Unique road hazards

[Wasillaguy]

A couple days ago running highway speeds in heavy traffic, I-10 through ElPaso, and something comes skittering over from the fast lane, making a pretty loud thud under the rig.
"What was that?"
Dear wife- "It looked like an aerosol can".
She has a good eye, it was spray foam. Exploded under the front passenger tire. It's all over underneath, in addition to the back end.
I'm thinking the guy behind me got it a lot worse. Probably turned on his windshield wipers and hit the button.

 

[Ray-IN]

Many years ago we were staying at the Army base in El Paso. We had driven South of the city to visit the site of the Alamo and was driving home when a pickup entered the interstate with a load of furniture. The driver swerved for some reason and sent a desk flying out of the bed. It skidded across the outside lane into the middle lane as i steered away from the desk's path.
I was in the inner lane when it hit the right rear fender of my dually. There was no way to stop, so kept driving. In my mirrors I saw the car in the middle lane hit it head-on at about 30 MPH, he had been able to slow down that much.
Damage to my truck was a new plastic bedside/fender @ $2,300 back then. I'd guess the car damage was near $8,000 to replace the front clip.
All caused by a man too lazy to secure his load, who BTW never even knew he lost the desk.

 

[Jim18655]

I was taking my son to the Philadelphia Airport on 476 after the Plymouth Meeting exit. There must have been a mattress/box spring sale in the area since I saw several vehicles with loaded mattresses. I was in the middle lane at about 65 mph when a box spring flew out out of a truck bed ahead of me on the right and slid into my lane. No where to go except over it. I told my son 1 flat and we can make it 2 flats and he'll miss his flight. We made it without any damage. I looked under the car after we dropped him at the gate and it had the cover material hanging from several screws under the car.
It must have been a lucky flight for him. He got to his plane change in Dallas and was fogged in. They told him it would be at least 2 hours so he went to one on the airport bars to watch Monday night football. When he returned to the gate 1/2 hour later his plane had left. He complained about being left behind without any announcement the flight was leaving and got a 1st class seat to San Francisco.

 

[Isaac-1]

To follow this theme, a few years ago (circa 3-5 years), I was driving on the south side of Houston on I-610 during afternoon rush hour, when I was thankfully able to swerve and avoid a 6 ft Fiberglass step ladder that someone had lost in the middle lane. It was laying on its side in the open position, when I went by it, and had obviously been hit at least once already as part of one of its legs was missing.

On another trip on I-610 on a weekend around Christmas driving with my son in his car a few months earlier (later?) a GIANT pot hole had opened up in the middle of one of of the interchange on ramps (northbound on 288 entering onto I-610). Again thankfully I avoided it, I don't know if it had just opened up, or if emergency services were incompetent about closing the lane, but this thing was huge, swallow a car huge, wide enough that all 4 tires of a small car could fit in it at once, and at least 2-3 feet deep, the 18 wheeler behind me could not swerve in time, but was able to straddle it (barely).

 

[DutchmenSport]

I ran over a turtle once on my motorcycle and didn't wreck! It was 1979. Does that count?

I hit a deer in my car one night. That was 1993.

That same year (same car), I ran over a skunk. Wow! did my wife give me grief over that!

I've had a couple panic stops towing my travel trailers over the years. What jumped out at me ... other drivers!

 

[Isaac-1]

That is not bad, I was in 2 accidents in 1 day on the day after Thanksgiving 1988, neither one really my fault.

Accident number 1 was at an Exxon gas station just off I-10 in downtown Houston, as I was getting out of my car to pump gas a Tom's snack delivery truck whipped through the island, hit the drivers side door, ripping it out of my hand and folding it backwards against the front fender. I refuse to eat Tom's brand snacks to this day due to the way the company denied everything (no driver by that name, no truck with that number, etc.) until I got statements from witnesses that worked at the station. With the help of a floor jack and some rope we were able to get the door mostly closed for the drive home (in the rain).

Accident number 2 was about 10 miles from home later that same evening a bit after dark, when an on coming car hit a deer (12 point buck) threw it into my lane, the first I saw of the deer, it was sprawled out with its hind feet on the double yellow line and its head at the white line, my choices were hit the deer, hit the string of oncoming cars, or hit the ditch, I choose the deer. One of the antlers went through my right front tire, is also pushed the front bumper back into the radiator. Which ended my driving for the night, we walked half a mile back to a gas station to use the pay phone to call a friend to pick us up, where we saw the other car that hit the deer first. It was likely totaled, as I recall it was a brand new Chevy Corsica, hood was bent up into a V the whole front end was caved in. I learned it belonged to the sister of the man who was driving it, she lived out of town and had won it the previous week in a annual raffle that is put on by the local Rotary club, as a result her brother was driving it until she could make it to town to pick it up. The deer was at the gas station also, some guys in a pickup truck had stopped and loaded it up.

 

[UTTransplant]

We were driving behind a brand new Super C towing a vehicle on a trailer when all at once sparks started behind their rig. They pulled over, we pulled over, and we pulled out a fire extinguisher to counter the smoke billowing from under the vehicle trailer. Turns out a pickup in front of them had a tire and rim bounce out of the bed and they hit it. Messed up their new Super C (still had paper tags!), the trailer, and a bit of the vehicle. It also started a fire under their trailer and on the side of the road. That got put out, and Kevin helped them jack up the trailer to pull the tire/rim out from underneath. We followed them for 20 minutes or so just to make sure everything was good.

 

[Larry N.]

A couple of summers ago I was on the way back from eastern Kansas on I-70 in my Ventana, and somewhere around Hays a stake bed truck (similar to what landscapers use) went past me. When he was a couple of hundred feet past, a large (truck size) wheel rim came off of his truck, bounced once, and hit next to my right headlight. A large thud, but that fiberglass seemed to take it just fine.

Back in the '70s in Albuquerque, I was on my motorcycle on Tramway Road coming to a stop sign at the turnoff into the Tramway. Just as I came to a stop, a car came flying by me (at least 50 mph) in the left lane (two-lane road), so thankfully he did finally see me but ignored the stop sign.

 

[Kirk]

About 2005 or so, we were on an interstate highway bypassing Chicago but I'm not sure which one now. There were 6 lanes of traffic each way and we were in the third from the right with the motorhome towing a CRV and traffic was not heavy. A fifth wheel was in the far right lane with his stepladder on some sort of hanger on his roof-ladder and an 18 wheeler was not far behind when that 10 foot stepladder fell into the road. The truck hit it and parts flew as each set of wheels ran over it. Cars and trucks were on their brakes and trying to change lanes in all directions and most of us came to a complete stop. By some twist of fate there were no collisions but 2 cars and the truck all had damage to put them on the shoulder. The fifth wheel just continued on down the road, probably unaware of what was happening behind him. Since that day I do not follow anyone with crap hanging on the ladder at all closely and no longer than necessary.

 

[ziplock]

, I ran over a skunk.

Driver's ed. Teacher had 3 of us out. Girl hit a skunk. So glad it wasn't me, but we all stunk anyway.

It is a shame that high school does not offer driver's ed anymore.

They must have been planning on self driven cars even back then................gees.

 

[Tulecreeper]

Driver's ed. Teacher had 3 of us out. Girl hit a skunk. So glad it wasn't me, but we all stunk anyway.

It is a shame that high school does not offer driver's ed anymore.

They must have been planning on self driven cars even back then................gees.

High school doesn't have driver's ed anymore? Is that just where you live? How is someone supposed to learn to drive? I mean other than mom or dad teaching you.

 

[UTTransplant]

It hasn’t been a high school class in our area since before my now 42 year old son was 15. It was offered as a separate class with separate teachers, I think through a Community Ed thing with the community college. Didn’t show up on transcripts.

 

[A Traveler]

Does hitting a deer…while landing an aircraft…count?

I hit the deer with the left main gear. Cut the animal in half. It sheared the lock-down pin, so the gear collapsed. And all this is happening at about 100 mph.

 

[Ray-IN]

Does hitting a deer…while landing an aircraft…count?

I hit the deer with the left main gear. Cut the animal in half. It sheared the lock-down pin, so the gear collapsed. And all this is happening at about 100 mph.

It wasn't luck that kept you alive, it was skill and all the safety stuff in airplanes.

 

[edjunior]

This happened to me just a few miles from home. There was a lot of construction widening the roads, and I was in the outside lane with no shoulder and the concrete barriers up for the construction. When the little Nissan truck in front of me ran over this branch, I swear time and space slowed down, because I saw this thing coming up and hit my windwhield. When I got home, I saw where the branch flew up and over the top of my truck and landed in the bed of my truck. I still have that souvenir. I think I will keep it.

 

[IBTripping]

I've got one for you. I was driving my Honda road bike at night on a gravel road to my rental house when I hit a black angus cow. It was very dark, the cow was black, and we both survived. I managed to keep the bike upright and the cow ran off like it had been hit by a motorcycle. Fortunately, we were both going slow when I hit the rear end of the angus.

 

[Larry N.]

High school doesn't have driver's ed anymore? Is that just where you live? How is someone supposed to learn to drive? I mean other than mom or dad teaching you.

When my grandkids were getting to that age, they had to pay an outside firm to take lessons.

 

[SeilerBird]

I think most kids today know how to drive long before becoming a teenager. All those video games are excellent teachers.

 

[Larry N.]

I think most kids today know how to drive long before becoming a teenager. All those video games are excellent teachers.

For many aspects, perhaps, but they can't really teach dealing with traffic or the physical feel of a vehicle, as well as a few other odds and ends. So they may know how to steer a car and to apply accelerator and brake, but they still have a lot to learn.

Similar to flight simulators, which can teach many procedures well (if they don't develop bad habits with no teacher to correct them), but getting in the real thing still adds a LOT of things that must be learned.

So real world instruction is needed in both cases.

 

[RRR]

In about 1984ish I was heading into a strong head wind. A early '70's full size station wagon got on the road with 10+ sheets of plywood on the roof held down with a couple pieces of twine. The back was had a bunch of 2X4's, insulation and who know what else. The front end was high in the air.

I see the plywood sheets start fluttering in the wind so I got around him. Watching the mirrors I see plywood lifting up and couple of sheets depart. Driver slams on the brakes, rest shoots over the hood. Don't know what other carnage was caused.

Can't fix stupid!