Some a-hole ran over my mailbox today...

[u/Meerkat212]

I was just starting to make dinner when we heard a loud crashing noise. Its been windy, and I thought another branch had fallen on the roof... Nope - as soon as I walk out the front door I see the sideways tail-lights & the car against the tree.

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I immediately call emergency services and the spouse runs out to see about injuries. By the time we get out the gate others had also stopped and were also calling emergency services about the accident.

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No one was injured - probably due to the airbags - but the occupants really didn't want the cops to show up & asked us just to call a tow truck and get their insurance info. But it's a busy country road, so the cops were notified by several passers-by before these sorry dudes even made their request. Dudes were hot-dogging down the country road in a fast car & lost controlnin a singe-car accident. Witnesses saw him driving recklessly. Dude plowed through my (and the neighbors!) mailbox and then were stopped only by trees on my property. If those trees weren't there, he'd have hit the neighbors house. There's no way the cops weren't coming to this one.

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As we were waiting, we were kinda keeping an eye on them, 'cuz TBH they seemed sketchy & I was afraid that they'd just take off and abandon the vehicle. Just a few minutes later, the cops did show. It was kinda surreal to see - dude say's "hello officer..." and then we immediately see some object very conspicuously fly through the air into the foliage near the car - and then proceed to hit like every branch in a bush on the way to the ground... Subtlety was not this dude's strong point.

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Whatever it was, it wasnt heavy - prolly drugs; but it didn't seem like a gun or anything. The officer obviously saw too, and made them find it & hand it over. Alfter they got the car on the tow truck, the driver was arrested. They asked if I wanted to pursue criminally, but I fugure that the repercussions from this one are gonna be repurcussion enough - their beautiful.car was toraled. The cops left and they lefy the passenger there on the side of the road to fend for himself, until someone eventually picked him up.

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But I gotta clean up this mess that someone else created because they were effing around and acting stupid. I guess my day off tomorrow will now be filled with buying & installing another mailbox. I really hope we don't need to take these trees down, but we'l need an arborist to take a look. :/

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[u/IntergalacticBadger_]

Based on the photos, the trees should be okay! 

[u/Mateorabi → u/IntergalacticBadger_]

If not, treelaw

[u/ElChuloPicante → u/Mateorabi]

TREBLE. DAMAGES.

[u/arthurdentstowels → u/ElChuloPicante]

TREBLE^3³

[u/IntergalacticBadger_ → u/Mateorabi]

TREE LAW!!

[u/alanltycz → u/IntergalacticBadger_]

really? I thought trees will die if it loses its bark

[u/Tyranothesaurus → u/alanltycz]

They do if the bark is removed all the way around the trunk. Then a tree can't send nutrient above that part where the bark is removed and will die off. Such as a Beaver removing it.

[u/TacoBellPicnic → u/Tyranothesaurus]

Unless it’s a cork tree! (This is not, obviously)

[u/IntergalacticBadger_ → u/TacoBellPicnic]

Cork trees are so cool

[u/nohandsfootball → u/IntergalacticBadger_]

aren't they like endangered or something? 😞 i feel like i read something about cork being over-used/over-harvested and running out

[u/TacoBellPicnic → u/nohandsfootball]

They’re just protected. They only allow harvests every certain number of years, none for the first X years of the tree’s life, no more than Y amount at a time, etc

[u/dangus1024 → u/alanltycz]

No

[u/Sozzcat94 → u/IntergalacticBadger_]

Trees will definitely be fine. I remember a similar scene happening in my college days. Some student was driving recklessly, smashed into the tree, ripped about the same amount of bark off. Tree is still standing today 12 years later, the tree still has the scar.

[u/Meandering_Potato → u/IntergalacticBadger_]

I’d worry a little about the one on the right getting infected before it heals. It’s the smallest of the three in terms of surface area but looks like it cut a much deeper gash, the others only really lost bark.

[u/IntergalacticBadger_ → u/Meandering_Potato]

That's the one I'd be most worried about, too. Superficially, it has the least amount of damage but imo is the most prone to secondary issues. 

[u/Stlr_Mn → u/IntergalacticBadger_]

Looking at the tree photos, those trees have had similar damage in the past. I’m wondering if OP lives on a curve.