Have you ever hit a bump in the road and wondered…

[A930Rocket]

I’ve hit a few bumps in the road, and wondered what I hit, but I’m pretty sure I would know that I ran over a car.

https://video.foxnews.com/v/6284901211001

Semitrailer drags sedan down Illinois highway in captured video footage

https://www.foxnews.com/us/semi-trailer-drags-sedan-down-illinois-highway-in-captured-video-footage

[Scott Douglas]

I was driving home one day on the 91 FWY here in So Cal when traffic up ahead slowed up after having had a short stretch of 70mph between clogs. Guy next lane over in a Pinto locks 'em up after the semi dually trailer next to him locks the rear trailer rear tires up filling the Pinto with smoke from the tires. The guy had his windows down as it was hot. His car does a right turn into the last trailer, in between the axles. Meantime, the trucker lets off the brakes and the rear axle of the rear trailer flattens the hood and front end of the Pinto as it goes over it. I look over at the driver and his eyes are as big as silver dollars and he's starting to open the door while he's still moving at about 45 mph. I kept going and opened my sunroof to listen for the crash I was sure was coming. The trucker looked over at me with a questioning look on his face as he checked his mirrors to see what the commotion was behind him. Most of it was hidden by the tire smoke from his trailer and the Pinto, which he didn't know he'd flattened.
I don't miss commuting at all.

[A930Rocket]

^^^^ That reminds me years ago, driving on 85 in Atlanta. I heard brakes/tires squealing and as I looked over to my left, I saw a car get its nose under the 18 wheelers trailer. Suddenly, the back two axles drove up and over the car. It looked like the trailer was 8 feet in the air. As we were going in different directions, I did not get to see what the end result was.

[Bill Douglas]

Umm, makes you wonder what these truck drivers are on. When I was a teen I used to drive trucks as part of my job. You become so in tune as to how the truck is doing that you know if you have one ton on the back or not, or even if you are driving into a headwind. You sure would know if you are dragging a car down the highway FFS

[stealthn]

Never hit anything, but on a first date a wheel and tire bounced right in front of the car when I was doing 50, needless to say I was shook, but got some 😁

[IROC]

I knew a guy who ran over a person and didn't know it. Dragged the guy for miles. True story.

[Sooner or later]

Originally Posted by A930Rocket

I’ve hit a few bumps in the road, and wondered what I hit, but I’m pretty sure I would know that I ran over a car.

https://video.foxnews.com/v/6284901211001

Semitrailer drags sedan down Illinois highway in captured video footage

https://www.foxnews.com/us/semi-trailer-drags-sedan-down-illinois-highway-in-captured-video-footage

I was a witness to the exact same thing when it happened to a buddy. Actually, not a witness of the impact, only the immediate results.

Summer of 1976. A bunch of us (8) went to Siz Flags in Arlington, took 2 cars, my Cutlass and Bobby and his Mustang. About a 3 hour drive. We left the park at about 10 pm.

I was in the lead and turned onto 287 heading north, with Bobby following. After a couple of miles we noticed we didn't see Bobby behind us. I pulled on to the shoulder and waited a few minutes. No Bobby. I did a u turn and drove back looking for him, thinking flat tire.

A few miles down the road we see that the northbound lanes were shut down. I slowed down and was looking at the cause. It was an 18 wheeler with a pair of Mustang headlights shining out from under the trailer.

JFC! I slammed on the brakes and parked in the median. As I was getting out of the car Bobby came running up and said everyone was fine!

Apparently, Bobby fell asleep just as the 18 wheeler was passing his ass and it sucked the car up under the trailer. Skid marks from the car went on for over a half mile.

The 4 folks in his car said it was, needless to say, absolutely terrifying. The nosie from the screeching tires.. The glass breaking as the roof collapsed. Hell on earth.

I talked to the trucker who was driving the rig. He said he had felt the bump but didn't notice much slowdown and thought he was going up a slight grade. He said he saw the ass end of the car in his rear mirror but thought it was a box (the car was gold). He just continued to hammer down until it became more and more difficult to hold speed.

The highway patrol actually got in the car and drove it out from underneath the trailer, all 4 tires blown.

I asked a highway patrolman how in the hell are we all going to get home. He said "You can all go in the Cutlass." So we did, packed like sardines, arms and legs all intertwined. We joked about having a wreck and the authorities wouldn't be able to determine whose arms and legs went with each body.


Believe it not, they didn't total the Mustang.

A night from hell.

[john70t]

Had a buddy who drove big hauls for a living and hunted since he could walk. He had amazing boresight/binocular vision and could see traffic jams a mile up the road. The stuff happening right next to him or behind, not so much. He was quite willing to let Darwin take it's course.

I've seen a few tractor-trailers dragging a locked up wheel for miles. They either didn't notice or were on a schedule and figured it'd fall off eventually.

I drive to drive the little econo-box like a big rig. Easy up and easy down. Keep 'er moving at an average speed and let it work itself out.
(that is usually good for the truckers behind, although it drives the crazzies even more so)
If there is one slowdown ahead, there is going to be a wave series of them until past the freeway split or major off-ramp or accident.

[matthewb0051]

Originally Posted by IROC

I knew a guy who ran over a person and didn't know it. Dragged the guy for miles. True story.

I had a client / defendant in the Army once that was arrested while AWOL. I was trying to piece together how he got arrested.

While driving thru Mississippi he came upon an accident scene and ran over a dead body shortly after the accident occurred. He pulled over to see what he hit. Cops put 2 and 2 together and he was arrested on a deserter warrant.

[oldE]

One day on the way home, I saw some stains on the road which kind of reminded me of liquid manure spilled. The stain ran from the edge of town to a driveway a couple of miles away. When I mentioned it to a friend a few days later he told me what it was.
Saturday night, one of the locals got wasted and crawled in under a truck parked across the street from the bar. How he got his leg hooked over the rear axle, no one knew. The owner of the truck came out some time later, jumped into his vehicle and drove home . When he got out in his yard, he heard some strange noises from underneath. He first thought it was a dog, then realized what it was and called 911. The fellow lived, but required some skin grafts.
It took a couple of weeks for the stains to wash away.

Best
Les

[Scott Douglas]

When I lived in Fullerton I'd often take different routes home from work, just to keep the drive fresh and exciting. One time I took the 405 down to the Long Beach freeway to take it over to the 91 to continue my way east. That part of the LB frwy is close to the port area so lots of trucks coming north and a few deadheading south too. That day as I just am getting on the LBF (710?) I'm approaching the first overpass and I see a semi's boogie (I think that's what they call it. The fifth wheel axles of the second trailer, without the trailer.) come bouncing over the center divider, almost hitting the underside of the overpass. Traffic naturally does a full on panic stop north bound. After the dust settles and traffic moves again, I come on a guy sitting in his car at the side of the road. Both hands clutching the steering wheel at the top, resting his head against them. His windshield it about 1" from his hands on the wheel, smashed flat. I can only imagine that he needed to change his pants after that one.
I stay away from that freeway if at all possible.

[recycled sixtie]

I sometimes think that big rig drivers don't know what is going on way back there. As a slight aside I remember an incident quite a few years ago when I was driving my 99 Miata on hiway 2 just north of Calgary. I had just got off an eight hour flight from the UK to Calgary. As I was overtaking the semi trailer I noticed that the last wheel on the truck had a hub that was cherry red and was smoking.

I got abeam the truck driver and pointed back towards to the wheel. He had no idea that anything was amiss until I signaled to him.

[pavulon]

So.Dak. A.G. insists he believed it was a deer. "They revealed gruesome details, including that detectives believed Boever's body had collided with Ravnsborg's windshield with such force that part of his eyeglasses were deposited in the backseat of Ravnsborg's car."

https://www.npr.org/2021/08/27/1031638625/jason-ravnsborg-south-dakota-deadly-crash