Just a story for you ford lovers out there. Saturday morning I was on my way to drill(Ia Nat. Guard). I was on the Interstate going 70-75 mph and following a small black Civic. Suddenly the Civic swerved HARD into the left lane and I was left staring at what looked like a piece of cardboard, like a large appliance box lying flat in the middle of the lane. A split second later I realized that it was an 8 foot aluminum extension ladder. There was a semi merging on the right, and another vehicle approaching on my right, so I held on for dear life and hit it at 70 mph. WHAM!!! It popped my pickup's passenger side off the pavement for a split second, and sent pieces of metal flying 10 feet in the air, and all over the interstate, my truck took a sharp dive to the left, but I got it under control really fast, thank God! I thought my truck was trashed. ZERO DAMAGE!! All it did was scuff my tires where the ladder slammed into it! I was so thankful I was driving a Ford pickup(My 94 2wd F150 I-6)! There were fellow soldiers behind me that saw the whole thing go down, and they said it was pretty spectacular! Oh, one more thing-about 1/4 mile away on the shoulder was the truck that had been hauling the ladder. The driver was jogging up the shoulder looking for his improperly secured ladder!

 

I had somehting similar the other day but it was only groceries. Someone lost two loaves of bread and a giant bag of potato chips. I couldn't change lanes and when I hit them with my lowered "I" beams there was a huge pop. You should have seen the snow storm behind me!

 

Yea, like it's gonna be worth finding.

Maybe if he's lucky a trooper will come around and write him out a ticket for (1) driving with an insecure load and (2) jaywalking.

 

(3) Being an idiot.

 

Wow, you lucked out, I tell you though, fords are built tough, I slammed into a deer doing 60 with my 94 ranger, all it did was bend my front bumper brackets slightly, and a dent in the door where the head smacked the door, that came out easy though. I was scared to death that I had busted something badly, turned out nothing, i was relieved. People really need to start securing stuff though, I know i almost hit some furniture once where someone had let that roll off the back of their truck, it was trashed from the impact, but that woulda been nasty had someone hit it.

 

Recently in the Atlanta GA area an applicance (stove or frig) fell off the rear of a truck that just came from the Home Depot and a Ford SUV (Exped. or Exc.) came along and hit it. Killed the driver and left a couple of kids fatherless. I think his son was with him at the time. The widow never pressed criminal charges because it was an accident, her husband was already dead, and she did not want to destroy any more lives.

 

Wow, I have a feeling my wife would not have been so nice! And yes, I sure do wish the CRPD would have been there to write that guy a ticket. It was a lesson to me about securing my own stuff when I haul big items.

 

i had almost the same thing 2 weeks ago. driving down the road, went to pass a slow mover in the right lane, i kicked left, and drove over a 6 foot aluminum step ladder that fell out of a box van with the rear door open. the kid in the ground hugging honda behind me hit it also. its amazing what a ladder will do to a honda at 65 mph. by the way, i was in my 99 crown vic P71 at the time, and the only thing i got was a scratch on the right muffler

 

I was driving through PA several years ago when a 4x8 sheet of plywood fell off a truck I was following. The draft caught it a little bit, and it hovered over the road right in front of me at eye level. I just about crapped my pants. This sucker was coming right through my windshield, and I had no where to go and no time to do it. Right before it would have hit me and kiled me, it fell onto the pavement and I ran it over at 70 mph.

I was shaking so bad I had to pull over. I thought I was done for sure.

Lucky me, here I am, still kicking.

 

Wow! Must not have been your time...........

 

I had a washer or dryer dropped in front of me in Festiva a couple days ago. If I was in my truck there would of been no way of avoiding it, my car handles alot better thankfully. Just imagine what would of happened if that ladder went into someones windshield, that guy may of been going to jail for a long time. Eric

 

I was following a S-10 loaded to the gills with 4x8 plywood sheets when the top sheet slid off and skidded flat in the road. I drove over it with no problems, but somehow my draft kicked the plywood straight up on it's end and a Durango plowed through it at 70 mph! Actually looked pretty cool in the rear view, thankfully no one was hurt.

Also following a Dodge with a mattress & boxspring in the back. Mattress and boxspring flew out of truck and I drove over the mattress dragging it down the interstate!

Speaking of ladders. . .I saw an accident where a truck with a ladder resting on the headache rack not tied down, rear ended another vehicle stopped at a red light. That ladder shot off of the truck like a cruise missile and landed square across the intersection.

 

Munkey- Ive seen something liek that before in south texas... maybe it was you. ive always used extra tie straps for everything, just for reasons like that in our lawsuit happy country.

 

I was following a tractor trailer hauling scrap cars once a few years ago. All the cars on the trailer were flattened. But somehow, a hood came off one of the cars, flipped a couple times in the air, and landed behind us.

Just the other day, I was following a dump truck, when a piece of gravel came off and chipped my windshield.

Unsecured loads tick me off to no end. I don't need to be running into somebody's stuff because they're to careless to secure it. And my wife doesn't help any either. I want my load secured so it doesn't even move from it's spot. She thinks "It's in a truck, it's not going anywhere". Yeah right.

 

I had a similiar thing happen to me a couple months ago. I was driving to lake placid from western mass with a 2004 Expedition. We were probably going about 80 mph. There was a box (so I thought) laying in the middle of the road and I had no time to stop or change lanes since someone was passing me on the right. Well as I got closer, I realized it wasnt a box, it was a ladder. It was laying diagonally across the lane. I thought I was going to hit it and go flying off the road.

I didnt have a chance to do anything so I just lined up the car as best as possible and drove right over the ladder. There couldnt have been too much room on the side of the ladder as it passed underneath me. Probably an inch or so of room before it hit a tire.

I got extremely lucky that day. I have no idea what could have happened to the Expedition but im sure it wouldnt have been good.