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Guy slams into arrow signboard in tunnel, drives off

State Police report this happened early this morning in the O'Neill Tunnel northbound just before the Storrow exit. Look familiar? Call Troop E at 617-946-3008.

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Comments

What was that? (And why didn't the SP mention that?)

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Either...

- some piece of the arrowboard that broke off and landed on his hood/windshield

or

- thinking "better leave behind the beer cans at the scene instead of being visible rolling around the floor if I do get stopped"

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However, it reminds me of what happened when my brother's best friend took his driving test in 1976. He had borrowed his older brother's car (IIRC, a 1972 Chevy Impala) for the test. So he and the examiner get into the car and start off. All went well until they came to an intersection and had to stop for a red light. As he slowed to a stop, several empty beer cans rolled out from under the front seat.

The examiner's only words to my brother's friend were "OK, you've failed. Let's turn around and go back to the Registry."

For the younger people on here, in 1976 the legal drinking age in Massachusetts was 18, and the older brother was responsible for the empty beer cans.

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Early 80's my friend had an old 70ish Biscayne. He used to clean his dirt weed on a Burger King tray and dump the seeds into the back. Also threw his empties back there. Well, when the weather turned nice he had pot plants sprouting in his bak seat.
It was either this car or another one that had the floorboards rust out and we'd pitch empties through them.

Different times.

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How does MSP not have a plate # with all the other cameras in the tunnel?

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Are not HD and provide a very poor image quality at low resolution.

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the general surveillance cameras within the tunnel system and elsewhere are not set up to provide a straight-on view of a vehicle's front or rear bumpers, thus limiting their effectiveness in identifying specific license plates.

IMO, a better idea would be to review camera images showing the front of the car to determine the possible extent of damage, and then issue a BOLO to police departments and auto body shops - similar to what they do in other collisions. After all, trailer mounted arrow boards normally weigh between 1,500 and 2,000 pounds, so it's highly unlikely the SUV survived the collision either unscathed or with insignificant damage.

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Why, given the money that was spent to wire the tunnel for cameras, install the cameras, wire and construct a monitoring facility, are the cameras not HD?

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when the tunnels were built.

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Not just the camera resolution, but the storage.

The capacity to store how much video from how many cameras and keep it for how long?

Probably cheaper and/or more feasible now, though still not a small matter.

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That person in the sedan stopped to help but the sketch ball ran off!

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...they really gaf, they could take the item the individual placed on side when he exited the vehicle and get prints from it. Something tells me this is not a huge priority for them though.

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Tracking down the owner of the vehicle will allow them to pursue reimbursement for the destroyed arrow board from the person's insurance company.

And the chartreuse color tells me this was one of MassDOT's boards, and not a private contractor's - which are normally orange.

And your theory about getting prints only works if the idiot has actually been fingerprinted at some point.

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Town counsel firms, corporation counsels, city solicitors, and other types of government law departments usually have an affirmative recovery division to file claims against those who damage public property. When someone, say takes out a street light, control box, or tree, etc. as a result of a car accident in Boston, if the info on the driver/accident is available to the City, the affirmative recovery division in the Law Department will make a claim against the driver (usually through the driver's insurance).

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Each of the six District Offices has an Accident Recovery engineer, as does the HQ Office at 10 Park Plaza in Boston.

Most claims are usually handled by the applicable District office. Boston HQ typically doesn't get involved unless the insurance company disputes the circumstances of the collision or the value of the claim.

Per state law, Accident Recovery can only file a claim for the exact value of the highway equipment or fixture that has been damaged or destroyed. Exact value can sometimes very difficult to ascertain, especially in cases of older items like overhead sign trusses that have been in place for 20 or 30 years.

Unlike other states (such as New Hampshire), damage to highway equipment or fixtures in Massachusetts is normally included in a vehicle owner's comprehensive coverage.

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Shouldn't it be included in liability coverage -- "damage to someone else's property"?

Comprehensive is if your car is stolen or catches fire.

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Oddly enough, the one time I had jury duty and was actually impaneled on a case, it was for the exact same thing - someone hitting an arrow sign in a tunnel (this was in the Pru tunnel IIRC). The Commonwealth did not exactly bring their A game to the trial.

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Because unless they also injured or killed somebody by driving into the work zone, that's the only way I could see something like this going to trial.

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He was accused of drunk driving. But there was no roadside sobriety test, only the testimony of the trooper who pulled him over - the jury was not convinced. At the last minute I ended up being pulled aside as an alternate juror so I didn't get to deliberate with the others. But I would have agreed. No one was injured.

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Oh yeah, and bicycles are a menace to society.

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