Pro Tip: Secure Your Flipping Equipment!

[roo_ster]

Driving home I come around the corner to see a huge cased chain saw, a mongo-sized generator, and a few other bits of equipment strewn across three lanes.  I drive on a bit farther and see a 1-ton flatbed--with a clear bed--doing a fast u-turn and high-tailing it back down the road from whence I came.

Damned nitwits.  I was always paranoid that some of my load would come unsecured when I did grunt work and took care to make sure no such thing occurred.  I tied that shinola down tighter than the pursed lips of a disapproving educrat.

[Tallpine]

I used to have nighmares about losing log loads 

[230RN]

My problem is stuff I absentmindedly park on the roof of the car.

Had to go back a couple of times for my cane.

My rear-view mirror tells me it bounces pretty high if it lands on the rubber tip.

Had a soft-cased briefcase slide off once, car behind me ran over it.  Contents OK, but briefcase had tire marks indented on the leather.   Nobody ever noticed the tire marks, so I kept it in service for a number of years.

Duh, me.

[RoadKingLarry]

A biker couple I was aquainted with caught an unsecured load a few years ago. The unsecured load was a John Deere tractor. Killed them both, the driver was cited for an unsecured load, nothing else.

[vaskidmark]

If I see someone's stuff in the middle of the road in sufficient time to safely pull over and stop, I will do so and put out (throw into the road - I am not going to play Frogger) road fuzees and make a call to the local cops about debris onthe road.  Most of the time I can hang around till the local cop shows up, at which time I usually get replacements for the fuzees I put out.

If the owner of the property (or at least claims to be the owner) shows up before the cop, I will note the license number and advise the dispatcher the debris was picked up.

Sometimes they want to know who got it.  I asked why & was told that occassionally folks who are not the true legal owners will pick stuff up.  Shocking, I tell you!  If the purported legal owner calls about their wayward stuff and the cops can work things out with both parties (one for theft and one for "littering").

Yes, if you dump your stuff on the road in front of me and leave it there I am going to become a tad bit miffed.  If I am miffed you most likely will be miffed as well.

If a load breaks free and the owner tries to recover it as quickly as possible (like Roo_ster's driver) I will let the cops know that.  And yes, I know that on the interstates it can take as much as 45 minutes to get to the next exit, turn around, and double back.

stay safe.

[MechAg94]

Nothing will make you aware that you did NOT tie down a load when you look at rear view mirror as you hit the brakes and see the unsecured 55 gallon oil drums sliding toward you, tipping over, and knocking out the back glass of the pick up.  

[HankB]

My parents told me a story that shortly after they were married, they were driving on a highway and a truck going the other direction lost a tire from its load - a big, BIG tire, perhaps from a farm tractor - which bounced into their lane.  

It hit in front of their car - bounced over without touching their vehicle - and bounced again in back of them. Someone was watching over them that day.

Some of the worst debris I've seen has included large appliances - stove, refrigerator, etc. - and once, a flattened-out car from a scrap hauler. (I still remember a guy picking up a refrigerator at Sears, and "securing" in the back of his pickup with simple twine - the kind someone would use to tie up a small bundle of newspaper, or maybe a roast.    (his truck had no tailgate.)

Sadly, I've never found bags of money from a Brinks truck "lost" on the road . . . 

[Tallpine]

Moving out here from town, I lost a rabbit cage out of the open trailer 

Fortunately there was no one right behind me.

This being Montana, I just turned around and went back, and the girls and I loaded it back into the trailer.

A few years ago out looking for a fire, I set my binoculars on the rim of the pickup bed while I used the radio, and then promptly drove off.    Went back up that road a few days later and found them 

I've got quite a few "roadkill" tools over the years.

[MechAg94]

Not quite an unsecured load, but there was a lady killed near Houston a few years back.  She was following a truck closely that had a big steel vessel on a trailer.  The vessel was too tall for the overpass the truck tried to drive under.  The vessel was knocked off and flattened the lady's car, killing her. 

[Jim147]

I almost lost my load just last night.

It has been crazy hours working in this cold snap.

I opened my tailgate to pull out a blower assembly for a furnace, some snow got under the bumper and popped it out on one side. I was already an hour behind so I told myself I would fix it before I left. Bad move that.

I came out tossed my tools in the back floor board of the truck, I had only grabbed what I needed to install the blower, and off I went to my next one. Getting to the next call I pushed three boxes back in off the tailgate and put the tailgate back on. Everything was still there some how.

jim

[lupinus]

Wifes Uncle was almost killed when some jackass was transporting a mattress in the bed of his pickup without tieing it down. At all. Mattress flew out, smacked him while he was on his motor cycle, and then bounced into another car. Mattresses do quite a bit of damage when they fly out of a truckbed while on the interstate. Guy is still messed up from it, though he's mostly normal now.

Insult to injury was that he always wanted to ride cross country on his bike, and this was the ride. The accident happened two exits from his destination where he was going to spend a few days visiting family before heading home.

[Jamisjockey]

Moving out here from town, I lost a rabbit cage out of the open trailer 

Fortunately there was no one right behind me.

This being Montana, I just turned around and went back, and the girls and I loaded it back into the trailer.

A few years ago out looking for a fire, I set my binoculars on the rim of the pickup bed while I used the radio, and then promptly drove off.    Went back up that road a few days later and found them 

I've got quite a few "roadkill" tools over the years.

I've done that with fishing poles and a cellphone.  The phone didn't make it.

[grampster]

My family laughs at me and calls me the Rope Master.  I am religious about tying down crap in my pickup.  They can laugh all they want.

[MillCreek]

It is a gross misdeameanor/felony now in Washington to have an unsecured load, depending on the degree of injury caused to anyone.  We had a couple of cases in which people were killed, injured or blinded when unsecured items struck their vehicles.

[BobR]

There I was, on hiway 101 between Mt View and San Jose, I had just finished up a long flight and was riding my Norton home in the dark. I noticed a large truck in the far right lane, with a bunch of pipes (large pipes) on the flatbed. I moved into the far left lane (one lane between us) and as I was a couple of bike lengths off of his tail I watched a big pipe roll off of the truck. We were in a fairly dark area and all I could hear was that pipe sliding along the road, scared the bejesus out of me because I had no idea where it was sliding at. Since that time long ago, I don't dally when passing anything with any kind of load.

bob

[Azrael256]

My family laughs at me and calls me the Rope Master.  I am religious about tying down crap in my pickup.  They can laugh all they want.

My sister calls me the "rope nazi."


That's the first time I've Godwinned a thread!

[never_retreat]

I lost some lengths of 4" pvc once. It was an entire bundle from the supply house. They came out of the middle of the bundle.
Don't know where they went, got to the job and noticed a "hole" in the center where they should have been.
Never did a count on what was left but I think I lost 4 of them.
And yes the bundle was strapped to the truck with two of the big 2" wide straps.

[rcnixon]

Many years ago I was northbound in the left lane of the Garden State Parkway in New Jersey at about exit 160. An old, beat-up pickup truck in the right lane about a hundred feet ahead of me lost the home-made, plywood camper out of the back of the bed. It flew up in the air, probably about twenty feet, and just splintered when it hit the ground, just about right next to me. I never even slowed down.  Needless to say, there was widespread panic in the road behind me. As I drove on over the rise, it appeared that everyone was able to stop safely.

Another time, on US 46, again in New Jersey, a small (about 12 - 13 foot) boat came off the trailer and skidded to a stop just off the right side of the road. I didn't stop then either.

I've seen a lot of thing in almost two million miles.

Russ

[brimic]

Nothing will make you aware that you did NOT tie down a load when you look at rear view mirror as you hit the brakes and see the unsecured 55 gallon oil drums sliding toward you, tipping over, and knocking out the back glass of the pick up.  

My wife did that with a pressure washer and my truck.

[RoadKingLarry]

When I was in high school we lost a fellow out of the bed of a pickup. He was a full 3 sheets in the wind and we had briefly considered tying him down. He woke up, stood up and fell right out. Luckily, we were crossing a recently cut hay meadow on the way to the next fishing hole.

[roo_ster]

My family laughs at me and calls me the Rope Master.  I am religious about tying down crap in my pickup.  They can laugh all they want.

wife delivered a queen sized futon to my fil.   Tied that sucker down tight as a drum with quick release knots.  Had to survive an 8 hour ride.  When she got there fil and bil cut all my lines.  The lines I had made from 550 cord specifically to secure loads and used for years.  Hell.

[dogmush]

My FIL is no longer allowed to have any part in loading or unloading a vehicle if I'm in the same state.

He has:

Beaned me in the back of the head with a sliding suitcase;
Honestly expected me to ride 4 hours with a bag in my lap because "the roof rack rails are confusing";
While hooking a trailer to my truck asked "what are these chains for?";
Damaged the JBL 300/4 amplifier in my trunk by repeatedly slamming his suitcase into it to try and close the lid.  Suitcase had to be turned 90*;
Tied knots in my ratchet straps because "the buckles were confusing";
and
Unloaded the truck by cutting my ratchet straps (different set).

Now I just tell him to wait inside until we're ready to go.  Apparently SWMBO relaxed this rule over Christmas visit (without me there) and he loaded her Explorer, got impatient, and raised the garage door with the liftgate of the Explorer still open.  Luckily it sounds like the emergency release gave before anything else.

[lupinus]

My FIL is no longer allowed to have any part in loading or unloading a vehicle if I'm in the same state.

He has:

Beaned me in the back of the head with a sliding suitcase;
Honestly expected me to ride 4 hours with a bag in my lap because "the roof rack rails are confusing";
While hooking a trailer to my truck asked "what are these chains for?";
Damaged the JBL 300/4 amplifier in my trunk by repeatedly slamming his suitcase into it to try and close the lid.  Suitcase had to be turned 90*;
Tied knots in my ratchet straps because "the buckles were confusing";
and
Unloaded the truck by cutting my ratchet straps (different set).

Now I just tell him to wait inside until we're ready to go.  Apparently SWMBO relaxed this rule over Christmas visit (without me there) and he loaded her Explorer, got impatient, and raised the garage door with the liftgate of the Explorer still open.  Luckily it sounds like the emergency release gave before anything else.

Murder sounds appropriate.

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[dogmush]

Murder sounds appropriate.

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I dearly love my wife, as such I tolerate the family that came with her.  She (thankfully) got the sense gene and does not have these issues.  FIL is actually OK to hang out with, he just doesn't seem to know what he doesn't know so you gotta keep an eye on him.

[Sergeant Bob]

My parents told me a story that shortly after they were married, they were driving on a highway and a truck going the other direction lost a tire from its load - a big, BIG tire, perhaps from a farm tractor - which bounced into their lane.  

It hit in front of their car - bounced over without touching their vehicle - and bounced again in back of them. Someone was watching over them that day.

I was trucking (hauling molten aluminum) in Lansing, Mi and had a steer tire blow out. It left the rim, shot across the three lanes on my side of the freeway, went thought the median, across three more lanes, then out into a field. All without touching another vehicle.