Need Advice - Personal Responsibility vs. Negligence

[shawn]

And, we all know UPS drivers are ALL heavy footed! I see it in Hickory, Cary, Raleigh, Wilson, Greenvile, etc. I'm sure SC UPS drivers are the same as NC ones...

This is second-hand info, but maybe somebody who has actually worked for UPS will chime in....

UPS has an extensive training program that goes through all the legalese of "THIS IS HOW IT IS DONE" to ensure that packages arrive on-time and undamaged, and everyone remains safe from beginning to end.

And then they put requirements on a job that ensure you'll never be able to accomplish the task "HOW IT SHOULD BE DONE" in the time frame allotted.

When the employee fawks up, its on them for not doing things the way they've been trained.

This isn't different from a lot of other companies out there, but seems relevant to point it out here.

As for the dog and the UPS bills, etc... I can't say based on your info if the dog was in "the road" or not... or if it's a shared driveway vs a county-maintained easement, etc. If the dog was on private property, I'd say UPS is liable.

 

[awheelterd]

I guess everyone is different...
less than 2 years ago I spent nearly $4,000 on my 10 year old lab that had a torn ligament in his knee. Never even considered what you mentioned.

how positive were the results? my lab/pit mix just tore hers a few weeks ago and we're debating on the surgery right now.

 

[CrawlnYota33]

UPS has an extensive training program that goes through all the legalese of "THIS IS HOW IT IS DONE" to ensure that packages arrive on-time and undamaged, and everyone remains safe from beginning to end.
And then they put requirements on a job that ensure you'll never be able to accomplish the task "HOW IT SHOULD BE DONE" in the time frame allotted.
When the employee fawks up, its on them for not doing things the way they've been trained.
This isn't different from a lot of other companies out there, but seems relevant to point it out here.

All this is dead on, still no reason to be flying down the road. I've been driving for UPS now for 6 years here in winston, If it was your regular driver (which I'm sure it was) he knows were all the dogs are that chase the trucks, he really should have used some comon scence and slowed down. When something like this does happen at our center it always comes back to SAFTY FIRST, and they will always through the what if it was a child in your face (child would not have been chasing the truck I hope). I would talk to the driver and let him know that you think he goes a little to fast down your driveway. You would be suprised how much that can do, just don't be a smartass about it remember it was a accident. You said the drive is paved, speed bumps work..

 

[mbalbritton]

I have a pretty good relationship with the UPS guy that comes to my office. I just asked him what you should do in his opinion and He said the Driver made a mistake when he pulled in your driveway. They aren't suppose to do that to begin with. Long driveways have an exception to the rule.

Did he Back in or Pull straight in? If straight in, that was his second mistake.

At any rate, he said to FIRST and FOREMOST call the 800 number. This is sadly a common circumstance.

 

[witchdoctor]

i'm not one that thinks much of law suits every time someone thinks they have been done wrong,however in this case he hit your dog right at your driveway and a 15 mile an hour speed limit at that. that's a special kind of stupid.had he been paying attention to what he was doing,i can't see any way he could have hit a dog so he needs a wake up call.

 

[Green ford]

Contact UPS in a nice manor. Don't start with threats and bashing. See what they say then you can proceed from there. I would think you should be able to go for at least a 50/50 split on it.

 

[jds97Wrangler]

I see a lot of talk of law suit to get your vet bill paid. the problem is you need to look into leash laws in your area. If by law you were supposed to have your dog fenced or leashed then you are SOL weather he hit your dog in the street or in your driveway.

As for repoting the driver for speeding, if your wife knew the UPS driver speeds through neighborhood and never reported the driver then part of the blame for this lays on her. It you feel the driver was going to fast through your neighborhood when he hit your dog then why even ask on here if you should report him? Since you are asking if you should report the driver tells me you are not convinced the driver actually drives to fast and you maybe looking for someone to blame for this accident. Going by information provided there is as much blame for you and your wife as there is for the driver.

 

[Ron]

I see a lot of talk of law suit to get your vet bill paid. the problem is you need to look into leash laws in your area. If by law you were supposed to have your dog fenced or leashed then you are SOL weather he hit your dog in the street or in your driveway.
As for repoting the driver for speeding, if your wife knew the UPS driver speeds through neighborhood and never reported the driver then part of the blame for this lays on her. It you feel the driver was going to fast through your neighborhood when he hit your dog then why even ask on here if you should report him? Since you are asking if you should report the driver tells me you are not convinced the driver actually drives to fast and you maybe looking for someone to blame for this accident. Going by information provided there is as much blame for you and your wife as there is for the driver.

There are no leash laws where I live.
My land is zoned agricultural.
He does speed down the road, but he was in my driveway when he hit the dog, he was not running over 15 mph in my driveway, but every time he delivers I do have to rake gravel back into the drive as it is plowed into the grass when he swings in at full speed. Since he was in my drive and not speeding I am not sure of the relevance of the speed question.

My driveway is long enough to park 3 cars in nose to tail and not have one in the street but then you can't walk between the cars.

I have never mentioned a law suit. I would never go that route. I might stomp a mud hole in the driver's ass...but I would never sue UPS.

Someone mentioned that UPS might stop delivering, hell if they would do that the savings in the shit my wife orders would save me the vet bill plus each month. wonder if they will trade?

 

[Ron]

Here is the superstar himself....

 

[frankenyoter]

Hate to hear stories like this. First my sincere condolences. I love my dogs. I love my brown box Christmas too. If I had to rake gravel every time I ordered something I would have already asked the driver if he had a good dentist and then threatened to fed the driver his teeth...

I hope he has a heavy heart and drives like an old lady from Flaaaridah from now on.

 

[Mattnc28655]

Definitely Filing a complaint sounds good to me. As for not wasting money on it and "replacing" My dog.....No way, Id drop 10grand if it meant fixing my dog. Peoples animals mean alot more to some than others. Mine I would probably give a kidney if he needed it, "and it was possible lol". My dogs like family. Sorry about your dogs leg man, But im happy hes alive.!

 

[chris]

I wouldn't but my point of view is keep your dogs leashed or fenced if you don't want anything to happen to them. If my dog gets out of the fence I would never hold anyone responsible for killing it. I live on a small dirt road and my neighbor who doesn't leash there dog has had 2 run over by speeding cars. There response was guess I should keep them up but they still don't today. When My daughter is old enough to play outside I plan to take personal responsibility one step higher and grade some nice speed "bumps" in the road.

IMO its probably better your dog was rammed rather than run over by a 10k+ truck or you could be digging a hole today. I say he did the right thing by telling you and you should mark it as a loss and let it go. I'm hard pressed to say speeding is negligent as we all do it and unless its in excess but then I guess that leaves the door open of what is excess.





EDIT: For the people saying what if it was your kid, it wasn't, and roaming kids are like roaming dogs. You either need to watch them or teach them to watch out for cars no matter where you are. Its not like the UPS guy went out of his way to run his dog down it was a loose animal that I'm sure ran into his path.

I agree with this as well.

 

[RatLabGuy]

Ron,

I am interpreting here that you didn't actually see any of this...not only the dog getting hit, but how fast he was driving at the time? That is just inferred based on past experience?

The problem is (IMO) even though I'm sure the guy drives too fast (they all do, they are under time pressure too), it's really not fair to call and complain that he hit your dog b/c he was driving too fast... if you don't actually know that. Technically, this event, and all the precious ones, are independent.

you could call and make a general complaint ("this guy drives too fast") but in the sense of being fair, that's about as far as it goes.

IMO the dogs are your responsibility, and this is the price of letting them have the freedom of running unleashed. The guy came and told you, that was more maning-up than you'd get from many folks these days.

Plus, I know you're moving, but I assume you'll still be seeing this guy more in the meantime. See if his behavior changes, maybe he learned a good lesson.

 

[Futbalfantic]

My vote. Liable, The UPS driver was on private property, regardless if the dog was in the "street" or not. The street is owned by the common wealth of all of the neighboors therefore private property. Also the driver damage personal property and is liable for atleast some of the bills if not all.

 

[UncleWillie]

Let me begin by saying I did not read every response, but here is my opinion.

I live in the country on a road that is not all that busy. My dogs roam freely most of the time. I have a Great Pyrenees that thinks it is her obligation to potent all of the property and houses around us. All of my neighbors feed her and for this she has run off a couple of drug addicts and several bobcats and coyotes. No one will enter any property I can see without her coming to carefully inspect them and my neighbors love her for that.

The aforementioned drug addict drives a white diesel wrecker. For some reason my dog now chases every white diesel pickup that comes down the road. And about 4 weeks ago she caught one. She broke both bones in her left front leg. Since she was in teh road I bore the full responsibility for her injuries - fortunately there was no damage to the truck. ( The driver stood in my front yard and cried because she comes down to his house all the time.)

Had he been on my property and run over her while driving irresponsibly. I would have made him pay. The difference is that on the public road she was not where she "Legally" should have been.


Now as for the UPS guy. If he is driving on private property (and I am assuming that the speed limit is clearly posted) you need to have a little "come to Jesus meeting" with him and explain that if he continues to speed you will no londer allow him to drive on the property and he will have to carry all packages to the houses on foot.If he continues to speed contact a supervisor and make a complaint. I always like to give a man a chance to correct his mistakes before I go up higher. You never know he may just change his ways.

No matter the training UPS and other delivery companies put a premium on speedy delivery and as a result their drivers get careless no matter how much training they have. Several years back a UPS truck pulled up in front of my parents house and stopped. A buddy of ours was leaving and began to back out of the driveway. Since we got deliveries almost daily he thou gt nothing of pulling out. The UPS driver put the truck in reverse and floored it without looking. He never saw a 84 Olds Station-wagon pulling out and seriously injured our friend.

They need to slow down.

 

[RecklessJeeper]

Ron,
I am very sorry to hear about this. My dogs are as important to me as my kids. If he was hit on your prperty I think I would file a complaint. Like mentioned earlier though think hard about it first because they can refuse to deliver to your address. I am glad your dog is fine.