While traveling the roads...

[Timmay]

Hey all, how  you all been doing?  Great here, just trying to get back into the normal lifestyle...if there is a normal.  Vacationing in Florida was great and I have some pics to post as soon as I get them loaded into the computer. 
Just wondering what kind of things have you all encountered as you have been traveling the interstates or any road of that matter. 
We were on our way home saturday night and we were approaching Macon GA on I 75 , it was dark and my wife mentioned that it looked like the grass on the right shoulder was on fire. I couldnt see it because of the semi's ahead of me.  As we got closer you could see the grass was indeed on fire.  I noticed that there was a semi parked right next to it. I told my wife...man it looks like that cab is on fire.  Sure enough fire was going up the right side of the cab.  There wasnt much traffic around me and as we approached the site, I slowed down and then stopped.  No fire emergency vehicles of any kind around.  I was at a point I didnt know what to do.  Because if it decided to explode...I was too close to the end of the semi to be safe.  I couldnt back up because of all the stopped traffic behind me.   This may have been a really stupid move but I told the kids to get down on the floor board and cover their heads and made my wife get down also..as she was sitting in the passenger seat.  I told them to say a prayer and I was going to floor it and go around it.  As we passed the cab....the drivers door was open and the driver was slouched over the steering wheel completely engulfed in flames.  We make it around the truck and we stop a good 200 yards in front of the truck.  Two cars had pulled over and one was working on their car. I walked up to them to make sure they were ok and they said that the semi had hit the guard rail on its right side...threw something off into their path and blew out their tire.  About that time the whole truck just goes up in flames...trailor and all.  There was no trying to save the guy in the cab...and then finally the fire truck arrive.  I told my wife that was really a stupid move...putting the kids in danger like that.  You never know what could have happened.  But in a way Im glad I did because it is hard to tell how long we would have been sitting on the interstate as they closed the road down. 
So wahts your story...ever encounter stuff like this?

[Jer]

Wow!  Well that sure is something.  I'm sure I speak for everyone here when I say we're glad that you and your family are all safe.  Not to sound insensitive, but the truth of the matter is that you were too late to attempt helping the person in the cab so you did what you could to ensure your families safety.  Thoughts and prayers though, do go out to the pour soul in the cab.

I had one 3 years ago, nothing so drastic mind you, but it just goes to show you stopping to help a stranger is never a bad thing.  I was off December 25th and 26th so I had gotten in my truck and drove home to Ottawa to surprise my family.  It's an 8hr drive each way and so I got there in time for Christmas dinner, then the next morning I got up visited a bit then headed back out to Southern Ontario.  Just an hour outside of Ottawa, a snow storm hit and it was a bad one.  The 401 was down to 1 lane from 3 and no one was doing more than 60km/h.  So there I was creeping along for several hours like that then I pulled off to fill up just before getting into Toronto.  I get back on the highway and the snow had started to clear a bit and visibility was back up so I just keep going along.  Up ahead I see a car off in the ditch and the driver is out kicking snow out of the way to try and get out.  So I signal and pull over to help.  As I pull over I see there are 2 transports behind me and one in front and off to my left is some idiot in an SUV plowing along in almost a foot of snow in the basically non existent passing lane.  I get off to the side, park, get out and start helping the guy clear a way to push his car out.  The next thing we know, traffic is gridlocked with what had to be at least 30 minor fender benders.  So myself, and a few other people from other cars in the gridlock help get the guy out of the ditch and by this time 30 minutes have past and nothing is moving.  A few of us decide to walk up and try and see what's going on.  So we start walking then we see from the top of a little hill a short ways in front of where we were that there is a major accident.  As we get closer, I see that there are 5 rigs 2 cars and an SUV involved.  Yeah, that's right, the SUV that was plowing up along to pass everyone lost control and went under the transport that was in front of me and the ones behind couldn't stop and it just cascaded into one big pile up.  The first thing I thought was 'Thank God I stopped to help that guy' otherwise it could have been me under that transport.  Luckily, all involved survived with nothing more than cuts and bruises, but it took 5hrs before they were able to get traffic moving again.  So my normal trip home of 8hrs ended up taking 17hrs, but I got there in one piece.

[Timmay]

amazing how people who think they have big bad ass toys to drive on the roads think their sh*t dont stink and they can get thru anything.  I hope it was a wake up call for that dude.  People around here do the same thing....pisses me off to no end.  We were heading back from GA one year during some snow in Tennessee and man....those people do not have any clue on how to drive on snow.  I actually pulled over and waited for the roads to clear because people were driving out of control.  One guy walks up to my car and said...Man the roads are bad arent they.  I said No, the roads are fine.....its just that people dont know how to drive so Im keeping myself safe.  He just gave me a blank stare and walked back to his car and left.  As he drove past me I noticed he had Florida plates and he was creeping along at about 10 mph.  Funny thing is ....there was only less than a 1/4 inch of snow on the roads.  LOL

[Jer]

Yeah, I know what that's like.  I grew up between Ottawa and Northern Ontario winters where a foot of snow dumped in a period of a few hours isn't that bad.  Driving in it doesn't scare me in the least bit.  What scares me though is the others out there.  We have those idiots here too though.  Even some Canadians, knowing how bad our winter roads can get, still think they are invincible in a big truck or SUV...   

[Timmay]

Its almost like you just want to pull right out in front of someone like that, just to show them but my luck I would be the one to get hurt.

[GASlick]

1/4 of snow is  a lot of snow for us Southern folk.  It doesn't bother me, but some people don't care.  They just drive like they always do.  It's the same when it rains.  YOU CAN NOT drive 80 mph up the freeway in a blinding summer thunderstorm.  But they do. 

[Timmay]

Yes GASlick...tell them turkeys that down in Florida.  When we left on Saturday afternoon from Bradenton heading up I 75...I lost count on how many people either ..a) hit someone or b) ran off the road hydroplaning....IDIOTS i tell ya IDIOTS!

[Tucker-54]

My story is a bad one...


We were driving from Los Angeles to San Francisco on the 101 in CA. Near central CA is hicktown (not really called that but you get the picture). Its where all the horse shows are and its just pretty darn country up there. Well about 300 feet in front of our van is a horse trailer with about 20 horses. all of a sudden a tire blows and the thing starts rolling.

Unfortunately, most, if not all the horses were ejected.....    The phrase "raining cats and dogs" rings a bell because it was honestly "raining horses". It was probably the worst thing I've seen, and having to drive by it seeing all the dead animals was terrible. It was honestly the most horrible thing I've seen, And Jer can back me up on this one, being in law enforcement, you see some nasty a$$ $h*t...