This is why I stay away from idiots that don't strap stuff down.

This happened today. We drove past it this morning. I hope he got a nice ticket for not having stuff strapped down.

 

My wife danced with a 10' A frame ladder that fell off a construction truck last year on the freeway with nowhere to go due to traffic. She lost! Her highlander was only 10 months old.

 

One of the guys at work loaded up my ladders on my roof rack without tie downs. I took off without checking my racks. One 6’ ladder ate it on the freeway, and I ran across 4 lanes to grab it.

My fault for not checking the load? Yes
Made the guy buy me a new ladder? Also yes

 

They need to stiffen the penalties for people not securing loads. Many deaths and accidents could be prevented.

 

My favorite drivers are the ones that don't secure their load and choose to just drive 20mph under the speed limit. Lazy bastards.

 

LOL, I spent the first 19 years of my life living in Pinellas Park, we used to call it the pit for a reason. Small world.

 

I used to get into arguments with my old boss on how we were "DOT Exempt" when I worked of the state and was chaining down my tractor on a roll back. Some people are just dumb.

10 minutes to strap something down vs some innocent life was a no brainer

 

Meanwhile, nobody can figure out why auto insurance is so expensive. Agree with you 100% OP.

 

Yeah its definitely different. I'm not from FL originally. I lived in Brandon for a couple of years and then bought a house over here. I'm up by Autumn Run on 66th and 102nd Ave.

 

The dangers come from the most unexpected directions.

 

I once drove behind a dump truck full of scrap from a work site that was overloaded. Some roofing material blew off and fell on the road in front of me. I saw it as it was happening and quickly swerved around it.

The state trooper behind me wasn’t so lucky when it he ran over it and damaged his bumper.

10 seconds later the lights went on and he pulled the dump truck driver over.

Sweet justice.

 

Related PSA from a couple days ago: If you have a felony warrant and forgot to strap down part of the sectional in your truck bed, you'll likely go to a different location than your truck and sectional.

Strapping your crap down can easily save you time and money.

 

HA. Yup. Prezactly. I recall years ago listening to Drake & Zeke on Rock 103 in Memphis. They had a Dumb Criminal segment each day. And Drake's constant admonition to the listeners "fooooooooooooooooooooooooooolks. If you're gonna run dope DO NOT speed."

 

I got hit by a full size propane grill in my 08 Tundra. Driver sailed out of his neighborhood turning right onto the highway I was on just as I went by in the other lane.... grill flew out of his truck and went airborne and struck my truck going 55mph. Almost $4k worth of damage, trashed the whole drivers side of my 2 month old truck. Zero tie downs ... I’m the only person I’ve ever known that was involved in an accident with a flying grill

 

My ex's niece ate a 6" steel oil field pipe that came off a truck. Needless to say it was a closed casket. I hate road debris. Short after I bought my last Tacoma this dude lost an 8' extension ladder. Naturally it straddled my lane. Hit it at 65 mph. Another time this guy lost one of those metal dinette chairs with the U shaped legs. It wedged under my front bumper. I could not get it loose and just drove until it disintegrated.

 

This guy!

 

Similarly, we finish up the underground at a job and loaded up the extra 100ft of 5" pvc on the ladder rack. Ratchet it down nice and tight, looks good to go. Right before I'm about to leave, out of the corner of my eye, I catch a guy sliding smaller sized rigid conduit INTO the larger 5" pvc. I would have never caught it before it torpedoed a car in front of me the first time I apply the brakes from a good speed. I always checked my loads after that. Always.

 

Same. I was pissed and embarrassed at the same time. It’s so natural now, whether or not something has been used, gets checked every time.

 

When driving on the highway I'm always on high alert for these morons, that, and gravel trucks that always seem to hit a bump and spew stones when I'm directly behind them. Sometimes its things you would never imagine, like the time a car in front of me drove directly into a bed liner that a pickup in front of him lost. It came off the truck, did a few flips, and this poor guy drove right into it and had no steering whatsoever, fortunately he didn't panic and ended up in the breakdown lane after about a 1/4 mile. Thankfully he was alright.

 

Meanwhile... another thread here bashing usps for not delivering the mail.

 

That postal worker will be on disability with pay for the next 10 years, then retire with full benefits...

 

Years ago I was headed south on I-95 here in Jacksonville around 5:00 pm. This section of road was four lanes wide and getting crowded, but the traffic was still moving pretty good around 65mph. Next thing I see is this big white object flipping around through the air like when you throw a playing card. Started to brake and then it kinda flipped back into my lane. I realized we were going to collide as I couldn't move left or right because of the traffic so I just pushed back from the wheel, kept her straight and hoped for the best. Right before the impact I ID'd it as a box spring, then BOOM! Windshield shatters but nothing penetrates. I get back on the gas a bit not knowing what happened behind me and luckily I can still see through the windshield and I make my way over to the right side of the road. Surprisingly the box spring stayed in one piece after hitting me, I don't know if it hit anybody else but once I was stopped and surveying the situation I could see it laying over against the freeway divider. Thankfully nobody behind me appeared to have panicked and swerved away causing a massive pileup and the traffic kept going but that assh*t that didn't have this thing strapped down just kept rolling. I hope karma is real.

 

That guy buys better ratchet straps than I do...

 

How much for the little girl ? In my best blues brothers voice .

 

https://youtu.be/GDXYzUlv0S8

Also, this:

https://youtu.be/bqsTmF2Oicc

 

Wowser. I remember the day after I brought my brand new truck from the dealership, I went in a family trip and along the way was this Ford hauling a boat while we were passing through the mountains. At one point, boat paddles, a cooler, a lawn chair, and a large metal fishing net, just flew put of the boat and onto the highway. The driver in the car kept driving and seemed very oblivious.

 

It is a small world, I remember when they built that area. It used to be a cattle ranch I would cut through on my way to PP High School. The last place I lived in PP was at 58th and 100th Ave. on the borrow pit they built houses around in the late 70's.

 

Many years ago I was on the 105 freeway (for the SoCal guys) and there was guy in a Chevy or Ford that had a big doghouse in the bed of his truck. Not only was it not tied down, this dumbshit loaded it so that the entry was up against the cab. The roof of the doghouse was about a foot above the cab of the truck. So when this guy did was turn the doghouse into a parachute. I was in the fast lane and he was in the slower lanes but a few cars up. As you can guess, once this guy hit just the right speed this doghouse goes airborne and lands on the freeway doing 70 mph. Fortunately traffic was light and I don't think any cars hit it, as I had already passed it up by the time it hit the ground.


Another time on the same freeway I was carpooling with my foreman so we were in the carpool lane. There was a guy two lanes over keeping pace with us in a Chevy that had a ladder rack. On top of that rack were several sheets of drywall. Now this guy decided to at least strap it down to the rack. Problem was he didn't strap it down in the correct spots. And as you can guess, once he hit the right speed the top sheet of drywall caught the air, broke in half and became a giant piece of 4' by 4' flying road hazard.

Some people just don't get it.