Beware of road debris

[pntrdave]

10. Beware the verge and the merge
A lot of nasty surprises end up on the sides of the road: empty McDonald’s bags, nails, TV antennas, ladders, you name it. Watch for potentially troublesome debris on both sides of the road.

I just read the 50 tips for safer riding and number10 made me think of some of the stuff I have seen on the pavement.

Most dangerous thing..... Tooling down interstate and the car in front of me swerves into left lane for no apparent reason, then I see the reason.... the bumper off a pickup is laying across the right lane of traffic. Real glad I saw that.

What all have you guys seen????

[JIB]

I had a lawn care truck right in front of me losing it's load of sod on the freeway.

[Psycho1]

I was riding to work one morning while it was still dark. I was in the slow lane going about 70mph, and a guy in a Toyota 4x4 pickup flew past me the next lane to my left, then hit the dirt median showering me with fist size rocks before I could do anything to avoid it. Luckily it was a cold morning, so I had a heavy jacket on along with my full face helmet (befoe helmets were mandatoy) and my visor was down. I had some good bruises even with the padding though.

[Robgsxf750]

I was behind a council truck on the highway doing 100kmph when a shovel fell off the back and started to bounce along the road. Totally random which way it was going to go so I ducked behind the screen and started to kiss my *** goodbye. I missed it and watched it ditch itself off the side of the road on the grass. A quick stop and one new shovel for me. I knew my rates would pay off someday.

[katman05]

A tractor trailer tire and rim and on another occasion a 6x6 post, had time to swerve around then in both cases. This is why you leave space between yourself and the car in front of you and drive in the left or righthand side of the lane, not in the middle.

[STULER]

a couple pebbles here and there. LOL

[md86]

Dunno , been riding for several years , and unless I write stuff down , I tend to forget . But I KNOW I've seen a few "WTF was that"'s out there in that time . Plus I'm REALLY heavily self-sedated right now , so THAT don't help the memory too muich . :

[rexazz2]

hit a piece of truck leaf spring in the cage , sounded like it was going to go right threw the floor

[hardlydangerous]

A moose

[jdm5770]

went on a ride the other day through the twisties with a group of guys...someone had taken a load of scrap metal through the run and it was all over the road for about 12 miles...we had lots of swerving to do, it really made it a tough run, its hard to swerve when you are committed to a turn.

The worst one by far was when I road past a guy spreading chicken chit in a field, the wind was blowing it across the road and I had to drive through a huge cloud of poop.

[Psycho1]

A tractor trailer tire and rim and on another occasion a 6x6 post, had time to swerve around then in both cases. This is why you leave space between yourself and the car in front of you and drive in the left or righthand side of the lane, not in the middle.

I knew a guy in the early '80's that was riding down a dark section of freeway in So Cal at night with his gf on the back. A tractor trailer was heading the other way when it lost a tire. The entire tire and wheel came off the trailer, crossed the dirt median and hit them, sending them off the freeway. They ended up going airborn and fell through the back porch roof at a house right next to the freeway killing both of them.

[Rangerman83]

I have yet to ride on the open road, but a few things I have seen and a few things I have hit with a car. A telescoping ladder (at least 8 ft. tall) sliding in front of me. I hit a Morning Dove at 70 mph and the bird just exploded, blood and guts just splattered my vehicle so i hit the winshield wipers and wash fluid. Countless number of squirrels driving to work, I kept count one year and I think I topped off around 40? I thought I missed a skunk cause he did the "Deer in the headlights" bit and I clipped him with my back tire. Luckily he didn't spray my truck, the vultures cleaned him up first thing next morning.

[zuma]

In the space of three miles, four still warm deer carcasses...it was 10:30 at night. I had to swerve into the oncoming lane four times. How did I know they were warm? The air around them was fragrant. They were all at least a quarter mile apart. Be safe, everybody.

[gobigorange189]

In the space of three miles, four still warm deer carcasses...it was 10:30 at night. I had to swerve into the oncoming lane four times. How did I know they were warm? The air around them was fragrant. They were all at least a quarter mile apart. Be safe, everybody.

wow thats pretty crazy!!

[GytRDunKat]

I took a bird to the neck once, that hurt, alot. I mean, it really hurt!