Dude, where's my couch?

[drunkenwildmage]

While I was talking to one of our field techs, I got to hear a play-by-play account of a couch that fell out of the back of some random person’s pickup truck. The amateur ‘mover’ was waiting at a red light and when the light turned green, the pickup truck took off but the piece of furniture didn’t. The sofa hit the street, and one of the reclining ends opened right up, while the driver of the pick-up was completely oblivious and kept driving.

[Blue Ginger]

If they have dash cam footage, they may be able to take it to the police.

Where I am that is classified as an unsecured load and the fine is not small. If the cops are in a really bad mood, you can get fines for creating a road hazard and a few other things. Then they can pass your info onto the EPA where they can fine you for littering or illegal dumping (depending on the size of the pile that came off).
https://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/safe...ring-your-load

In the very least the pickup driver may get a visit from a few annoyed police officers with a warning.

[MadMike]

Where I am that is classified as an unsecured load and the fine is not small.

I almost ran into something like this a few weeks ago. I was leaving work to get some lunch, and I was on what could best be described as a mini-expressway. I was in the passing lane when I caught sight of something in my lane. I couldn't get into the other lane, but luckily I was able to squeeze between it and the center barrier. It turned out to be a metal shelving unit and a metal step ladder. It probably fell off of someone's truck. If that had been at night, I probably would have hit it, and I'm sure it would have done quite a bit of damage.

Luckily, on my way back the cops had the lane blocked off and someone was retrieving the items.

[Slave to the Phone]

About 10 years ago, I was out on deliveries with my co-worker driving. As we were cruising along, the plumbing truck ahead of us dropped a toilet out of the back of his truck. Co-worker was the driver, I was the paperwork handler. I had a LOT of fun filling out that government accident report!!!

There was a lot of back and forth about it because everyone seemed to think that when I typed "vehicle was hit by an airborne toilet", I must have meant something else.

[marlovino]

Important question, was it new or used?

[catcul]

One time, I was coming into work. I had to dodge green couch cushions while I was going highway speeds. A few minutes later, I pass a pickup truck that had a green couch in the bed with a guy holding it down. If that couch would have shifted the wrong way, his legs would have been snapped instantly.

[drunkenwildmage]

Our guy wasn't in his truck at the time, he was working on something of ours, and just happen to watch it when he was talking to me on the phone.

Follow up: About 10 - 15 minutes after I was done talking to the field tech, the offending sofa owner swung back by and picked it up.

Couple other quick stories:

Many years ago, I was traveling along I-80 on my way to Chicago when I saw wooden chair fail out of the back of a pick-up in front me and then get turned into kindling when a couple cars between us hit it. I managed to avoid the resulting wood pile.


My Mom, the retired Police dispatcher, gave me the following story:

Reminds me of the time a couple came into the station asking if anyone had called about a leather chair that had come off the back of the truck. It seems they had just purchased a couch and chair combo and dad and hubby loaded it onto the back of their pickup. Mrs. asked them to secure it but oh no, she was assured. Nothing is going to fall off. She drove the car home followed by dad and hubby but when it arrived at the house the chair was missing. They back-tracked their route but as far as I know someone was gifted a brand new leather chair. "Look Henry! A brand new chair just fell out of the sky right in front of us"

[dalesys]

My dad was a few cars back when somebody hit a low overpass (2700S over I15 in Salt Lake), ripped the backhoe arm off the excavator on their trailer and pitched it through some poor soul's windshield...

[Tanasi]

A buddy of mine ran over a box-spring on the interstate at 70mph. It exploded under his pick-up and it him and another over an hour to cut all that wire from his under carriage. I don't remember what other damage it did.

[It's me]

Try a sheet of plywood :
https://driving.ca/auto-news/news/pl...ampton-ontario

[blondescales]

I've been behind a truck with a flatbed trailer that lost a sheet of plywood. It just flew up in the air and seemed to hang up there for a long time before landing on the side of the highway. The driver did pull over to retrieve it but I was so glad it didn't hit me.

[Racket_Man]

I have lost count of all the things I carried on top of or inside my cars - full-sized dressers (300 miles), other various pieces of furniture (end tables, dining tables yes couches, reclining chairs, coffee tables), a 12 drawer waterbed under dresser set, a King-sized waterbed frame and headboard, doors, screen doors, plywood sheets, sheets of insulation, siding, multiple variations of lumber long and short, paving stones, washer, dryer, 30 foot rental ladder, etc.

EVERY time I do one of these moves I am VERY careful about hos I secure these item on my roof. I have 10s of feet of strong rope and a really good set of ratchet strap hold downs. I make absolute sure the item(s) can not move at all or if it moves it is only a very little bit.

Why is it so hard for these people to get it???? One or two little pieces of rope will not cut it.


And yeah at this point I do not care if my roof gets scratched up or dented it matters not.

[Buzzard]

Car getting scratched/dented is repairable. Someone getting mangled by YOUR debris... not so much.

Living with the guilt? Uh, no, not going there, no way, no how. This many binders should hold it, but I still gots more binders, so I use them too.

[Jay 2K Winger]

While you're making sure that things are tied down or otherwise secured, when transporting containers with a lid, make sure the hinges are facing the direction of travel.

I've told this story before, but I've seen someone towing a container behind their car-- it looked like they'd made it themselves out of plywood. It had only a single latch holding it shut, and they were on the highway.

I'd noticed the lid was struggling to stay shut, and kept my distance-- enough that I could swerve out of the way when that lid finally came loose, snapped its hinges, and flew backward.

[Nunavut Pants]

I have lost count of all the things I carried on top of or inside my cars.

Heh. If you're obsessed with little tiny cars, you start to get very creative when you have to move things...

Let's see. A full-size dressing table with mirror. Bought at an antiques store; the guy said "I'll wait here until you pull your truck around."

"That's my truck right there," I responded, pointing to my little two-seat Honda CRX. Pulled the suitcases out of the back, loaded in the dressing table, loaded in the mirror, put the bags around the table, and closed the hatch. The guy's eyes were THIIIIIIIIIIIIS big!

My wife and I also transported four dozen helium party balloons in that car. Well, using that car. They were actually out the sunroof, looking rather like that house from "Up".

Oh, and the full-size artificial tree that my wife held between her knees while I drove us in my 914, a car that makes the Miata look big. It didn't look quite like a tree with a roller-skate on the bottom, but it wasn't far different.

Or the time I put a 16-foot step-ladder in the 914, sticking out the top.

The funny thing is how few people actually reacted to most of those things!!