Friday, March 21, 2008

Watch for falling rocks

So today I was driving behind a big dump truck full of rocks and I noticed a little disclaimer on the back of it that said "Stay 200 ft back. Not responsible for windshields." (Never mind the fact that you wouldn't be able to read the sign 200ft back!) This reminded me of a similar sign on the Walmart cart return thingy that says something like, "Not responsible for damage caused by carts." Now, I can understand that you need to protect your self from lawsuits especially if you are a large corporation with lots of money that people might try to get, (kind of like the whole Kramer in Seinfeld with the hot coffee...) but seriously, does this mean that I can put a sign on my car that says, "Crazy driver, not responsible for recklessness?" I just feel like we are so close to being that absurd. It's almost like no one is held accountable for anything they do because they have an excuse. What? A rock could fly out of your truck and break my windshield and I will have to pay to get it, and maybe myself fixed. Maybe you shouldn't put your rocks in an open truck bed! Or, maybe you could at least make your sign bigger. All this craziness means that we all need insurance to cover the things that other people won't cover, and they have to have disclaimers so that others won't sue them for the things that they don't think they should be responsible for. Again I say, what?