Mayhem

Goat10 · Oct 19, 2014

I had an experience today that reminded me of the Allstate commercial where the mayhem guy was pushing tailgating stuff out of a pickup. I was on 46 coming from Boerne and noticed the truck in front of me had a very large BBQ grill secured by a very loose strap. I backed way off and a little while later I see the strap fall off and the grill fall on the tailgate! Fortunately the guy heard it too and quickly pulled off, I was far enough back that there were no emergency actions needed. I had to laugh because that commercial was playing through my mind! [emoji1]

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sharkey · Oct 19, 2014

Good on you for recognizing the threat.

pub610 · Oct 20, 2014

When I see a pickup with stuff in the back, I recall the incident some years back in which a Louisiana rider was killed when a bathtub bounced out of the back of a pickup.
It pays to be aware of potential mayhem.

dandeldesierto · Oct 20, 2014

There was a local incident several years ago when someone was transporting a mattress in the back of a truck and using a teenager as ballast. The mattress took flight (temporarily), the teenager was killed.

focus frenzy · Oct 20, 2014

Goat10 said:
I had an experience today that reminded me of the Allstate commercial where the mayhem guy was pushing tailgating stuff out of a pickup. I was on 46 coming from Boerne and noticed the truck in front of me had a very large BBQ grill secured by a very loose strap. I backed way off and a little while later I see the strap fall off and the grill fall on the tailgate! Fortunately the guy heard it too and quickly pulled off, I was far enough back that there were no emergency actions needed. I had to laugh because that commercial was playing through my mind! [emoji1]

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[ame="http://youtu.be/efniVO4wURU"]http://youtu.be/efniVO4wURU[/ame]

Goat10 · Oct 20, 2014

dandeldesierto said:
There was a local incident several years ago when someone was transporting a mattress in the back of a truck and using a teenager as ballast. The mattress took flight (temporarily), the teenager was killed.

I cringe everytime I see someone hauling a mattress that way. I'm very thankful the grill landed on the raised tail gate and didn't come off and for the little voice that said back off and give this guy plenty of room.

o_matic · Oct 30, 2014

Had a similar encounter last month in Alabama, on the interstate just outside Birmingham.

It was very windy. I'm riding in the middle lane, about to pass a pickup truck with an unsecured upright refrigerator in the back. The voice inside my head said "That don't look right.".

I moved to the far left lane and sped up, just in time to watch the refrigerator fall over and smash into the tailgate. Not something I'd want to be riding behind.

Mayhem indeed.

RedPill · Oct 30, 2014

Years ago I saw a guy going the other way on 114 lose TWO refrigerators out of his truck. He just kept going.

KenH · Nov 4, 2014

Incident today reminded me of this thread. Rolling along about 70mph when a Dodge pickup loaded with furniture flew by and cut right in front of me. I changed lanes because I had that bad feeling like some of the folks who posted above, just in time to not have to dodge about half the furniture as it slide out the opened tailgate. The Ryder rental following me must not have been paying attention because I think he drove through/over the heap because he was still in the right lane next mirror check.

bmcdonau · Nov 5, 2014

The stuff you see in the back of a truck or on a trailer is scary. I saw a farmer hauling three round bails of hay, one on top of the other two, on a trailer with nothing securing them.

wildebube · Nov 5, 2014

I had one of those too. Several years ago I came up behind a car with three or four big sheets of sheetrock on the roof secured by a single rope going over the top and through the windows of the car. The wind was bouncing the sheetrock around and everything was looking very unstable. Just as I changed lanes to pass, the top sheet broke in half, stood up straight, and took off. It was followed very quickly by the whole load. I managed to get by without incident, but that stuff still hit the road ahead of me and exploded into a huge and completely opaque white cloud that I rode through. Scary stuff.

JTM · Nov 5, 2014

I grew up around rice and hay fields and have always been scared of the farmers pulling hay trailers with half ton trucks, I've seen too many of them lift the back tires off the ground when applying the brakes.

NathanH · Nov 5, 2014

Years ago I had a spare tire come bounding straight at me from the opposite oncoming lanes. Must have come from the bottom of a pickup truck because it still had the post running through the center of it that holds a pickup truck spare underneath the bed. The tire was rolling and bouncing so the gyroscopic forces were keeping the rod straight out like the leg-smashers on a chariot wheel in Ben-Hur. I saw it with enough time to avoid relatively easily, but it smashed the heck out of the front of a vehicle one or two back from me. Mayhem indeed.

cheez · Nov 5, 2014

Last week I almost ran over a bear in the middle of the lane. I'm not kidding- the car in front of me cleared him and I almost ran him right over. He was about four feet tall, sitting down almost on the white line between the 2 and 3 lanes, had curly brown fur and button eyes. Must've just fallen out of his ride because he wasn't damaged at all- if I had faster reflexes I could have grabbed him. I avoided him by inches on the right side... got home and my video was corrupt. :/

Not often you can say you almost hit a bear on the road in Texas. Even if it IS an oversized Teddy Bear.

SparkyBlue · Nov 6, 2014

When I lived in The Colony, saw a cement mixer tumble off a trailer making a 'too fast' turn. Hilarious really, like something from a Three Stooges flick. The guys running around yelling in Spanish and trying to figure what to do.