[MARTINSR]

Ok, this is as strange as it gets. This van was going down the highway and a piece of metal, tubing or channel iron or something, they said it was a few feet long.

This piece of metal had fallen off a truck and was flipping around on the road. It went right thru the friggin hole in the front bumper that where a fog lamp would be if it had them. It went up into the inner fender shield and right straight up almost exiting out the top of the fender!

This is some scary stuff, to think of what this piece of metal COULD have done!

And yes that fender is torn wide open, it almost came thru!

Brian

 

[speede5]

Nasty, there were some pictures on here, I think, awhile back of a jeep with a big pipe right through the drivers floor. I think that person escaped injury but not by much. I hate debris on the road.

 

[speede5]

Actually it was a tree, check this out- http://www.hemmy.net/2008/01/09/jeep-vs-tree/#more-1527

 

[Kayleme]

these people were very lukey. I saw something like this on tv one time. A piece of like 2" pipe fell off a truck, flew up and hit 2 guys on a motor cycle and it went threw both of them in the chest. It was crazy. they had to saw the pipe in half before they could move them to the hospital. The cool part was they both lived.

 

[classicautoresto]

Dragstrip

Would the surface on a 1 mile airport landing strip work for a dragstrip? We are debating on if our worthless airport would generate more revenue as a dragstrip. If the airstrip surface (repaved about 4 years ago) would work, the cost factor could make this a possibility for my community. Jerry

 

[WDCreech]

An old friend's son made arrangements to hold 1/8 mile races on a local airstrip and did very well for a couple of seasons, until local residents complained of the noise, even though mufflers were required. Here is one that is still going in Kansas: http://www.srcadragstrip.com/ It's owned by the city.

http://www.srcadragstrip.com/

 

[cobalt327]

Sebring is an old AF base, part of the track was the landing strip/taxi-ing areas. Repaved and such now, but had humble beginnings.

I see no reason- except insurance- that your strip couldn't be converted to an 1/8 mile track, at least.

Be aware that due to the recent deaths in the sport, NHRA requires more safety considerations if you were to want their sanction.

 

[malc]

Driving through a tunnel on the northside of Barcelona last Friday I had to swerve to miss a complete radiator, hoses and all attached.
How can you not notice when that falls out of your vehicle ?

 

[web01_99]

Brian, I was about 19, working my first job out of high school as a new car lot car ready guy.

Well what happened was a lady whom was leaving her husband (separation) was driving down the road and a guy towing a trailer had a piece of steel either bounce off the trailer or the trailer hitch broke and a piece of steel broke off the toung. Well that piece of steel went thru the grill of her car right thru the firewall and it wasnt pretty.

From a rescue guy at work, small town volunteer fire dept , that piece of steel had taken the top of her head off.

 

[MARTINSR]

This is the first thing I thought of when I heard what happen. I have seen a spare tire fall off a truck that went THRU the passenger compartment of a following car from windshield to out the back glass! It is scary stuff.

Brian

 

[malc]

My wife´s neice hit a spare wheel that fell off a truck, which in turn spun her around in the road.
She was then hit by the next truck following.
Before she passed out she was able to call her father on her cellphone,he got there before the emergency services.
She spent a long time in hospital, her boyfriend longer due to being in a coma.
The truck that lost the wheel was never found, apparently it was of French origin so it could have been back in France before the police started looking.

On my satellite dish I get German programmes and there is a show about German police stoppping trucks for load inspection, you just would´nt believe what they try to get away with.
The best get out, "The load is too heavy to move, does´nt need tying down".

 

[cobalt327]

So I'm driving on the Perimeter around Atlanta (I-285) up around Sandy Springs and am greeted w/an oxygen tank in the road.

Fortunately, it was light enough to see, and traffic was light, so I had no problems avoiding it, but for who ever was behind the truck that lost it- THAT would've been a rush!

I stopped in the emergency lane and retrieved it, in the interest of safety and my inability to pass up anything that looks useful.

You can see all the witness marks from where the tank skidded and rolled down the tarmac. Oh, and there was a portion of the gage still threaded onto the valve, but no acetylene tank, hoses or torch anywhere to be found- likely someone beat me to that.

I long ago emptied it of its O2- through my blue tip wrench. I never trusted it enough to have it in the shop, so I actually had it out back behind the shop chained to the back side of a big silver maple. Now, it's waiting to go to the neighborhood scrap collection center we have to use in this part of GA. I should call Pye-Barker welding supply and make them recover it. BTW, it's stamped '96.

 

[Brimstone]

So I'm driving on the Perimeter around Atlanta (I-285) up around Sandy Springs and am greeted w/an oxygen tank in the road.

Fortunately, it was light enough to see, and traffic was light, so I had no problems avoiding it, but for who ever was behind the truck that lost it- THAT would've been a rush!

I stopped in the emergency lane and retrieved it, in the interest of safety and my inability to pass up anything that looks useful.

You can see all the witness marks from where the tank skidded and rolled down the tarmac. Oh, and there was a portion of the gage still threaded onto the valve, but no acetylene tank, hoses or torch anywhere to be found- likely someone beat me to that.

I long ago emptied it of its O2- through my blue tip wrench. I never trusted it enough to have it in the shop, so I actually had it out back behind the shop chained to the back side of a big silver maple. Now, it's waiting to go to the neighborhood scrap collection center we have to use in this part of GA. I should call Pye-Barker welding supply and make them recover it. BTW, it's stamped '96.

Ya know, that could have been a bad thing (well, bad thing for you) cause I remember hearing that a pressure vessel that had been damaged could be an Extremely Dangerous Object. Not saying that getting it out of the road was bad, but if I did it I would've put it someplace that wouldn't be heavily affected if it decided to rupture. Either that or call Fire/Police and have the professionals handle it.

I had read a story about someone who had seen a [seemingly good] fire extinguisher on the side of the road, so they had picked it up and put it in their car - not long afterwards it pretty much exploded and covered the whole interior in the fire suppressive contents, as well as causing heavy injury to the passenger. I can't even imagine what that must have been like, or what the mad dash to the hospital would've been like, either.


Back on track with debris in the road, I remember one time driving on the highway in decent traffic. At one point, I was about to change lanes, but noticed a tire on the dotted white line a couple hundred yards up ahead - so I decided to stay where I was and wait until I passed. Well, there was a female driver in a station wagon who decided to change lanes and *didn't* see the tire in the road - she hit this full-on at 65 mph or so on the driver's side of the wagon and proceeded to spew broken parts behind her (smallish chunks of plastic and/or metal). She was able to keep the wagon under control and get it over to the shoulder - with the wheel wedged under her car - without affecting anyone else, but I imagine that the suspension was practically destroyed when that happened.

 

[classicautoresto]

Would the surface on a 1 mile airport landing strip work for a dragstrip? We are debating on if our worthless airport would generate more revenue as a dragstrip. If the airstrip surface (repaved about 4 years ago) would work, the cost factor could make this a possibility for my community. Jerry

I submitted this as a new post and it put in Brian's thread. I was not trying to hijack it. My apologies to Brian! Jerry

 

[classicautoresto]

Double post....man I'm having trouble with this website in the last few days! LOL

 

[moontanker]

Hazards

A couple of years ago I just finished a 56 ford half ton and was flyin down I 40 towards Nashville and a Tracter trailer lost a wheel.I got out of the way and loaded it up and caught the guy stopped down the road.We proceeded to give him back his tire and he said he would send me some money for helping him.Wonder when he is going to send that.