I hate Drunk Punks!

[Airic]

When growing up we lived on a corner lot of a subdivision and would get lawn jobs and mailbox run over on a regular basis. I can remember at least 5-6 times. My dad did the same then and sunk a telephone pull 8' deep for the mailbox post and also set 2X4's with spikes every 6" set in the lawn every night. The white Buick that was doing it ended up getting 4 flat tire and a missing quarter panel after trying to do the same thing they had done before. My dad hung that quarter panel in the garage like a trophy and the culprits were later caught after the police found a car with the matching missing quarter panel.

My dad was so proud over that one, not many can say they tagged them self痴 a Buick.

 

[SFish]

I welded up a very large and strong mailbox that had a homebrewed secret lock to prevent the mail theft I was getting, but allowed easy entry for me. I put a very strong steel post (pipe within a pipe) back from the road just over the edge of a down hill bank, where it would be difficult to push over, with a long pivot arm extending out to the road with the mailbox.

The box was not bashable, and the last kid who tried used a 6' X 2" pipe. The mail thief was thwarted (don't expect the FBI or US Postal Service to help you with this federal crime). The swivel post satisfied the guidelines for mailbox road safety. You can get sued by someone who makes an emergency maneuver and seriously damages themselves or their car if they hit an out of compliance mailbox.

I was sorry to loose that beauty when I moved. Steve

 

[MReeb]

I had someone (kids,drunks?) smash my mailbox a few years back, and I said the heck with it, it ain't gonna happen again. I set a piece of telephone pole (about 10"diameter) to mount my "new improved" mail box on. I took a small size rural style mailbox and inserted it in a large size one and filled the gap between them with concrete. I haven't had any mailbox problems since.

My dad did something similar to this when our mailbox received several hits from the local idiots. We found glass all around the mailbox where we assume the baseball bat must have come back around and hit the car window and blew it out. I'm sure they had fun explaining that one to their parents.
I'm not sure what the laws are in the states but be careful about how solid you make the box. There was a guy charged not too long ago with building a post that would not shear if hit. A girl had fallen asleep behind the wheel and hit the box. Instead of shearing off, the mailbox stopped the car dead in its tracks and seriously hurt the girl. I know it could be argued to death about her sleeping at the wheel, what if our kids were playing outside, what if she hit a tree instead, etc... but I'd rather replace my mailbox then hurt someone. I've heard that if a snowplow can't shear it as well you can be charged.

 

[ccsial]

I used to have the same problem. About 20 years ago I decided I had to make a change. I mounted a 2 1/2" pipe in the ground about 1 foot from the power pole which put it about 8 feet from the road. Then I put on a 90 degree elbow and about 7 feed of pipe with another elbow facing up. Then mounted the box on a flange. If they do hit it it will swing out of the way. If they want to hit the vertical post they pretty much have to take the power pole with it. I have had no problems since except for one bullet hole in the box itself which was easy to fix. Some of the other conventially mounted boxes on my road are still being hit now and then.

 

[zzvyb6]

Next Friday, set an open quart can of aluminum paint (NOT a spray can ) just at the edge of the open mail box. When it gets hit, the splash might just label the vehicle for you in a manner that they won't see after trying to clean it up. Then start looking at your neighbors vehicles: tires, rubber moldings, pickup bed, and roofline, running boards. Best chance might be at the HS football game next day. When you get the plate, call 911 and report a vehicle with a flat rear tire that you are concerned about them having an accident. The 911 dispatcher will send out a BOL for the driver and, with your scanner on, you will hear the magic phrase: "registered to a Rembrandt blankity-blank at 54321 Golden Retriever Forest Heights Lane".

It only took me one can to get the 2 boy's truck. I left a postage stamp on the windshield to complete the message. I believe they got it, because that was the end of THAT forever on our road.

 

[3RRL]

In this lawsuit crazy society that worries more about the rights of the wrong- doers, someone might be on the wrong of an expensive settlement of your reinforced mailbox causes injuries in an accident. Our law calls for nothing with a breaking strength more than a 4x4 wood post.

This is the craziest thing I ever heard of, but you know what, you are absolutely right!
It's amazing how screwed up our justice system has gotten.
That's why I won't put those concrete filled trash cans out. They would sue the **** out of me.
Rights for the wrong-doers .. shees.

 

[ancientlake]

Aching back, I really appreciate your technique for fixing ruts. I deal with it in grass every year, and I'm now actually looking forward to it! Can really see why this works.
thanks,
chris

 

[Z-Michigan]

I used to have the same problem. About 20 years ago I decided I had to make a change. I mounted a 2 1/2" pipe in the ground about 1 foot from the power pole which put it about 8 feet from the road. Then I put on a 90 degree elbow and about 7 feed of pipe with another elbow facing up. Then mounted the box on a flange. If they do hit it it will swing out of the way. If they want to hit the vertical post they pretty much have to take the power pole with it. I have had no problems since except for one bullet hole in the box itself which was easy to fix. Some of the other conventially mounted boxes on my road are still being hit now and then.

We have a couple boxes like that in my area. The design looks both safe and effective. I have heard many times of people getting in trouble with excessively strong setups, usually because a snowplow hit them and got damaged.

I also like zzvyb6's approach. And the approaches that have a box that will break-away but get stuck under the offending vehicle. Anything that won't hurt someone but will make them regret hitting your mailbox is good in my view.

Where I am, the county drainage ditch effectively precludes any driving through my yard, and big rockpiles either side of the driveway finish the defense.

 

[john_bud]

Wow, lot's of replys on this! I have only gotten "hit" bad this one time with a couple of box bashes in the past.

Trouble with a game camera is the trigger time. We are 55mph on the road and I think it would only get a beauty of a snap of the ditch across the road!

Talked to a neigbor and there is some pattern with one guy losing a dozen boxes in the past 12 months.

From the tire tracks it is probably a Ford ranger, S10 or Toyota. Narrow tracks with narrow tires. A real truck would probably be loud enough to wake me or my other neighbor.

I do have a suspect. A couple of punks did a few burn out 360's across the lawn 2 4th of July's ago and being drunk drove across the road and into the ditch. The road was being repaved and was only gravel with a 4' deep soft sided gravel ditch. The sound of the engine at 5000 rpm screaming as they tried to back out and couldn't woke me up. I went down and was going to pull them out, but saw the damage and called the sherif instead. He laughed at how badly stuck they were. It could be them, they have about the same IQ as tooth count, maybe more teeth now that I think about it....

jb

 

[Podunkadunk]

Anyone have any suggestions on how to catch them in the act? (cheaply)

Thanks,
jb

If this is something that happens quite often, like you're being targeted, buy a surveillance type camera and mount it nearby.

Otherwise, you'll never catch them because they won't be back (random act).



Podunk

 

[browns40]

Sorry to hear it Bud,

The picture everyone pulls up of 2-5 drunk/high/idiot teenage punks trying stuff they read about on the internet or saw in a movie... is there any doubt they're the culprits...

You can certainly reinforce the mailbox... that may present added incentive to the typical meathead though... a challenge...

I have a dirt road, and I'd extend a "speed bump" out 3 feet from the box--mailman would be idling over it & so would neighbors... just might bounce some moron hanging out a window into reality and/or your lawn...

I was an expert marksman with a beer bottle in my younger years... left more than one mess on someone's lawn... never did outright destruction of property... but I guess I'm saying: kids are just plain dumb, but they do outgrow it... fines & charges teach better than any lecture though, caught in the act would end the behavior immediately.

Hopefully it's just the one time thing.

 

[coachgrd]

For those of you who have a regular box within a rural box, surrounded by concrete...how did you go about attaching it to the pole/post? I'm thinking about having my neighbor drill me out a 4' hole with his auger, cement a 6 x 6 in and top it off with the rural box described above. Just wondering how I should attach it so its 'punk proof.'

Obviously the neighbor would be generously conpensated with refreshements!

 

[turbo36]

That's a 'reason'.. not an excuse. Lets not overlook the fact that it is driver responsibility to keep their vehicles on the road and from striking objects... if the lady next door can turn around and irresponsibly look into the backseat and clip a mailbox.. she can also clip pedestrinas walking onthe road.. or run of fthe road and clip a tree. all 3 are examples of driver ERROR.. lets not sugar coat this..

soundguy

So killing a mother or child for a moment of inattention is OK in your book? Tough neighborhood you live in.

 

[Chuck52]

You can just buy a heavy duty mail box at any of the big box stores. After having my regular duty box trashed several times in a couple of years, I spent a bit more for the heavy box at Lowes. I suppose it could be damaged by someone serious about the project, but it would ring your bell if you whacked it with a bat. I think it may have been hit by a beer bottle a few times, since I have found broken glass scattered around it, but it didn't even get scratched, much less dented. I mounted it on a single 4x4, but because it is basically in the ditch by the road, I eventually had to add another post due to the soft dirt. I didn't want to buy a 10 foot pole to go down deep enough, so I just put in another 4x4 and tied the two posts together. I don't think the extra post would cause all that much extra damage to a vehicle hitting it because the dirt it's in would probably let it fold, and the box itself meets codes, so I figure I'm about as safe from law suits as is possible in this insane world.

Chuck

 

[Soundguy]

Dude.. (turbo36) wake up and read the paper or watch the news..

Moments of inattention kill people ALL the time.

I'm not advocating blasting a pregnant mother with a shotgun because she accidentally backs over a mailbox.. however.. if she's hurtiling down the road like a rocket sled on rails, with her head burried in the back seat.. well.. my hands are clean of that.. she removed herself from the gene pool.. not me.

I am continually amazed by people that have no concept of personal responsibility.. or that seem fine with relieving others of personal responsibility.

If I am driving down the road with my head burried in the back seat and i hit a tree and die.. guess what.. I deserved it for not paying attention!!

If a woman with kids did it.. she would have equally deserved it. Her motherless kids didn't deserve it.. therefore she was being rather selfish and irresponsible to do such a dangerous thing .. but it was her fault.. no one else's.

Any other bad analogies out there?

Careless and reckless attitudes while driving kill people.. all there is to it. Tree's and power poles don't leap out and smash the front of cars!! wake up and open your eyes those of you with bleeding hearts!!.. people are responsible for their own actions and miss-actions.

Note I'm not advocating making the immovable death dealing mail box.. I rather like the swing away or spring-away, or knock over design that people are talking about here.. however.. remember.. today that moment of inattention is your mailbox.. tomorrow it is the 100yr old 4' wide oak tree down the road... if someone is looking in their back seat while driving... their number is gonna come up sooner or later..

soundguy

 

[dmccarty]

We just had an accident on I40 a few days ago, Grandma in her 50's, her two daughters, 20-30, and two grandkids in a van all on the way to a baby shower.

They drove swerved across 3-4 lanes of traffic, swipped a truck and then wrecked. Grandama and the two daughters where killed. The grandkids were ok. The report did not say if the adults where wearing seatbelts but a guess would be no since the kids survived and were likely in car seats.

The section of I40 for some reason has lots of people changing mulitple lanes. Everytime I drive through there I see these multilane changes at very fast speeds.

Since the adults died it just guessing but the adults had to have been simply not paying attention. With three adults even the kids should not have been that big of a distraction.

For some reason we have also had a rash of kids getting hit by cars in the last couple of weeks. Drivers mainly drunk but one mother was not paying attention when walking her boys across a road. Both kids died.

Inattention and carelessness not to mention drunk drivers kills. Its rather absurd that someone can get sued because of someone hitting an extra strudy mailbox. Nobody sues the power or phone companies for having those big poles along the road.

Later,
Dan

 

[tallyho8]

So killing a mother or child for a moment of inattention is OK in your book? Tough neighborhood you live in.

So you feel like if someone gets killed hitting a telephone pole that it is the telephone company's fault? If they run up in your yard and hit your tree it is your fault? If they smash into your home and get killed, it's your fault for building your house there? If they run into the rear of my truck while I'm stopped at a red light, its my fault for being there?

When do people start taking responsibility for their own actions? A mother transporting her child should never be inattentive for a moment. That moment could end her and her child's life and it would be HER fault and there is no way for us to always protect her from this moment of inattention. Only a lawyer or an inattentive victim sees things differently.

 

[turbo36]

Dude.. (turbo36) wake up and read the paper or watch the news..

Moments of inattention kill people ALL the time.

I'm not advocating blasting a pregnant mother with a shotgun because she accidentally backs over a mailbox.. however.. if she's hurtiling down the road like a rocket sled on rails, with her head burried in the back seat.. well.. my hands are clean of that.. she removed herself from the gene pool.. not me.

I am continually amazed by people that have no concept of personal responsibility.. or that seem fine with relieving others of personal responsibility.

If I am driving down the road with my head burried in the back seat and i hit a tree and die.. guess what.. I deserved it for not paying attention!!

If a woman with kids did it.. she would have equally deserved it. Her motherless kids didn't deserve it.. therefore she was being rather selfish and irresponsible to do such a dangerous thing .. but it was her fault.. no one else's.

Any other bad analogies out there?

Careless and reckless attitudes while driving kill people.. all there is to it. Tree's and power poles don't leap out and smash the front of cars!! wake up and open your eyes those of you with bleeding hearts!!.. people are responsible for their own actions and miss-actions.

Note I'm not advocating making the immovable death dealing mail box.. I rather like the swing away or spring-away, or knock over design that people are talking about here.. however.. remember.. today that moment of inattention is your mailbox.. tomorrow it is the 100yr old 4' wide oak tree down the road... if someone is looking in their back seat while driving... their number is gonna come up sooner or later..

soundguy

I don't need to "wake up and read the paper" I'm aware of the world and the selfless thinking you are dealing out here. Why add to the opportunity for death and destruction on our highways? I guess if you wife swerves to avoid something in the road and impales herself on a overbuilt mailbox you would write it off as a deduction from the gene pool? Have you become so callous to life that a little empathy is no longer part of your thinking? How sad for you.

 

[turbo36]

So you feel like if someone gets killed hitting a telephone pole that it is the telephone company's fault? If they run up in your yard and hit your tree it is your fault? If they smash into your home and get killed, it's your fault for building your house there? If they run into the rear of my truck while I'm stopped at a red light, its my fault for being there?

When do people start taking responsibility for their own actions? A mother transporting her child should never be inattentive for a moment. That moment could end her and her child's life and it would be HER fault and there is no way for us to always protect her from this moment of inattention. Only a lawyer or an inattentive victim sees things differently.

Sorry, your argument doesn't make sense to me. Power poles are meant to carry a heavy load and thus can not be "break away" mail boxes can be made light and be designed to break away in an accident. If by making something a hazard you cause more harm then you should be accountable for your actions.
Think of it another way, say you have trespassers on your property and rig up a shotgun to protect a storage shed, sounds like whoever breaks in gets whats coming to them right? But what is you leave it unlocked and a neighbor returns the shovel he borrowed or a 4 year old from next door gets curious and opens the door - pretty severe penalty isn't it?

 

[4720 OWNER]

Soundguy, sounds like you have seen the same seedier sides of life as have i.
Sorry, have to agree with you. Way too much has been taken away by others who feel it is their mission to protect everyone from themselves and others. Soon we can all live in little gerbil habitats safe and secure from all those nasty bugs that make us ill or kill us.

Ran across a warning sign: CAUTION THIS MACHINE DOES NOT HAVE A BRAIN
YOU WILL HAVE TO USE YOURS.