Sofa in My Lane on Freeway

[donaldcc]

 

  Cruising along with moderate traffic this morning with a 10 mile stretch on freeway.  4 lanes each way and I am in lane 3 (next to slowest) with car in front, tractor trailer ahead on right and car behind me on left just behind blind spot.

Tractor trailer turns on his hazard lights and I wonder why would he do that.  About 5 seconds later car in front veers quickly to left into #2 lane and there right in the middle of my lane is a sofa.  didn't really have time to check on left ( but knew of car behind and to the left just previously) and veered half way over into that lane just missing it.

  was watching behind and the first group of vehicles missed it but could see a big group coming up and I KNOW someone was going to hit it.  About 1/2 mile up a truck is backing up in the emergency lane.  Glad I was not on Valkyrie, but would have been easier to avoid it on the bike.

we all have confronted this type of thing.  have close call yourself??

[old2soon]

And NO not trying to be a smart azz. After 40 years of running ALL over this country I have seen more than my fair share of "stuff" on the highway. Name a piece of furniture or an appliance and I've either seen the whole damn thing OR what it looks like after an encounter with a vehicle.  And a few times the vehicle that had the encounter with the "stuff" still close to the encounter site due to vehicle damage.    In East Texas around Longview years ago I helped Texas State Troopers take a boat and outboard motor off of I-20.  I watched a piece of steel that came off a flat bed that had passed me watch it bounce under my truck heard the noise and watched my oil pressure go away.  That piece of steel had holed the oil pan on the engine.    Do you have any idea how big a mess 11 GALLONS GALLONS NOT quarts but 11 gals of oil make a huge mess dumped out of a truck doing 70 M P H.  RIDE SAFE.

[Psychotic Bovine]

[Jess from VA]

So you passed up a perfectly good sofa?   

[Michael K (Az.)]

I remember reading a road test review of one of the first big BMW's in a bike mag waaay back inna day and the first thing the writer says is the suspension on the bike tested great as he ran over a box spring in the middle of the road and only had to change his shorts afterwards!!

[R J]

Many moons ago when I was on my CHP Motor, I and my partner were following this stake truck.    He had several ladders in the bed.

He hit a buckle from the heat in the road, he went airborne and a ladder came out and sliding right straight down the road in front of me.   We also went airborne over this buckle.

Before I could get my emergency lights on, I had started up the ladder rungs.

I made it all the way, my partner had stopped traffic just in case I took a spill.

I proceeded down the Freeway and pulled the truck over.      No only did he have an unsafe load, he hardly had any brakes and was intoxicated.   Had to call for a Cruiser and a flat bed to impound the truck.   During the impound we found the bad brakes.   That put a permanent pucker factor in that seat.   Was worried or scared till it was almost over, then the Adrenalin was really tearing around in the blood system.    This was an hour into my tour and I was still high strung at the end of the tour.   I parked the motor at the office and took my Cruiser home.

[bigguy]

It might have been on this board that a member from down under recounted rolling over the carcase of a kangaroo. He was following a truck too closely and didn't have time to doge as it emerged from under the truck.

[alph]

my wife and I were driving to Chicago one night when we saw a bunch of stuff on the road.  I first thought it was a body!!  then  we came up to a woman on the side of the road, the front end of her Honda was smashed, I asked her if she was alright, she said she was fine, I asked her what she hit, she said A SOFA!!!  then she said IT WAS A NICE ONE TOO!!     

I could only imagine the thought of the people that were transferring the sofa when they get to their destination, and there's NO SOFA!!!

[Patrick]

Yep, I'm confident we've all had issues like this.
Well, coming home on fine day in a brand spanking new truck my friend wanted to drive.  I assumed he knew how to do that since he'd been doing it for 40+ years. A chair fell fell off a truck in front of us. Remember those 50s chairs with the chrome metal legs ? This chair comes to a stop with the legs straight up. There was no other traffic around us and there was plenty of time to move. I start to get a little nervous because he's looking straight ahead and not moving. So, I mention the chair. No response. I mention it again, no response. Now I kinda raise my voice and tell him to look out ! He continues straight on and drives right the hell over that chair and never changes his gaze or expression. Do you have any idea what 2 new 20" Goodyears cost ? He's not allowed to drive my vehicles any more.

OH, heres another. Years ago JoAnn and I are headed to a friends house. She is driving her new Crown Vic. We're going right along nicely and we both see a nice deer lying in the road. I mention the deer and how big the antlers were. The antlers were huge, nice deer !  She keeps getting closer and I keep mentioning this to her. Her reaction is to sit higher and lean forward in the seat, yep, that'll help. I started yelling at her to move over. Have you ever had a woman listen ? So she centered up right on that deer. We both flew into the roof and all 4 wheels were off the ground. We slammed back down and she kept going like nothing ever happened. I hollered at her to pull over and stop. Surprisingly nothing was damaged, except my heart.
This is the same woman that has rolled 2 of our vehicles.

[Moonshot_1]

Couple years back, my daughter and I were in Sioux City. We were headed south on I-29 in my truck right along the Missouri river. Traffic was a bit heavy. The winds that day were in the 40 - 50 mph range. The river, which was high at the time was completely awash in white caps from the wind. We came to a small bridge and I took a brief moment, less than 1/2 second, to look at the river and looked back and was now following a large stainless steel BBQ grill sliding down the highway. The guy in front of me had changed lanes to avoid it and there it was sliding in front of me at 60 mph. Couldn't get around it at first cause I had traffic on my left and little room on my right because of the guard rail on the bridge.

I was able to slow down enough to avoid the grill and the grill slid a little more to the left and gave me just enough room to get by on the right side. This grill slid a long, long ways.

At the end of the bridge, on the side of the road, was a guy with a pick up missing a brand new, giant BBQ grill.

[art]

In 1993 after 25 years of not riding I bought an 89 Goldwing and was returning home from a ride with a friend.We were on the I 10 in socal  and I was still new to riding and a bit nervous on the freeway.I got on the cb radio to my friend to move over to the far left lane as we were approaching an 18 wheeler . Just after we moved over the truck hit a piece of sheet metal about 4'x4' and lifted it up to eye level just where we would have been if we did not move over one lane.It was just like a big frizbe as I passed it.We were very lucky to not die that night. I always try to stay away from  big trucks for that reason.

[Michael K (Az.)]

So you passed up a perfectly good sofa?   

Jess, took the words right out of my keyboard!!

[musclehead]

in only 600,000 miles in a big rig, I've seen ladders across the road latterly, all kinds of furniture, cushions, chairsand thousands of mattresses/box springs.

was just about getting off the  I-95 at kenly NC and a pick up was passing me with a sofa in the bed and a love seat nestled on top. right when he got next to my cab he hit a bump and the love seat lifted up and once it got a little air off with a whoosh! I didn't get to see the aftermath.....

[Punisher]

Going south bound on 4-lane Interstate and a north bound dually pickup was approaching.  Turns out he had a 18-wheeler dual-tire/rim from a trailer in the back bed with the tailgate down.   Of course the wheel jumps out of the back of the truck, stands up and starts hauling azz up the highway.   He never even sees it and keeps going.

That dual-wheel was moving too!  It crossed between the Interstate lanes, grass flying as it was probably running 50-60 mph, and was headed right towards me.   At the last second it must've hit a bump and it leaped over the Interstate, right in front of me!   It was probably 10-15 feet in the air and disappeared into the trees last I saw it.

Had to burn my shorts when I got home! 

[old2soon]

To this very day I see folks load an open truck or an open trailer with high dollar whatever and what makes me question these folks sanity is this. You have spent a serous amount of coinage on yer new to you "stuff". Would you care to explain to me the WHY of you NOT going to wally wurld china freight an auto parts store or a hardware store and NOT purchasing 1 inch ratchet straps or some decent nylon hard braid rope??  Dad told me a LONG time ago-if it goes in yer pickup box or an open trailer and it's worth something-learn HOW to tie it down.  I would love to be at the new destination when they move the fridge the sofa the bed etc etc-and when they go to get whatever is missing and they see the big empty where whatever USED to be-THAT would be a real Kodak moment!!  When I hauled equipment for Keen they had a few horror stories of drivers taking short cuts with stuff that weighed multiple TONS. RIDE SAFE.

[saddlesore]

Today I saw the usual collection of gas cans, coolers, pails and tie down straps.  I did hit an alligator that threw me over kind of funny. Enough to wake me up for sure.

[pancho]

Many years ago riding from Fort Myers up towards St. Pete on 41 with a fat girl on back. Running about 60 when two little dogs came out of nowhere and were right there,,,,  missed one and hit the other dead on, went airborne but managed to keep upright and not go down, recovered and kept going..... the only thing I could see was me sliding down the pavement on my face with her on top of me,,,,, I was in a death grip.......  about a minutes later I had to stop to let the rest of the adrenalin bleed off,,, and let her cool down.   That one stuck good enough that I can still feel it today when I think about it. I never again allowed a big woman on a bike of mine,,,, to this day.

[FryeVRCCDS0067]

Anybody remember the "big ass" steel pipes which had fallen off a flatbed and closed the road ahead of us on the Blue/Grey ride?

[Serk]

Wow, you're lucky you missed it!

In fact, you're so lucky, I think I'm gonna start calling you the King of Lucky!

So, in this case you were Sofa King Lucky...

(Sorry, had to do it... Don't say that out loud around kids!)

[donaldcc]

 

Funny Serk!

[Jess from VA]

So, in this case you were Sofa King Lucky...

  (had to read it out loud)

[donaldcc]

I was lucky!  sometimes we are.

[Hooter]

   Thats why I won't tailgate and don't want someone riding next to me. I want room to move. I ride alone 98% of the time so its pretty easy to control. Thats a helluva place to put a living room!