Staying Safe on Your Motorcycle #27 - Beware of Truck
OK, here is a tip from something that recently scared the hell outta me:
I was riding on I-25 (a super busy highway through Denver), and I noticed a pickup truck ahead of me in traffic. This guy must have been a contractor or something - you know, beat up truck, tools and supplies packed all over the back. And this was the scary part - about 6 2X4 boards that either weren’t strapped down, or the rope had broken and the guys inside hadn’t realized it!
Ya, bouncy-bouncy lumber in the back of a truck that had the gate down. Not good!
There were about 3 cars between me and the truck. But I had a bad feeling, and moved over about 2 lanes, being sure to keep a good distance between myself, and the cars directly behind that guy.
Well, within moments of my move, the inevitable happened....
Going 70 mph, the truck hit a good bump. BOUNCE! went the lumber, and one of the boards caught some wind....It lifted up and out of the truck, right into the path of the cars behind! Of course, they swerved wildly to avoid this killer 2X4 (thank God I gave them plenty of room to do so as I passed ‘em up). The board basically broke into splinters when it hit the ground end-first.
WHEW!
So beware of trucks with loads of crap in them!
Even if there are a dozen cars between you and that truck---move out of the way of potential debris, and give the cars plenty of room to dodge that debris themselves.
A panicked driver won’t look for you before he switches lanes or stomps on the brakes...
I was riding on I-25 (a super busy highway through Denver), and I noticed a pickup truck ahead of me in traffic. This guy must have been a contractor or something - you know, beat up truck, tools and supplies packed all over the back. And this was the scary part - about 6 2X4 boards that either weren’t strapped down, or the rope had broken and the guys inside hadn’t realized it!
Ya, bouncy-bouncy lumber in the back of a truck that had the gate down. Not good!
There were about 3 cars between me and the truck. But I had a bad feeling, and moved over about 2 lanes, being sure to keep a good distance between myself, and the cars directly behind that guy.
Well, within moments of my move, the inevitable happened....
Going 70 mph, the truck hit a good bump. BOUNCE! went the lumber, and one of the boards caught some wind....It lifted up and out of the truck, right into the path of the cars behind! Of course, they swerved wildly to avoid this killer 2X4 (thank God I gave them plenty of room to do so as I passed ‘em up). The board basically broke into splinters when it hit the ground end-first.
WHEW!
So beware of trucks with loads of crap in them!
Even if there are a dozen cars between you and that truck---move out of the way of potential debris, and give the cars plenty of room to dodge that debris themselves.
A panicked driver won’t look for you before he switches lanes or stomps on the brakes...
2 comments:
Hey! i'm going to cali this sunday.. gonna be there for a week, this is the site i was talking about where i made the extra cash. later!
Glad you liked that post of mine. :-)
--BikerDan, from TheBikerWeb.com
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