Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
Slow Down, Already!
We were all going at least 80 when I saw the couch tumble off the back of the pickup and roll down the fast lane. The car in front of me (the only one between my SUV and the couch) couldn’t dodge it. The eruption of wood, stuffing, and fabric was something else. The truck didn’t even slow down.
Already moving into the emergency lane to avoid the remnants, I slowed as the hit car limped over just in front of me. The poor driver was a young man of about 30. He was obviously in shock, with abrasions on his arm from the exploding air bag. His phone was somewhere in the back seat so I called 911.
One would think with debris all over the road, folks would slow down. They did not. The ambulance, when it got there, blocked some of the worst of it. The EMTs took the poor guy to the hospital. The firemen pulled their truck up behind the ambulance and got the rest of the stuff off the road. Then they moved up to protect us and our cars.
It was 95 degrees in the shade—of which there was none—in Dalton, GA. It took a while to figure out who had jurisdiction. The state trooper who showed up 45 minutes after we called was talking to the driver of the pickup at Home Depot. He had had an attack of conscience and stopped two exits down the road. He swore we were all in the slow lane. Yeah, with a witness and the couch leftovers in the median, that story didn’t hold up long.
I learned a couple of things from this adventure. 1) Always have a first aid kit in the car. 2) Have bottled water with me at all times. 3) Move over to the next lane when you see people either in the median or the emergency lane. 4) Slow down when there is an emergency. It amazes me that 25 people are not killed every day because somebody has some place to be and drives faster than conditions warrant. 5) Tie everything down twice as much as you think it needs and then add another couple of bungee cords.
Hats off to firefighters, EMTs, and state troopers. They are seriously underpaid.
Published in General
Martha Stewart’s blog writers wrote a great article this month on how to put together a first aid kit.
I agree with you about the first responders. They have to deal with a lot of trauma.
Sounds like one of @dougwatt’s stories.
I’m happy you escaped unscathed.
To round out your list i would add point 6) increase your following distance, especially when you spot a truck ahead with a questionable load. I am constantly appalled at how much tailgating i see at 80 miles an hour. Lunacy.
glad you came out unscathed and thanks for.reminding me i need a first aid kit.
I cannot get my wife to understand that anything loose in the back of a pickup is going to be in the road.
Some of our rural roads are 2 lanes and speed limit is 70. And everybody is going both ways at about 75 or 80. I just quit driving.
I was coming home from Lansing once at the end of the workday and everyone was in a hurry, when a state trooper (or maybe it was other law enforcement) had got out of his car and stopped three lanes of traffic on I-96. I wasn’t there quick enough to see how he had done it, but I thought it was an impressive and dangerous feat, even if he had flashing lights to help him. He then calmly picked up several pieces of junk that had apparently come out of a poorly secured load in a rickety trailer that was parked ahead on the shoulder, and tossed the junk into the median. When he was done he headed over to the parked car with trailer to deal with the driver, and then let the traffic proceed. The driver looked to me like he knew what he had coming.
My wife while we were in college hit a dresser on the highway going from Lawrence to Kansas City. Pretty lucky that she was not seriously hurt, the car was a lot worse for wear.
I never understand people who feel the need to get on an interstate highway with this type of load. There are other ways to get where you are going. Idiots the lot of them. Reminds me of my neighbor (who I put in that category) who drove from Wilmington to Raleigh on I-40 with an empty trailer behind his car. Going 75 mph the trailer started bouncing and how he didn’t wreck is a miracle. I asked him why was he going that fast. His answer was he didn’t want to get run over. I reminded him there are at least a dozen other ways to make the same trip and not be on the interstate. It’s only by the grace of God we don’t have more wrecks
I’m glad you all are ok.
What is really something else is when you see a car going down the street with a mattress on the roof, tied down with a single piece of twine. The driver and passenger will each have one hand out the window holding onto an edge of the mattress, as if they would be able to keep their grip should the wind get hold of the mattress. I suppose I can see someone not wanting to invest in a pair of ratchet straps, because they figure they won’t need them again, but good grief, rope and twine are cheap. Think ahead a little.
Actually, ratchet straps are pretty cheap, too. I just did a quick search and see you can buy a 4-pack of 16′ x 1.25″ ratchet straps for just $16.
Sorry, but it something seems off about “slow down already” and “we were all going at least 80”
What was the speed limit??
Talk about idiots who don’t secure a load: My husband and I watched a pickup take a turn too sharply. The tall, totally unsecured china cabinet that was in the back end swayed one way then the other, then crashed out of the bed onto the street–thankfully, a residential city street, not the interstate.
The 80 was pre-lesson. The rest of the trip to Alabama and my return trip to SC, believe me, not only was I going the speed limit, I kept my eye out for how to move out of the way of any danger.
PS The speed limit was 70 in Dalton. The flow of traffic was 80.
Death Star
Oh, no. It couldn’t have been safe to be the one tying that single little strand of rope to the top.
Distance from this truck would definitely be your friend.
Driving down I-695 (the Baltimore beltway) a few years ago, I was in the middle lane and some kind of home improvement truck was in the right lane ahead of me. Then a double window, frame and all, lifted up from the bed of the truck and came down in the middle lane just in front of me. I swerved to the left lane, which was luckily empty, and managed to dodge the flying glass and whatever else was exploding across the highway.
I made the lunch appointment with some friends, but after about 30 minutes one of them hadn’t arrived, I figured out where he was; stuck in the backup on I-695.
6. Don’t drive behind pickups with stuff that can come out, or behind any non-compliant vehicle, even at less than 80.
OMG. I hope the best for everyone involved . . .
Many years ago when driving on the Bay Bridge freeway outside of San Francisco I witnessed a horrible car crash involving many vehicles when a towed boat came loose from a car. Thank heavens I was back far enough that I was able to avoid any collision, but that experience stayed with me all these years, enough so that I get as far away as possible when I see a car towing anything or a pickup truck full of whatever.
Once the American plains were filled with beautiful herds of wild oak chifferobes. Alas, today they are witnessed mainly as roadkill.
I worked at a Home Depot years ago and remember the pile of disclaimers we kept near the loading bay. One customer brought a trailer attached to a vehicle not made for hauling. Advice refused, disclaimer signed, the forklift driver lowered a heavy load into the trailer… and the guy’s bumper came off with the trailer hitch.
I keep a wide berth (or long following distance) of trucks with loads that give me the slightest uncertainty. I even worry when I’m behind a commercial car carrier with a vehicle hanging on the end at the back. (One time I came across the aftermath of a car carrier going under a bridge that had insufficient height clearance such that the topmost car ended up as a crumpled pile of metal on the expressway.)
5a. After 10 minutes driving, pull over safely, and check the load. Readjust, retighten as needed. Safely re-enter traffic and completely the mission.
I believe it. People greatly overestimate how much can be loaded into or hauled with their vehicles. And they won’t believe that a whole set of bedroom furniture won’t fit into their minivan until you’ve hauled everything out to their vehicle and prove it to them, then haul 2/3 back into the store until they can come back for another load. Then there is the time wasted standing in the parking lot (usually when it is raining, for some reason) while the customer tries to figure out how to fold down their seats. If it’s a Suburban of the right vintage, that mystery may never be solved.
However, if you’d like other cars not to ride your bumper, an effective technique is to tie a load of 2x4s on your cartop carrier.
Back in the 80s, I was on a motorcycle on I-10, going through Pomona at about 70 mph in the left lane. A pickup, a car or two ahead of me, had what looked to be an 8 foot pool table in the back, tied down, but up on its side.
So we all know what happened next.
When the pool table fell over to the right, it landed flat, upside-down, and filled that lane side-to side, while also shredding all of its heavy wooden parts. The slate surface just kept sliding, but a few hundred pounds of wood and other crap were suddenly shrapnel.
Yes, at 70 mph. In Los Angeles-density traffic. Fun.
The next ten seconds or so were very, VERY busy, as I accelerated past the cars on the left, trying to avoid the worst of the debris. Cars were hitting the slate and shedding hubcaps like mad, and at least three of them hit my bike. When I passed the pickup, the driver was looking in his rearview mirror with a “where’d my pool table go?” expression.
Ask, and he shall receive. ;-)
I’ve heard stories from two separate, no-known-connection, parties involving a pickup truck and an upright piano. In both cases, they just kept driving.
As to staying off the Interstate, there is little quite as frightening as a county road and multiple log trucks.
Had a friend in Houston, tough fellow, who became an EMT with Life Flight out of Hermann and proud of what he was doing. Eventually, though, he quit: He had just seen too much.
wonder if that’s one of the many mattresses I’ve seen on the side of the road. Or in the traffic lanes.
Probably not the best solution, my wife doesn’t like it, but when I get a determined tailgater I gently ease my foot off the gas and go slower and slower until either he goes around from exasperation, I find a safe length with a paved shoulder to move over toward and he goes around, or our separation is the right distance for the speed of our advance.
Do not suggest this in South Florida, however.