Hwy 101 from Steamboat Island to the intersection with Hwy 8 near Mudbay ever notice the roller coaster effect of the new guard rail that was installed. Geesh
Not only that, most are getting paid "prevailing wages" which are considerably higher than the industry norm.
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@Tolly371 In the seattle area the guardrail is installed by the WSDOT, and they are a very busy crew due to the lack of careless drivers on our freeways (note my comments above). As far as the guardrail that is on 101 and Hwy 8, that IS being installed by a contractor. So if you have any problems with it, take it up with them. I know this because I live in Shelton and I work for the DOT on the freeways of Seattle and what we need are for drivers to be re-trained on the rules of the road and licenses revoked for all the stupid things that they do on the roadway while driving. (this is my opinion)
 @Tolly371 That roller coaster of a guardrail was needed. Too many people leaving the roadway and finding themselves on the wrong side of the road, or in a hospital. I commuted that stretch every day for eight years straight and saw quite a few gnarly wrecks.
Based on some of the comments here I'll have a chat with Mr Streator Johnson. The person at fault is not always noted in accident reports. But usually we are talking things like the bridge photo in the article.
I'd offer torepair the guardrail with my own laborers. It'll be a lot cheaper.
@RomeyRome YOU probably don't have the proper resources to do it in a safe manner. you would probably end up with a few dead workers by doing it cheaply with the lack of proper safety equipment..Operations involving highway work are not like planting a tree in your backyard. Not only are the prices high for the metal involved that needs to be replaced, but the manpower involved in making it a safe operation is very costly as well. You need traffic control which involves equipment usually 2-3 trucks to route traffic safely around the work area so that the workers can do the job in a safe envirionment. you also need that manpower to operate all the equipment and trucks. Being a DOT worker myself in the Seattle area I know this stuff all too well. Everytime I get out of the truck on the freeway I am putting myself in harms way to make the roadway safe for the public and get back home to my family safely every night. What we need are better drivers that pay attention to their driving. Being out on the roadway every day I can tell you countless stories of the stupid things people do while driving, talking and texting being the least of these.
They collected a Million bucks and put some gruesome patch up  that cost them all of 10,000 dollars to fix. Would like to know what they did with the other 990,000.
 @LNSeveN Pay the lawyers that fought the insurance companies and/or individual/s that cause the damage. Also, the cost of the investigation to figure out who to go after for the money. I'm thinking it cost our state (we the people) around $3 dollars for every $1 dollar the state recovers.Â
"The person who's responsible should ultimately pay for the repair," Johnson said. "And that's our goal."
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And when the perp has no insurance, the taxpayers foot the bill.
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So much for personal accountability. Just like rest of the useres/consumers out there. Any excuse is a good one if someone else is responsible.
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The blind leading the blind. But hey! Ya get free stuff and immunity!
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Feel free to carry on. The rest of us will pay for it, and the givernment doesn't care where it comes from.
As long as they are going after those who are actually responsible for the accident, I'm all for it. We taxpayers shouldn't have to pay for other peoples negligence.
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With that being said, there should be something set in place to protect those people who may have been in the accident but not the cause of it or those who are deemed not at fault.
 @Tattooed_Angel You make a very good point. My cousin was involved in an accident (not his fault, someone merged into him and ended up dying in the accident) that caused him to hit a light-pole, but he got stuck with the bill to fix it. They said it was because it was his vehicle that caused the damage to the pole, but in reality the person they should have gone after, the one who caused the accident in the first place, was deceased and had no insurance (which is probably why they sent him the bill instead). It took almost a year (and plenty of money to hire a lawyer) in order to get the matter dropped. That never should have happened.
 @spacegoddess  @Tattooed_Angel The person who causes the damage is the one who pays for it. If that person is not at fault for the collision that forced them to cause the damage, then they need to go after the person that was at fault. Punitive damages is what it is called i think.
 @spacegoddess  @Tattooed_Angel You are talking about the way that insurance companies regard each separate impact as a separate accident - the State has nothing to do with that. And - assuming that your cousin WAS insured, his insurance company should have been the ones dealing with that...that IS what they are supposed to do! If that is a problem for you, change companies. That is what insurance companies take your money for - and make large profits from - so make them perform their responsibilities, or fire them.
It may not be the taxpayer who foots the bill, but do you think the insurer is going to not pass that loss down? Â
 @ETSubmariner "but do you think the insurer is going to not pass that loss down? "
And you have a problem with the insurer raising the rates of the person responsible?
 @OrcasThunder  @ETSubmariner One way or another, we all end up paying eventually.
 @alwaysbusy  @ETSubmariner "but no amount of spin can change the facts."
But that doesn't stop your delusions, does it?
 @OrcasThunder  @alwaysbusy  @ETSubmariner You make a lot of assumptions and apparently live in fantasy world. Insurance companies are in business to make money and increase their bottom line, at our expense, PERIOD. They do not care about you or me. The consumer loses, whether due to increased taxes, increased insurance rates or increased costs of goods and services, across the board. You seem to think that the consumer "wins" in some fashion, but you are mistaken. The only winners are the State and aforementioned companies. You can believe what you wish, but no amount of spin can change the facts.
 @alwaysbusy  @ETSubmariner "As far as companies in general, when their costs rise, they pass those costs onto the consumer."
And...DUH!
So...you don't think that ANYONE should expect the other driver's insurance company to pay for the damage that driver caused? Because it might COST them something? Sorry to break it to you, guy, but that is what insurance companies are SUPPOSED TO DO! That's why we have insurance, so the company of the person responsible pays for the damage.
Otherwise, aren't you just paying the company so they can pad their bank accounts and give the boss a bonus? If you don't like the way the company does business, go somewhere else.
Don't you people get it? The insurance companies are in business to insure that damages are paid for - damages that their customers cause...or did you think that your company pays for the damage the other driver does to your car?
Really?
Nope, not unless they can't find the other driver's property...ANY expenses they have in covering your damage they will:
1: go after the other driver's policy
if that doesn't work,
2: after the other driver or their estate.
The ONLY time it costs THEM money is when the driver had no coverage AND is dead with no property.
And rest assured, they have insurance to cover those kinds of cases...
Folks, it's a BUSINESS! They do what businesses do - they have enough money on hand to pay for what you cause, and to pay for the lawyers to get what the other driver caused.
If you want to reduce the costs to everyone, support the laws that are intended to get the bad drivers off the road - support enforcement of speed laws, DUI laws, uninsured driver laws, red light laws, driving erratically or inattentively laws. Those laws are intended to make the roads safer. Follow them, and support them. And maybe your rates will go down.
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 @OrcasThunder  @alwaysbusy  @ETSubmariner When a driver wrecks and insurance pays out, we all pay. There are millions of drivers covered by multiple insurance companies. Did you think all these companies just absorb those costs? As far as companies in general, when their costs rise, they pass those costs onto the consumer.
 @alwaysbusy  @ETSubmarinerÂ
Evasive answer par nonsense.
Again, is it better that the taxpayers simply pay for these charges, or that it go to the driver - and perhaps to the driver's insurance?
If this ends up impacting the insurer, and it's customers, isn't that part of the business of insurers, and one of the reasons there are competing insurance companies?
Why should the tax payer even care if it impacts the company?
BS!
They went after me for an accident I didn't cause. I had to go to court and prove it wasn't me before they backed off.
 @Glassman Was there a reason your insurance company didn't do that for you?
If it truly wasn't your fault, they had a responsibility to fight on your side.
 @Glassman Hopefully you filed a claim for your time and expenses.