Weird Road Hazard
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 2,478
Likes: 254
From: Downers Grove Illinois
Weird Road Hazard
Last night I was driving my '92 Corvette eastbound on I-88 in Illinois when a car in front of me swerved wildly. By the time I realized why I hit a big shovel that had fallen off of a pickup truck. I was going 60-65 at the time. I wasn't sure how much damage it did and also called *999 so that someone from the state could come and remove it. I monitored the vitals of the car and made it home without issues. I didn't feel up to looking at it last night, plus with it being dark I wouldn't have seen much. I am lucky because it only scraped the bottom of the drivers side bumper and a little of the air dam. All this after I had just finished changing the fuel filter, one O2 sensor and changing the oil in the ZF6. I am lucky I wasn't hurt and very little done to the car, I am amazed. I am hoping my car pushed it off to the shoulder and no one else had problems with the shovel.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Mar 2016
Posts: 2,778
Likes: 580
From: Langley BC
That, is too bad. Glad there was only minor damage to your car. I had a similar experience a few years back I was driving on a highway and the car in front of me lost a big piece of its exhaust system, muffler pipes ect... all came disconnected in one piece. I could not swerve to avoid it because there was a barrier on one side of me and a truck pulling a boat on the other. the exhaust hit the front of my car and ricocheted into the barrier about 2 feet off the ground and hit the SUV behind me destroying its nose. I pulled over along with the SUV behind me, the car in front never stopped! To my surprise I had not one scratch on my car. The SUV was in bad shape, we couldn't call for a tow because there was no cell service and a police car drove by despite our waving at it. I managed to zap strap the nose of the SUV together enough that the guy could drive it to the next town since I had no extra seats to take him. Always amazes me how people don't stop when they drop stuff on the road.
Last edited by DMITTZ; Nov 4, 2016 at 03:48 PM.
Safety Car
Joined: Mar 2005
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From: Fredonia WI
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Drifting
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 1,693
Likes: 144
From: on Barnegat Bay Joisey
Hit a Belgian block (about 6" square) that was loose from the curb and put a golf ball size bubble in the side wall of a new Conti Extreme tire. My tire dealer said no defect caused it so $175 to replace.
I did some research and found the tire had a 1 year road hazard warranty. Brought it to the dealers attention and he verified with the distributor. Result new tire, mount and balance. No charge. Thanks Conti.
I did some research and found the tire had a 1 year road hazard warranty. Brought it to the dealers attention and he verified with the distributor. Result new tire, mount and balance. No charge. Thanks Conti.
Racer
Joined: Jul 2016
Posts: 346
Likes: 26
It really upsets me to see these folks sit on their backsides and do nothing when they could. My wife is unable to be home by herself due to her traumatic brain injury and i take care of her. We do not get food stamps because we do not qualify without children living in the home full time. We barely get medical help(thanks for nothing Obama care) because they took away/stopped paying for her therapy. I do not get paid to take care of her and i cannot work unless i would put her in a nursing home or send her to her mother's 1700 miles away in Florida. I'm a truck driver by profession before all this happened and we tried to get her in a truck and return to making a living that way and she could not handle all the movement plus her bladder proved unreliable. Long story short there are those that can work and don't and get tons of money and assistance and then there is us that get nothing. My rant is over
Last edited by warrior4jesus; Nov 6, 2016 at 02:29 PM.
Racer
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 333
Likes: 74
From: MUSKOGEE COUNTY OKLAHOMA
Lost my center air dam to a big 'ol snapping turtle a while back. Two lane road, car in the other lane, and no shoulder. All I could do was straddle him and hope for the best. Big thump and flying turtle parts in the rear view mirror. Fortunately the only casualties were my air dam and the turtle.
Last edited by GRIS; Nov 6, 2016 at 07:16 PM.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 2,772
Likes: 64
From: Mystic CT
It really upsets me to see these folks sit on their backsides and do nothing when they could. My wife is unable to be home by herself due to her traumatic brain injury and i take care of her. We do not get food stamps because we do not qualify without children living in the home full time. We barely get medical help(thanks for nothing Obama care) because they took away/stopped paying for her therapy. I do not get paid to take care of her and i cannot work unless i would put her in a nursing home or send her to her mother's 1700 miles away in Florida. I'm a truck driver by profession before all this happened and we tried to get her in a truck and return to making a living that way and she could not handle all the movement plus her bladder proved unreliable. Long story short there are those that can work and don't and get tons of money and assistance and then there is us that get nothing. My rant is over
Instructor
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 240
Likes: 18
From: Carrollton Illinois
I was driving my car home the day I bought it and a raccoon ran out of the ditch straight in front of me. There was no way I could avoid it. It took a good chunk of fiberglass out of the front left of the driver floorboard, that was fun to fix...
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Team Owner
Joined: Feb 2006
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From: San Antonio Texas
I hit one of those racks that hold a handicap electric kart to the back of a van. The one that mounts into a trailer hitch. The weld broke on the hitch so the thing fell off in the road in the fast lane and got punted by another van into my path. Nowhere to go on an overpass with another car beside me. Had to straddle the damn thing and hope it wouldn't rip my ***** off!
Amazingly it only took off the air-dam and busted a hole in the radiator. Don't know how the rest of the bottom of the car cleared that thing, but nothing else touched it. A couple of cars behind me got flats from hitting it. Of course, the guy that dropped it was long gone.
Amazingly it only took off the air-dam and busted a hole in the radiator. Don't know how the rest of the bottom of the car cleared that thing, but nothing else touched it. A couple of cars behind me got flats from hitting it. Of course, the guy that dropped it was long gone.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Sep 2015
Posts: 1,000
Likes: 114
From: Bang Bang Chicago Illinois
C4 of Year Finalist (stock) 2019
Jim sorry you had a close encounter with the shovel and glad you and the other motorist are safe and uninjured. Your car is beautiful and glad everything was minor with the scrape, although it would be better with no contact. Here is a link with some pictures of Jim’s car over the summer, he has the only yellow C4 and it looks really great in person: https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...tte-night.html. I have had situations like that on the Calumet expressway and once on I55 near La Grange Road, that one caused lots of damage to my Focus.
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 2,478
Likes: 254
From: Downers Grove Illinois
Jim sorry you had a close encounter with the shovel and glad you and the other motorist are safe and uninjured. Your car is beautiful and glad everything was minor with the scrape, although it would be better with no contact. Here is a link with some pictures of Jim’s car over the summer, he has the only yellow C4 and it looks really great in person: https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...tte-night.html. I have had situations like that on the Calumet expressway and once on I55 near La Grange Road, that one caused lots of damage to my Focus.
Melting Slicks
Joined: May 2013
Posts: 2,692
Likes: 349
From: Sacramento California
Yeah after a few incidents (pre-Corvette days), plus a few close calls, I always assume people are driving weird for a reason. When I can conclude that they have no reason, only then do I dismiss the behavior. Glad you are OK and the car will survive to roll another day.
Race Director
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 14,936
Likes: 3,344
From: NYC NY
Debris falling from cars/trucks on the highway is a real problem especially at 65+MPH. I had a 2' long piece of pipe fall off a truck in front of me on the highway while in my daily driver. With traffic on both sides I had no where to go. Fortunately after running it over I only caught the left rear door and did about $350 worth of damage. It could have been so much worse. Of course the pipe remained on the highway and God only knows how many other instances there were before it was removed.
Racer
Joined: Jul 2016
Posts: 346
Likes: 26
I think this is in the wrong thread somehow........ this was supposed to be in response to the Am I helping Thread. How did this happen?
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 6,528
Likes: 752
From: South Dakota
It seems pretty common in Illinois.
I've had 4 or 5 incidents recently. Yesterday it was an aluminum extension ladder in the middle of the right lane on the I-55.
When I was going to Mid America Funfest I was on I-57 and a pickup dropped furniture. The car behind him swerved but hit it. I was behind him and saw the biggest section of it about 4 feet in the air while I was closing on it at about 75 mph. I made some aggressive moves (a hard right, a correction left, and another hard right) and missed all of it.
Although I spilled my drink, I was really impressed with how well the car handled and it turned out to be the high point of the trip.
I've had 4 or 5 incidents recently. Yesterday it was an aluminum extension ladder in the middle of the right lane on the I-55.
When I was going to Mid America Funfest I was on I-57 and a pickup dropped furniture. The car behind him swerved but hit it. I was behind him and saw the biggest section of it about 4 feet in the air while I was closing on it at about 75 mph. I made some aggressive moves (a hard right, a correction left, and another hard right) and missed all of it.
Although I spilled my drink, I was really impressed with how well the car handled and it turned out to be the high point of the trip.