How not to load a vehicle

[Chromatix]

Finnish police have published some photos with commentary on unsafe loads they've encountered recently:

http://yle.fi/uutiset/gallery_killer...y_load/6890876

[DGoddessChardonnay]

Oh Good Grief

Stupidity is indeed universal. Some of those photos look like stuff I'd see here in North Carolina (and we have some folk who are not always the best and brightest, either.)

[Javarod]

Looks at some of those loads and whistles innocently... Nah, seriously, i'm better than that. Not great, but likely the only one to be killed by my load is me.

[wolfie]

The 3 types of cargo I LOATHE are lumber, furniture (especially mattresses), and hay. Why do I loathe them? They're the bulky commodities most likely to be hauled by amateurs who have no concept of load securement. It's no coincidence that I also see them (or their remains) at the side of the road (or even in the travelled lanes).

[catcul]

I know about the furniture. I had to dodge seat cushions one time. Up the road, I saw a guy in the back of a pickup trying to keep a couch from flying out.

I've also was driving down the freeway when a truck dropped bags of concrete. It's rather disconcerting to see a huge cloud of white powder popping up suddenly.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

I know about the furniture. I had to dodge seat cushions one time. Up the road, I saw a guy in the back of a pickup trying to keep a couch from flying out.

Same with a mattress . . . Mom and I almost got hit by one that fell off the back of a pile of crap in the back of a truck on Bryan Boulevard a number of years back.

Folks mistakenly think that mattresses and box springs are heavy enough to stay put - they aren't. They have to be properly secured, regardless. Or else they become projectiles if the truck (or other vehicle) hauling them hits a bump in the road.

[DeltaSierra]

Hubby and I witnessed some people transporting a bedroom set a couple days ago. They had it well secured in a good sized trailer, but the dresser faced OUTWARDS, and it was strapped so only one drawer was secure, so if they took a left turn a little too fast, there would suddenly have been drawers flying from it!!!

[DGoddessChardonnay]

Hubby and I witnessed some people transporting a bedroom set a couple days ago. They had it well secured in a good sized trailer, but the dresser faced OUTWARDS, and it was strapped so only one drawer was secure, so if they took a left turn a little too fast, there would suddenly have been drawers flying from it!!!

And that's where they made an error in judgment - doesn't matter if one drawer is secured, they all have to be secured.

What I've seen professional movers do is to wrap dressers with plastic shrink wrap (like what we use at work for securely wrapping pallets for salvage pickup.) That's really the best way to make sure all drawers are secured during transport.

I've also seen the wrap certain pieces of furniture in large blankets as well for extra cushioning.

So for the average DIY mover that might not be an option to use the blankets, but if you have older ones (or perhaps even drop clothes that you use for painting projects) that could feasibly work. Spools of plastic shrink wrap shouldn't be hard to get hold of - I would think that would be standard at most shipping/mailing stores (I'd try the UPS store.)

[protege]

Folks mistakenly think that mattresses and box springs are heavy enough to stay put - they aren't. They have to be properly secured, regardless. Or else they become projectiles if the truck (or other vehicle) hauling them hits a bump in the road.

Same thing with large BBQ grills. Too many idiots in pickups seem to think that the things will stay put. I had some idiot lose one on the highway...about 2 car lengths in front of me. He hit a major pothole on I-79 (right after the big hill coming out of Washington, PA), ejecting the grill

Did I mention that I was in my grandmother's Olds sedan at 70mph? I stood the car on its nose, giving the ABS a *serious* workout...before I could swerve into the right lane, and avoid the mess I was about to hit.

Good thing too. If I would have wrecked Grandma's car, I'd have been in deep shit. I'd sometimes borrow the car, give it some "exercise" because she rarely drove it. She was the "little old lady who only drove it to Church on Sundays." Naturally, I'd check all the fluids, check the tires, give it a bath inside and out. Anyway, if I would have cracked up that car, not only would she have kicked my ass, but I probably would have been buried in her "back 40." Before the burial, my mom would have brought me back to life, so *she* could kick my ass

[wolfie]

Didn't say this earlier, because with dialup the linked pictures (or was it something linked from there - it was titled "Maybe you should have used a different vehicle" or something similar?) showed a couple attempts at cargo securement by having people holding onto the cargo - including a refrigerator in the back of a pickup. All that does is guarantee that in the event of an incident, you'll get personal injury in addition to property damage.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

Didn't say this earlier, because with dialup the linked pictures (or was it something linked from there - it was titled "Maybe you should have used a different vehicle" or something similar?) showed a couple attempts at cargo securement by having people holding onto the cargo - including a refrigerator in the back of a pickup. All that does is guarantee that in the event of an incident, you'll get personal injury in addition to property damage.

I have had the occasion to see folks doing that . . . and that's scary as Hell!

Maybe not with a fridge, but with television sets, mattresses and the like . . .

No thank you . . I like living and being uninjured too good to risk that.

[dendawg]

...the only one to be killed by my load is me.

Nope, not gonna go there.

[dalesys]

Nope, not gonna go there.

I suspect you already came... and went.

[AccountingDrone]

I like the pile of little fish one

[JustaCashier]

Yet more proof that the Prestigious ID10T Club shall never cease to exist!

Mike