Watched a woman break her windshield today at Sams Club....and another story....

[pawoSD]

Yep, I got to Sam's Club today, and there was a woman with her little daughter and her Jeep Rubicon....loading some real long box into the back....she was shoving the box and then said "I guess I'll have to leave the back window open"....gives it one more shove, and then she goes "I just cracked my windshield." So I look, and sure enough, she hit the rear view mirror mount with the box and the window shattered in a huge star pattern radiating out from the mirror. Her jaw was dropped. Then she stared at me and my wife, we pretty much just shrugged....and looked back. Yeah. The jeep looked brand new too.....hopefully insurance covers that!

Then at menards (home improvement store) I watched a man strap down some wood planks that he had sticking out of his minivan, and he had the smallest utility trailer in the world attached to the van, it must have been 4x4feet. Well, he had these planks positioned firmly onto the trailer, and firmly into the car, with the lift gate tightly strapped down against it all.....now, when he pulls out of a driveway and that trailer goes up higher than the back of the van, something is going to have to give! Its going to be the metal on the lift gate of the van... Sigh. Why do people not think.....I saw a guy driving with a piece of plywood on his car's roof, held in place with some bungee cords across it....driving about 15mph in a 35 zone.....

What is wrong with people?!

[bob_98sr5]

pawo,

reminds me of a time about 9 yrs or so ago when we saw this idiot driving w/ a twin set on his roof of his sedan. the windows were all open and twined the bed tight against the roof. so as we were a few cars behind, he takes off onto the freeway. i said to my wife, "watch this". we move over 2 lanes and as he picked up speed, that mattress flew off.

whats worse is that we could see him stop and try to recover the damn mattress off the freeway

[Fulcrum525]

Originally Posted by pawoSD

What is wrong with people?!

Lots of things...where would you like to start


Two of the worst loadings i've ever seen-

A mattress on the roof of an SUV but only the middle was tied down so he had a nice airbrake arrangement going as the front of the matress was picked up...sound like he was flat out at 65 mpg too

The other was just a few weeks ago....some college kid from NJ on I-95 south...had an Nissan SUV and a trailer that was stuffed with what looked like a black leather couch set. Big surprise square furniture and aerodynamics don't get along very well....i've never seen a trailer shake like that before.....

[BoomInTheTrunk]

speaking of things on top of peoples cars. Sold a guy a 50 inch plasma and he mentioned he had a car. I said "I hope it fits inside" he says we'll put it on the roof. I thought he was just joking, well out come the blanket and he lays it down on its side. I mentioned how the screen will most likely crack and he says don't worry about it. All this and the guy drives a 5 series BMW, with that money you think he would have friends with ta truck or something.

[pawoSD]

Originally Posted by BoomInTheTrunk

speaking of things on top of peoples cars. Sold a guy a 50 inch plasma and he mentioned he had a car. I said "I hope it fits inside" he says we'll put it on the roof. I thought he was just joking, well out come the blanket and he lays it down on its side. I mentioned how the screen will most likely crack and he says don't worry about it. All this and the guy drives a 5 series BMW, with that money you think he would have friends with ta truck or something.

Wow.....a mattress is one thing, but a $1500+ piece of equipment?

The scariest part of all of what I saw today was that it was all within less than a 1.5 hour time frame, and I only drove about 9 miles and to two stores.....think of how many similar things are happening alllll over the country....its mind boggling that more disasters don't happen!

[Skid Row Joe]

Stupidity has no boundaries. It's really hilarious.

[derburger]

I always see examples of this in the Home Depot parking lot. Guy with a nice older Saab 900 was attempting to put lots of picket fence on the top of his car, with no roof rack.

[pawoSD]

Originally Posted by derburger

I always see examples of this in the Home Depot parking lot. Guy with a nice older Saab 900 was attempting to put lots of picket fence on the top of his car, with no roof rack.

It just goes to show how so many people see their cars as "disposable" and thus treat them like dirt until the wheels fall off.

[aklim]

http://www.swapmeetdave.com/Humor/Workshop/Overload.htm

[OldPokey]

Originally Posted by bob_98sr5

pawo,

reminds me of a time about 9 yrs or so ago when we saw this idiot driving w/ a twin set on his roof of his sedan. the windows were all open and twined the bed tight against the roof. so as we were a few cars behind, he takes off onto the freeway. i said to my wife, "watch this". we move over 2 lanes and as he picked up speed, that mattress flew off.

whats worse is that we could see him stop and try to recover the damn mattress off the freeway

I came up on a scene like that on 95 southbound to Richmond VA once. Only the mattress had landed squarely on the hood and windshield of the following car, which ended up in the ditch in the median. At least the guy had the decency to pull over.

[cmbdiesel]

In the last two years, I have gotten a 6' step ladder, a hand truck, numerous pieces of lumber and small hand tools. Straps too, more than anything else even. People grab a couple straps, put one on and forget that the other is still on the roof/trunk/tailgate.

The thing I find even more incredible than the extremely unsafe loading, is the never ending stream of drivers who will tailgate these scary looking loads. The local HD is right off the highway, and the guy with half a dozen sheets of plywood on the roof of his Escort, as he is trying to get up to 70 mph, has a line of people vying for the prime tailgating spot.

[raymr]

My scariest event was coming up on a big aluminum ladder that was bouncing and somersaulting down I-95. It broke loose from the truck ahead of me a second before.

[cmbdiesel]

Originally Posted by raymr

My scariest event was coming up on a big aluminum ladder that was bouncing and somersaulting down I-95. It broke loose from the truck ahead of me a second before.

Saw one of those after it had stopped moving. Unfortunately, I was in the SD and could not load it up

(It was out of the road, or I would have stopped and moved it)

[865sp300e]

The worst I have seen was on Rt 13 in Virginia. A semi-flatbed truck had a load of cinder blocks which were falling a few at a time and exploding from the rear of the flatbed. It was leaving a dangerous debris field of large cinder block chunks. The truck driver was flying and was either oblivious or unconcerned.

There were some morons following the truck weaving all over the place and throough the debris.

Deciding there would be no way I could get past him safely, I pulled over for fifteen minutes to put a gap between me and the truck. Later on I saw him pulled over at a Burger King with about the last six feet of block missing from his load.

[Jim B.]

On my first trip to Peru, coming from the Airport in Lima, I saw a 1956 Ford Country Sedan at a stoplight, sagging under the weight of about 12 mattresses on its roof, with no rack. No idea what was holding them on, it was unbelievable.