Missed an accident by 100ft

[Sombeech]

So I was driving home today, getting on I-15 Northbound at 2100 S onramp in SLC. You know how it takes you about 1/2 mile to actually get to the freeway? Anyways;

I finally get on the freeway, and I look in my rear view mirror. About 100 ft behind me I see this bicycle (BMX style) bouncing wheel over wheel in the middle of the freeway. :eek7: Seconds later I see cars hitting it, swerving around it, and eventually it looked like there was a small pile-up happening.

That's all I saw, because after a few seconds, I was around that corner. I tried to look for a vehicle that looked like it may have been carrying a bicycle, but no luck, because nobody was stopped ahead.

Anybody see this today? (Monday Oct 17)

[DaveOU812]

No...BUT I WOULD HAVE LIKED TOO!!! :lol8:

[Wasatch Rebel]

I wondered what happend to my bike.

[Sombeech]

I wondered what happend to my bike.

It's sticking out the windshield of a green Geo Metro.

[Wasatch Rebel]

It's sticking out the windshield of a green Geo Metro.

Seriously, doesn't that make you wonder how that happened? I often wonder that when I see things laying on the road--like what were those people thinking, not securing those things properly, putting others in danger. Though look at me talking. I've lost two sleeping bags off the rack on the top of my car, and the car behind me hit one of them. I'm glad it wasn't something more solid. I also once forgot to tighten the lug nuts on a utility trailer after I'd changed a flat at home (you know, I tightened those things before lowering it off the jack, but forgot to tighten them again once it was down on the ground). We were in a hurry, going to Mill Hollow for a few days. We made it to Mill Hollow, but on the way back, the tire suddenly fell off, and went flying down the road, in the oncoming lane. Luckily no cars were in that lane at that moment.
The bottom line is, things like that happen when they shouldn't, and it's a shame when people get hurt or inconvenienced because of somebody's careless error.

Shane

[nitmik]

I was driving down I-15 once and saw a shovel come out of the back of a truck, cars went everywhere to avoid it.

[RugerShooter]

This is the aftermath of hitting something on the freeway that somebody didn't strap down. This happened on Sunday coming back from Wendover in between the 1st and 2ND Layton exits (northbound I-15)
We don't know what we hit because we didn't stop due to the rain and being dark :ne_nau:

[Mtnman1830]

Holy Shiznit! what no blood... that is a good sign, I guess.

[accadacca]

DAMN!!! :eek2:

[stefan]

Holy s**t!! sorry about your car....it really sucks to hit stuff on the road, especially when it's someone else's fault that it's there.

one of my close encounters was on wasatch at night, there was a a-frame shaped bit of sheetrock sitting in the road in the dark. since it was angled upwards it required being very close to even see it, and it was barely at that. since the speed limit is 50, i narrowly averted it at the very last moment by a mellow swerve. kinda freaked me out because it was much taller than the hood of my car.

on a not so lucky occasion, i was driving on a highway along the trinity river in northern california, hairpin turns in the dark. as i was approaching a turn a car was coming the other way, and the headlights were blinding. as i passed the car and flicked my brights back on, there was a large boulder (1-2 feet tall) in the middle of the road. i was going the speed limit and it was fast enough that i didn't have the time to avoid the rock, fearing that i might nail it with my wheel. i managed to hit it between the wheel and the engine (the best place to hit). i caught some air as i hit and pulverized it (sedementary rock). fortunately i didn't lose control of the car and head off the side of the road into the river down below. moreover the car was still drivable, albeit driving straight meat keeping the steeringwheel at a 25-30 degree angle from normal and there was a clicking noise when i hit small bumps. i later found out from the body shop that these boulders (which regularly fall the steep cliffs and hillsides in these canyons) keep the local bodyshops in business during the winter/spring(as well as fallen gigantic redwood branches), fortunately the damage was minimal ($1000) and mostly consisted of completely bending the control arm among other damage. when my mechanic took a look at it, he exclaimed with garage reverb "How big a rock did you HIT!!??"

Hitting the rock with the wheel could have sent me completely out of control and hitting the engine could have completely ruined the engine. i lucked out tremendously, i feel.

[i saw one guy last march in big cottonwood canyon have the back wheel completely come off his jeep cherokee with i huge 3 foot boulder sitting right near it, with a much worse head on collision just up canyon (related?).]

while my collision was something that i could have maybe avoided had i been going much slower(though before this i didn't see rocks on the road), it's the cartwheeling motor bikes, random dislodged tires, and other stuff hanging out on the roads that you have almost no choice in the matter. OR EVEN, how about that guy(i think it was) a few of years ago on I-15 who caught a chunk of ice through his windshield (killing him) which came off the top of a trailer of a semi traveling the opposite way. it's illegal to have snow or ice on the top of your vehicle while driving and this made it clear why.

again, sorry about your car. looks like a fair bit of damage.

stefan

[RugerShooter]

Bad thing is this was not my car, we were borrowing it from my sister-in-law. I am just glad I wasn't driving, my wife's uncle was.

[Sombeech]

I am just glad I wasn't driving, my wife's uncle was.

That sucks dude. You know the driver's always the unlucky bastard, while the rest of the passengers are thinking the same thing. The driver is thinking, "why did this happen on my shift?"