Since You Asked: Is company insuring home water lines legitimate?

Q: I received a letter from a company called Home Emergency Insurance Solutions, of San Jose, notifying me that I can buy their insurance at $4.95 a month or $59.40 a year to insure my unprotected water service line. My neighbor also received one of these letters and we cannot understand why a company out of town wants to protect us. As far as I know, our water lines are underground. This company promises quite a lot and I am doubtful.

A: Your water line is indeed underground and you're responsible for the part that runs between your water meter at the curb and your house, Yuba City City Manager Steve Jepsen said.

But "the odds are very remote" that anything will happen to your underground water or sewer line, especially the water line. Sewer lines are more susceptible to tree roots, Jepsen said.

Jepsen pointed out that Home Emergency Insurance Solutions "appears to be a legitimate home insurance company" and is licensed by the state. It apparently offers rather "exotic" coverage for heating, cooling and electrical systems and underground lines, he said.

Might be just the thing for you if you're the type who lies awake nights thinking about things that could happen. After all, a frozen block of blue toilet water from a Boeing Dreamliner jet could crash through your roof one night and land on your bed. Think about it.

Q: I drive the Fifth Street bridge daily from Yuba City to Marysville to work and it seems there's always a rear-end collision on the Marysville side approaching the signal at J Street, especially in the morning. Is this the most dangerous intersection in Marysville? Is there any other intersection in Marysville with more accidents in the last three years?

A: Your take on the Fifth and J intersection is radically different from that of Marysville Police Department Traffic Officer Richard Seghieri, who called it "one of the safest in the city." Last year there were just five documented collisions there, he said.

Seghieri added the proviso that officers have discretion when it comes to indicating exactly where a collision happens. If a car speeds east over the Fifth Street bridge and rear-ends a car at Olive Street (that's the short street that goes north toward Mountain Mike's Pizza, a half-block west of the intersection), that might not be counted in the Fifth and J statistics, he said.

There were 23 collisions on the bridge last year, most of them caused by speeding and following too close. The bridge is generally considered to end where the Union Pacific Railroad trestle passes over Fifth Street, he said.

The areas with the highest accident rates in Marysville are the E Street bridge, E Street between 10th Street and the bridge, B Street and East 12th Street, Seghieri said.

Since You Asked is published on Mondays. Send questions to reporter Rob Young at the Appeal-Democrat, 1530 Ellis Lake Drive, Marysville, CA 95901, e-mail him at ryoung@appealdemocrat.com or call 749-4710.