What can you do if your car is damaged by flying debris?

Las Vegas, NV (KTNV) â€" What happens when you're driving down the road and something flies off the back of a truck and hits your car? Maybe your hood is damaged or your windshield is smashed, or something worse.

Contact 13 takes a closer look at who's responsible for the damage.

Karen Stewart of Henderson and her family were headed to Summerlin. They had just passed downtown Las Vegas on the U.S. 95 when she says three rock trucks sped by and a rock flew right into her windshield.

"It was loud and it scared me. Bam! And I look over and there's a rock truck. And it had flown by me and it's tarp wasn't tied down."

This is a problem that happens thousands of times per year.

The most recent study was in 2004 by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. It found that more than 25,000 crashes are caused by vehicle-related road debris each year. This includes car parts, cargo, or other material.

Las Vegas attorney Robert Eglet specializes in these types of accidents. He's a board member of a national organization that certifies trial lawyers in trucking cases.

"Any trucking accident or dangers are a real problem in Southern Nevada," he explains. "There's a remarkable number of injuries from trucking accidents in Nevada."

Karen and her husband don't have an attorney but are trying to get the company Rainbow Rock to fix their windshield.

"We called them. We're like, ‘We have this truck number, (it) just broke my window with a rock.' They were like, ‘Oh, we don't do that. That's a road hazard,'" says Karen.

Her husband Dan also emailed the company but couldn't get any help.

Contact 13 obtained a copy of the email sent to the couple from Rainbow Rock's General Manager Travis Mickelson. It reads in part:

"I do not pay for windshields. You and your insurance will have to work it out. It is considered a road hazard. I do not have any proof that it [the rock] came off of any of my trucks. I take no responsibility for that."

When Contact 13 tried to get in touch with Rainbow Rock, Mickelson was out of the office. He called us back later, saying he didn't want to do an interview or issue a statement.

He did, however, repeat what was in his email: that this is an insurance issue.

But the couple says they are at a dead end with their insurance company and have been told that without any proof, the company can't take any action.

So what can you do if your car is hit and damaged by flying debris?

You might think getting the license plate number is enough but police say you should pull over right away and report it; having a police report will help support your claim. Call Nevada Highway Patrol if it happened on the freeway or police if you're on surface streets.        

"There is a log that is kept, that has to be kept, by federal law of exactly what routes during what times these truckers are taking," says Robert Eglet.

He adds that a driver's log will prove whether the truck driver was in the area at the time of the accident.

And don't put off taking action just because the truck may have a sign telling you to keep a certain distance away.

"They can put all the signs they want on the back of their vehicle that they're not responsible for any damage to anyone's vehicle but that's not true," says Eglet.

Here's the Contact 13 bottom line: If you find yourself in a similar situation, file that police report. And along with having to keep a log, most commercial trucks have a black box or "electronic control module" that keeps track of data, like average speed.

This information may help support your case.

Karen and Dan say they're considering taking Rainbow Rock to small claims court. If a company refuses to cooperate, that may be your best option.

Contact 13 spoke with the National Truckers Association, which says the problem is that too many drivers are willing to falsely accuse truckers of causing damage. But if a driver does want to take action, the association suggests drivers be willing to sign a sworn statement about what happened.