So who's at fault when hitting power lines sagging to low?

I'm driving down to two lane highway the other day on a route I run pretty often. Power lines cross this road all over the place just like they do everywhere else.

I heard a helluva noise and immediately knew I had hit a power line. I look in my rearview mirror and there's lines flying and poles swaying everywhere.

There is no traffic in front of or behind me so I slowed down to make sure no lines landed on the road and no poles came down.

I kept rolling. I picked up the phone to call it in and then I thought better of it. Trucks run this road all the time. I wasn't sure if they would blame me so I decided to let the next guy call it in. I stopped about five minutes later and there was no damage to my truck or trailer.

What would you do? Could I be cited for this?

It's a public highway with no height restriction. Don't they have a responsibility to keep the lines above 13'6"?

 

If you are of legal height, then no you cannot be cited. Actually, if you damaged your equipment or were injured you would have a case against the power company.

 

Yes they are required to be above 14'

 

I mean I’d call it in just to keep things on the up and up. These days you never know who has a camera setup somewhere. Being at legal height and being the fault of the power company why not call in?

 

Isn't that technically considered leaving the scene?

 

Had something similar happen when I was delivering to a new housing development. Was not power lines, was phone and catv lines. Didn’t know it even happened. Only found out when a phone company truck came to a screeching stop where the unloading was going on. Guess it was pretty easy to follow all the downed lines to the truck. Long story short, the lines were measured across the road, they were under 13.6. Not my problem. Needless to say, they were not very happy about it.

 

This could've been phone and cable, I really have no idea.

 

I hit a cable line on a county road that I'm on often. I wasn't over height, and yes, they are responsible.

The cable company had worked on the line I hit two days prior.

It broke two electric poles it was attached to, the wire came down in front of me, and blew the transformer to hell.

I called the sheriffs dept and electric company, nobody attempted to blame me