Tanking coming to an end?

[Junkie]

Do you think Paintball Tanks will eventually be driven out of Paintball due to the increased liability?

My thoughts are based purely on having to go through that ridiculous fiasco at Wayne's World where not a single insurance company would give us insurance to play & having a paid policy at the last blanding game which cost each tanker a $100.

Also from what I understand, Field owner insurance policies don't cover tanks and they could loose their field.. How long do you think these owners are going to permit tanks to play?

Tankers are now having to foot the bill for insurance (if they can even get it) and they also have to provide a walker (which is not a bad thing) but it seems to be getting worse...

Discuss.....

[Wubby]

IMO, the person driving the tank should not be held responsible for an accident with another player. Most tanks are loud, and if a kid runs out and the driver hits him, it was the kids fault. The tank was there and if he didn't hear it I'm not sure that he should be playing paintball. It would be different if a tank driver hit a person in plain sight but a kid (or anyone else) that runs out from behind a bunker and doesn't check to see where the car sound is comming from is, imo, an idiot. Of course, in a perfect world this would be the case but in America people can sue for just about anything.....

Just my opinion though..

[Bluemax]

I don’t believe it will come to an all or nothing, but then again I’m not in the insurance biz. I could see the day when those tanks that once had a VIN # will no longer be allowed, but the golf cart killers could continue. I think field owners need to give extensive consideration before allowing true APCs as the 10/20 foot rule becomes very hard to ref.

My team currently fields four tanks and I’m a firm believer in walking guides. We take safety seriously as I truly believe all tankers do; it’s the other players that worry me. I ref games with tanks and I ‘m constantly having to call players out that use them as cover.

My $0.02; careful, it’s no worth quarter of that.

[Brain]

Personally I believe insurance companies are the ruin of the USA.

[IRONMIKE]

Oh no, please! I love tanks! I need tanks! I WANT TANKS! Maybe us Junkies should open a paintball insurance company? From the legal research that I've done I believe that a good player waiver and reasonable safety rule enforcement will protect field owners and scenario game promoters from liability for any player injury.

[the boss]

I agree the damn insurance company's are nothing but price gouging
ba#$%rds. The tanks are a draw for the event to make it realistic, I think as slow as they roll it's hard for it to run over somebody.

[tate0301]

Originally Posted by IRONMIKE

Oh no, please! I love tanks! I need tanks! I WANT TANKS! Maybe us Junkies should open a paintball insurance company? From the legal research that I've done I believe that a good player waiver and reasonable safety rule enforcement will protect field owners and scenario game promoters from liability for any player injury.

Waivers don't really do much legally. You can never waive you're right to sue. It's a constitutional right.

[MrWizard]

Oh boy. Tank insurance is the thread killer of all time on warpig once some people get a whiff. Let me just write down some observations here.

In 2002/2003 for some promoters VIN based tanks were banned thus my lawn tractor based toys early on. This seems to have come and gone thru the years. You have three classes of tanks: VIN based, golf cart/ATV(gators,etc), and everything else. Goto warpig tank forum with about three extra days to read it all. Passion, lies, greed, winners and losers. It all there but please don't soak up the bandwidth here. Each field and each promoter is a case by case basis. Now if william f buckley was to tackle this it would be a debate on whether tank insurance is real or a myth.

Oh myth Oh myth...I love young Frankenstein. Back to topic.

We (Blackhearts) have have some success at finding the myth but only covering golf carts and atvs. Vin based and others need not apply. About 400$/yr so divide that down to how many games you play to get a per game price. After one mind numbing thread on warpig it was decided by all that the insurance issue in the best of cases is CYA to leave the tanker as the endpoint in any liability. So be it. I tank at the promoters and field owner's pleasure. Safety first, second and third. Then fun.

A really big honker (the beast either blackhearts or odx) requires a lot of safety work from start to finish due to size and weight. And weight is the issue (that's why heavyweights don't fight welter weights). Any run in with a big rig would not be good. With a golf cart/ATV with big fluffy tires you'll just piss someone off. When push comes to shove VIN based chassis will go first...again. That's why Lane built the Mark whatever. Walkers aren't bad unless you're following DBD or Bobio.

I have not mentioned PUGs. Lord help us if it comes to that. I ain't playing one that's for sure. I'll go back to special weapons ( where I got my moniker) and night sniping.

So word:
1) If you have a tank it's your ass. Play it safe and kind. You know what this means. obey the rules made for you. all of them.

2) When in doubt turn dat a** off. The safest tank is a guy holding a stick with a model tank on the top walking around the field saying tank, tank. Keep this in mind.

3) Play straight up. If a lone laws guy thumps you and nobody else is around call it and flag up. He's the guy that will help keep tanks on the field at the end of the day.

4) Don't give the other tankers an inch. Don't shoot little kids unless they have their own tank. Don't blow yourself up (ask me in my good ear if you don't get it).

5) Make sure everyone has more fun when you show up....ok when you win the game ok that's not fun for the other side but they still love seeing you knocked out right outside the base and of course the aforementioned laws guy is the hero (good and evil thingee). Next time you'll be on their side and they'll love you.....

[Werewolf]

Very good piece, Mr. Wiz.

[ace007]

Originally Posted by Brain

Personally I believe insurance companies are the ruin of the USA.

I don't know...it seems to me the lawyers and insurance people pack a one-two punch on this issue. As far as the tank issue goes, I believe the lawyers came first, making you insure items you wouldn't take insurance out on if it wasn't for them. I agree that insurance companies are evil, but like it or not, there's a certain math behind what they do. They are going to make sure that, statistically speaking, they make money--which in itself is fine. $100 for one tank sounds terrible til you consider they could lose a cool million in a lawsuit if the tank owners get stupid or unlucky.

Now if you want to consider the insurance industry as a whole, I think you have different things going on depending on the type of insurance.

1.Car insurance-- I don't have a problem here. A lot of people complain, but I've found that if I keep my record clean, my cost for this is less than it was 10 years ago--no kidding. That's not to say it's a perfect system.

2.Health insurance-- there's a lot of market forces going on that insurance companies can't control & lawyers have alot to do with it. I see problems with insurance here, but the solution to most of those problems start somewhere else. It's mostly a female problem named Sue.

3. Home & liability insurance: Here's where insurance co. really suck and take advantage of people. Too many issues here to do it justice.

However I still say we should lay most of the blame on the lawyers and our polictical leaders (who won't pass laws to protect the public from lawyers and insurance companies). For example, I personnaly believe that flood insurance should be legally forced in to every home owner policy-- spreading the extra cost across every homeowner in America. Why? I won't go in to all the details, but it centers around what I see as a common sense approach, namely that if your home is insured, then no matter what happens, you should be covered.

Bottom Line- Insurance companies are going to make a certain profit margin & the legal system (plus life itself) determines how much they have to charge us to make that happen.