Well, I have no other way to put this but I was almost killed today. I was driving home from work at about 2:00 today. There was small string of traffic and I was in the back of the pack. In front of me was a S10 (Direct TV installer), and then in front of him was a newer (around a 98) GMC Z71 pulling a trailer and I couldn't see what was on it. About 100 feet ahead I knew the S10 would be pulling off into his driveway, which of course he did and I had to slow down for. I then accelerated to about 50 mph (normal speed for that road) and was gaining on the GMC. Right after a slight rise the road makes a medium turn to the right all I see id a cloud of dust and what I thought at first was a couch flipping through the air. I watched it hit the road bounce about 6-8 feet in the air (about cab height). I slammed on my brakes and started to serve the other way but I still really didn't know what to do or where to go. It was flipping through the air across the opposite lane and flipped up into someones yard sending dirt and grass flying. I then knew this thing wasn't going to hit me and it wasn't a couch but a heavy implement and I looked back at the GMC, he had his brakes on but I didn't know if he was stopping or not. I let off my brakes in case I had to reaccelerate to catch this guy. He did come to a gradual stop and I stopped behind him. I was shaking as I climbed out the truck and the guy was already out of the GMC. He was as white as a ghost too and knew he almost killed me. He said " I am sorry, I don't know what happened". I said you almost wiped me out. He asked if I was ok, which I was except for the 10 pounds of crap in my pants. He started to walk back to what he lost and I followed. Come to found out, it was a roto tiller for the front end of a Bobcat skidsteer loader. This was one heavy built unit with about 1/4 in steel plates, the only damage upon quick inspection was a slightly bent cornor. I asked if he could back up to it and we could hand load it off of a near by bank. He said it was much to heavy and would check with the people in the house if they could help. I said fine, because at this point I was realizing all that went on, I was tired, and he didn't seem to concerned for me. So I left, walking back to the truck there was a huge gouge in the road, but I didn't leave blackmarks. I jumped back in the truck, wrote down his license # and went on home. I now realize that thing probably weighs 1000-2000 pounds and if it hit the cab on that bounce it would have taken at least the top of the cab off and me with it. There was no harm done but it still scares me and pisses me off. I have no idea why it came off his trailer other than it was not strapped down and somehow he hit some bump or the trailer went off the road to send that tiller flying like that. Sorry for the long post guys, but it really shook me up and I keep thinking what if I had been just 50 feet sooner or 5 mph faster.

 

Glad you're ok. People around here never seem to tie things down like they should. I probably do overkill when I haul, but I've never lost anything. Rich

 

Was that guy ever reported to the police? I'd be worried that someone else may encounter this again because he didn't learn his lesson. And the outcome may not be so lucky. Hopefully, the homeowner took some action to make sure that driver didn't get off scott-free.

Glad you're OK, though. I would have torn that guy a new you know what. It makes me angry just thinking about how negligent of an act that was. I guess we can all learn a lesson from this one.

 

If you, yourself are an overall good driver then you really need to watch out for everyone else.

This issue about not securing a load is inexcusable. If you haven't already, I hope you'll contact the police so he can be sited.

I was on the 494/694/94 loop that goes through the Twin Cites here a few years ago. They have these signs that state traffic conditions ahead and on this night it stated "DEBRY ON ROAD AHEAD". I'm thinking that perhaps a compost bag fell off a trailer but nothing too large or serious.

>Anyway, it's a 5 lane section just outside of downtown on a Saturday night so there's a lot of traffic.
>I'm in the middle lane and there are cars on both sides when suddenly I see a car in the far left ahead of me hit a full size couch at 70MPH.
>He sends it forward and the car in the lane next to me hits it as well and this big, ugly yellow couch goes by about 10 feet in front of me and the car to the right also hits it, sending it off the road.

I actually felt pretty lucky because the car to my left that hit the couch was accelerating past me at the time and acted as a sheild. He lost his right fender as well as the front end spoiler.

Another time on the same road in a different part of town where 2 sections merge, I watched as a truck hauling a full size trailer of liquid cement tipped over.

>I was in the far right exit lane and he was in the far left entrance of the other section merging onto the freeway I was on. While my road is straight, his curves a bit and comes around.

>I notied some movment out of the corner of my eye and just as I looked, I saw him swerve back and forth and then he tipped right over and there was an incredibly loud BOOM!!!

>Reaction told me that he was going to slide right into me so I floored it to get out of his way. Turns out that he hit the median and that stopped him but because it was so sudden, this acted as sort of a catapult for all this wet cement.

>I was the last person to get through for a couple of hours and got away with one side of my truck covered in wet cement.

>There was a little import about 50 feet behind me that took the full force of this wall of cement and looked as though someone had made a statue of a car. It was completely covered with wet cement.

>This 3 lane highway had about 3 inches of cement spread out over 100 feet of road because this guy was going too fast.

I thought I was pretty lucky there and felt pretty damn good about my driving skills

4 days later someone crossed the median in a snow storm and ran right into me. Took $10,000.00 and 2 months to get my truck back

 

Sounds like you've had a few close calls too. I know I shouldn't because someone could have really been hurt but I can't help to LMAO at a import being covered in cement. I was not involved but just up the street where I work a dump truck driver hualing wet cement accidently hit his air gate and dump lift going through an intersection. He left a string on concrete about 50 feet that was said to be 6-8 inches thick in spots. They took a huge front end loader and somehow had it all cleaned up in about 3-4 hours.

I now agree that it is inexcusable that this guy didn't tie his equipment down. I know he just thought well this thing is so heavy it will never fly off, BS. If your hualing something wether it's a 2x4 or a whole house you should tie it down. If a truck driver fails to secure a load, they get into serious trouble with DOT and their company. If this thing hit me and I had lived there's no doubt in my mind no court in the world nor no insurance company would have not sided with me. What's funny is right before this happened my girl friend was trying to two-way me on my Nextel. So as soon as I stopped I answered her back and told her to wait. I got of the truck with the phone in my hand and after I got out and the guy asked if I was all right, he asked who I was calling. I told him my girlfriend but I should've said the police. The sheriff is my best friends dad and like my second father, so he wouldn't have taken this guy lightly. There was no harm done and it's too late now, I just hope this guy learned a lesson.

 

Glad your ok.