Good morning guys, just wanted to share a little of yesterday with you. About mid-day I'm heading north on I459 merging onto I59 north here in B'ham, come around the bend and wham, debris everywhere in the road, 18 wheeler to the right and two lanes of traffic to the left. RED ALERT! RED ALERT! Pucker! Pucker! Pucker! No where to go and no time to get there! As we all plow through this STUFF, which initially looked like roofing and other debris, I see three cars with flats already on the shoulder and a single axle flat bed with three guys in it moving boxes around in the bed. Aha! I grabbed some of the shoulder as soon as I could to check the Ram. Tires looked ok, grabbed tire tool and removed seat, small ouch there. I just got back in the truck and the flat bed goes by. Hey, wait a minute! There aren't any blue lights back there! Who told you to leave! These are the times I wish I had an automatic (transmission, that is). Run down the truck, get the tag, local company. Passed two more trucks with flats. Return to the scene with the tag # in hand. Happily, there was a representative from the company there, but the truck still shouldn't have left. This is when I wish I had a camera with me. The number two car on the shoulder, 2004 Cadillac, had a flat on the right rear, additionally, the right frame rail, about mid front door, had a 14" tear. The frame rail was gapped open about one and a half inches. Man, this thing was ugly. The company rep was calling tow trucks, on their nickel, for anyone who needed / wanted one and asked everyone to get them a bill for their repairs so they could pay for them. They stepped up fast, as they should! I took the Ram by the dealer and got it on the rack, everything was OK, thank goodness. I hand delivered the bill, $26.20, to the supply company with all contact info so they could send a check for the same. Now, to answer the last question. What kind of debris was actually in the road, plumbing supplies. Four inch PVC fittings, assorted small parts and the frame killer, a small item called a "stud plate". A stud plate is a flat piece of steel, about six inches by eight inches by about one sixteenth of an inch thick, and very, very rigid. This stuff might even be a type of stainless steel. Plumbers use them to join the ends of a stud back together when they cut a large notch for drain pipes in the wall. My best guess is that the stud plates got turned on edge and because the Cadi rides so low it caught one just right and rip, supply company is about to own a Cadi. Ya'll drive safe today!

 

I passed that mess going south. Same feeling I always get when I dodge the bullet. This warm glow, so glad not to be in the mess.

Watch the bridges in bham, they like to fall....

 

actually stud plate is also to prevent drywaller or any fastner installer from penatrating plumbing or electrical ect. with a screw nail or fastner.

 

About a week after I got my new windshield, I got behing a farm truck that pulled onto the highway after coming off a gravel road. It threw up a BIG darn rock and hit the windshield right in front of my brother's face. Luckily it didn't break and there wasn't even a ding but it sure was loud.

Years bask we had a couple of kids who decided it would be great fun to go onto an overpass on I-44 near Joplin, MO and drop rocks onto cars. I'm not talking about little rocks like you skip across the water. We're talking 10# boulders. They killed a woman who got hit in the face. Nice.


Be careful out there.

Edwin

 

Coming home last night, same location, now there is a bundle of metal roofing laying on the shoulder.

 

I never lost a load, but it happens every day in the Bhm area. Tuesday night the bears had traffic stopped eastbound of Riverside while they picked up a bunch of roofing.

 

It happens way to much. It would help alot if ALDOT would take some of the bumps out of the interstates around Bham!

 

nothing to add to thread,,,,,,totalrad,,,do you know who owns the white dodge on 20`s down at the bus garage on 31st street?....first time ive seen it yesterday,,man,,its gorgeous!........bama

 

Makes you wonder what is wrong with the drivers that they don't even bother to secure their loads correctly. I don't care whether I am hauling a 1000 lb anvil or a box of styrofoam ... they BOTH get secured.

It is even worse over here in Europe. The other day I pulled in behind a dump bed truck hauling a tractor secured by nothing but 2 small nylon straps. I didn't stay behind him long .

When it comes to securing for the road ... overkill is a good thing in my book.


PISTOL

 

Bama, I haven't seen it. I don't get downtown too often. It's NOT user friendly.

 

Its times like this that your reallly find out how good your tire company is. I use atwoods for my tires and (and most other things) They have never flinched at repairing a tire whether its from a nail, rock, metal chips, what ever.

 

Pistol, you're right. You can't be too careful and you can't have too many tie downs. I hadn't mentioned it but when I left that mess the other afternoon there was an eighteen wheeler about a mile up the road trying to adjust his load. It belonged to O'Neal steel, another local company. There were three pieces of flat steel about 1/2" x 18" x 30'? hanging off the back of the trailer far enough to drag the ground. The driver was working hard to get them back onto the trailer