ATLANTA, Georgia (InvestigateTV) – Driving behind a dump truck is like playing roulette. Rocks could fall out and damage your windshield or cause an accident.

You’ve probably noticed the stickers warning you to keep your distance and pointing out that the trucks aren’t responsible for broken windshields, but have you noticed something missing?

How about license plates?

In Georgia and most other states, dump trucks are not required to display license plates or other identification on the rear of the vehicle.

Georgia state law, in effect since 1965, states: “Trucks and trailers regularly used for activities in which it is unavoidable that a license plate attached to their rear will be defaced, destroyed, or lost, shall display their assigned license plate on the front of the vehicle.”

Ironically, the reason you can’t identify the truck that damaged your windshield is because the same type of rocks and debris could also damage its license plate.

“It’s very interesting that they have no problem keeping the stickers on the back saying they’re not responsible for objects coming off the road, keep 100 feet away or whatever,” said Andrew Lampros, an attorney for an Atlanta plaintiff. “But they don’t seem to be able to keep any identifying information on the trucks.”

Lampros himself has had to buy three windshields in the last three years, all of which were caused by damage from dump trucks.

“One in Tennessee, two in Georgia,” Lampros said. “I couldn’t catch them because of the traffic and it was too dangerous. But there was no license plate on the back of the truck.”

“No responsibility for broken windshields”

The stickers and signs on the back of the dump trucks do not offer any legal protection, say lawyers.

“They say they are not responsible for objects that fall off the road,” Lampros said. “That’s true. No one is responsible for that, but they are responsible for objects that fall off their trucks if they don’t properly secure their loads.”

The problem is proving that the rock came from the truck and not from the road.

After three windshields, Lampros purchased a dashboard camera.

Jamie Hurley wished he had had a dashcam when a rock hit his windshield in Forsyth County last November. “The rock came through, hit right in the middle of the windshield and sounded like a gunshot,” Hurley said.

The dump truck driver immediately stopped and called the police. But because Hurley only had his word that the rock came from the truck, he had to pay $2,700 to replace the high-tech windshield himself.

According to the Forsyth County Sheriff’s body camera recording, the deputy told the truck driver, “This isn’t a real accident, so we can’t really decide who’s at fault. We’re just going to document that he said a rock fell out of your truck and you said you were hauling asphalt.”

Tarpaulin requirement in Georgia and 38 other states

Only 11 states do not require tarps or covers for dump trucks. Georgia is one of 39 states that does, but our investigators discovered several trucks with loose tarps that barely covered the load.

“The minimum standard of something that looked like a loincloth on these trucks was enough to meet the minimum standard,” Hurley said. “It just fell back on me.”

Lampros said windshield damage claims rarely succeed. “The burden of proof is on the person making the claim against the company or the truck,” he said. “And I have to prove that it was them who did it, that the rock fell out of the truck and not off the road. And that it was due to their negligence. They hadn’t secured the load properly. So you have several simple defenses.”

Windshields are the most common auto insurance claim in the United States. According to the Insurance Journal, more than 7.5 million auto glass claims are filed each year, and eighty percent of them involve windshields.

The American Automobile Association reported 200,000 accidents caused by road debris over a four-year period. More than a hundred people die in such accidents each year.

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