Most common – and most wacky – forms of local road debris

[US 89]

I drove into a large plastic bag on I-80 in Salt Lake once. I thought I had gone over it until I got home and saw it on the front of the car.

As for wacky: the strangest that comes to mind was when I pointed out a car with two bicycles that didn't look all that well secured to the bike rack. No more than 20 seconds later, the bikes fell off and bounced several times before eventually coming to a rest in the middle of the interstate.

[kphoger]

I once had a boss who told me a whole sheet of slate came off a truck in front of him one time and sailed over his car like a huge frisbee.

[bing101]

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-dec-06-la-me-then6-2009dec06-story.html

Here is a wacky example of debris. The Hollywood Freeway Chickens from 50 years ago.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_Freeway_chickens


The story has become a legend around road geeks in Los Angeles though.

[skluth]

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-dec-06-la-me-then6-2009dec06-story.html

Here is a wacky example of debris. The Hollywood Freeway Chickens from 50 years ago.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_Freeway_chickens


The story has become a legend around road geeks in Los Angeles though.

Escaped wildlife is no big deal in other parts of the country. We had cows two years ago when I still lived in St Louis.

[DandyDan]

I drove into a large plastic bag on I-80 in Salt Lake once. I thought I had gone over it until I got home and saw it on the front of the car.

As for wacky: the strangest that comes to mind was when I pointed out a car with two bicycles that didn't look all that well secured to the bike rack. No more than 20 seconds later, the bikes fell off and bounced several times before eventually coming to a rest in the middle of the interstate.

In my old courier job back when I lived in Omaha, I had to make the trek to the Fremont NE airport for a delivery because the Omaha airport was fogged out. I was driving up US 275 (what's now the back road between Valley and Fremont) when the vehicle ahead of me lost the bikes that were attached to it. Fortunately, I was far enough behind to jam on the brakes and avoid the bikes. I don't know if the vehicle ever knew it lost its bikes.

[kphoger]

I drove into a large plastic bag on I-80 in Salt Lake once. I thought I had gone over it until I got home and saw it on the front of the car.

As for wacky: the strangest that comes to mind was when I pointed out a car with two bicycles that didn't look all that well secured to the bike rack. No more than 20 seconds later, the bikes fell off and bounced several times before eventually coming to a rest in the middle of the interstate.

In my old courier job back when I lived in Omaha, I had to make the trek to the Fremont NE airport for a delivery because the Omaha airport was fogged out. I was driving up US 275 (what's now the back road between Valley and Fremont) when the vehicle ahead of me lost the bikes that were attached to it. Fortunately, I was far enough behind to jam on the brakes and avoid the bikes. I don't know if the vehicle ever knew it lost its bikes.

I was on a camping trip with some friends, and I guess we were fortunate.  We had rented a car in the Chicago suburbs and bought a bicycle rack for our three bikes.  Somewhere on I-70 in eastern Colorado on our way to Ouray, I woke up to the sound of my roommate pulling over onto the shoulder.  One of the plastic straps holding the bikes on had cracked (first time we used it, too!) and they were tilted dangerously close to the pavement.  We did the rest of the trip with the bikes duct-taped onto the rack, and that worked out perfectly.



The worst road debris I've ever had to dodge was empty pallets falling out of a semi trailer in city traffic on I-44 in Saint Louis.  It was a double trailer rig, and the roll door on the rear trailer was open, with empty pallets standing on end at the rear of the trailer behind his cargo.  Every minute or so, a new one would tip over and hit the Interstate, skidding this way and that across the lanes at 60 mph until it came to rest somewhere.  It was like driving in a video game.  Eventually, I was able to pull alongside the driver, motion for him to roll the window down, and shout to him "YOU'RE LOSING PALLETS!"  Man, you should have seen his face darken when he figured out what I was shouting...

[US 89]

I was on a camping trip with some friends, and I guess we were fortunate.  We had rented a car in the Chicago suburbs and bought a bicycle rack for our three bikes.  Somewhere on I-70 in eastern Colorado on our way to Ouray, I woke up to the sound of my roommate pulling over onto the shoulder.  One of the plastic straps holding the bikes on had cracked (first time we used it, too!) and they were tilted dangerously close to the pavement.  We did the rest of the trip with the bikes duct-taped onto the rack, and that worked out perfectly.

Reminds me of an experience I had on a family trip several years back. We were driving west on I-80 in Wyoming on a windy day, with a bike rack with three or so bikes on the back -- something like this. We noticed the bikes were bouncing more than usual, but initially blamed that on the wind. After finally pulling over, we discovered we'd lost several of the rubber pieces used to secure the bikes, such that the bungee cord we'd thrown on at the last minute was the only thing keeping them from falling to the interstate. We did make it home, but only after buying an extra bungee cord at a truck stop in Evanston. Needless to say, that was the last time that bike rack was used.

[ET21]

Commuting in for Star Wars Celebration last weekend gave me a couple:

-Metal shingles on Elston just after the I-90/94 interchange
-Dog food bags on Fairbanks just north of Superior, the birds were having fun.

Most weird one since I started driving was hay-bails that got knocked off a semi on I-88 at the IL-56 Sugar Grove exit. Watched the whole thing unfold from the flyover ramp I was exiting on.

[roadman]

The default is always 911 though.  They will contact the proper agency or authority.  (I think #77 may even connect you to the same dispatch team anyway).

#77 (or *77) was used before cellphone systems could connect directly into 911.  This is why the *77 signs in Massachusetts (which have all since been converted to 911) included a tab reading 'CELLULAR'.  As I understand it, while agencies can opt to still provide the #77 (*77) number, they cannot display the word 'Emergency' on the signs informing drivers of it.

[UCFKnights]

Pretty much every ladder I own was picked up off the side of the road -- I got a 4', a couple 6', 8' and a nice heavy 12', and I think a 16' extension ladder. All in near new shape, I'm pretty sure the people losing them lose em all the time, they weren't old and beatup like the ones I used to have.

Most annoying was a truck full of 2x4s lost its load in front of me on the highway... blocked the whole thing, including the shoulders, I think we didn't move for like 6 hours until they cleared one lane for us to go around the debris.

Most common is definitely those foam polar pop cups from Kangaroo, I'm pretty sure you can see one of them on the ground from every point on every road in the area lol. Beer cans are a close second, from my understanding, those are entirely on purpose, as people feel if they have a beer can in their vehicle, they are: a) more likely to be suspected of DUI and b) at risk of violating open container laws so apparently even if its a passenger or whatnot, people nearly always throw them out the window. Oh, and cigarettes, every intersection has a pile of them on the road. They're small so they're hard to see. I'm pretty sure all cigarette smokers believe that they biodegrade within a day or 2.

[sparker]

Around here there are some almost-certainties regarding road debris:
   1.  It'll happen from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon, when folks are actually moving quantities of their shit.
   2.  A working plurality -- probably a majority -- of the "lost" items are bedroom furniture, with the occasional sofa thrown in for good measure.
   3.  Most of it seems to occur on I-880 between downtown Oakland and Fremont, with US 101 in the Palo Alto-Mountain View area a distant second.

[bing101]

Around here there are some almost-certainties regarding road debris:
   1.  It'll happen from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon, when folks are actually moving quantities of their shit.
   2.  A working plurality -- probably a majority -- of the "lost" items are bedroom furniture, with the occasional sofa thrown in for good measure.
   3.  Most of it seems to occur on I-880 between downtown Oakland and Fremont, with US 101 in the Palo Alto-Mountain View area a distant second.

I-880 is the Bay Area's version of the I-710 Freeway because of Truck access to the ports though. Also Lots of Truck Accidents happen on I-880.


In Solano County I see Trash Bags on Freeways and dead animals most common on the side of freeways though on I-80, I-680, I-505, I-780.

[Bruce]

A compilation for Seattle over the last four years or so: https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2018/05/23/26479809/the-weird-shit-that-has-spilled-on-seattle-highways

The salmon truck on the viaduct (leading to total gridlock and an entirely new traffic management plan) was a favorite. Also today on I-90, there was fertilizer with human feces.

[D-Dey65]

A few days ago, I was looking for a post of mine where I wrote about my 2010 New York Tri-State area road trip, and how after coming out of the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel found myself in a traffic jam that was due to a wheelbarrow along the Harbor Tunnel Thruway below the Fait Avenue underpass. After failing to be able to make a 911 call due to a bad signal, I decided to take the thing out of the road myself. Once the commuters of Baltimore realized what I was doing, they let me cross both the northbound lanes so I could take the thing out of the road.  I got some brief applause from the drivers, called the people responsible for the debris morons, and a reverse 911 call afterwards and explained what was going on to them.

I just found that post, and I almost thought I lost this thread:
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=92.msg67919#msg67919


More recently (February 2019 actually), there was a convertible roof for a boat that was in my lane on the southbound Howard Frankland Bridge. I stopped to pick it up and get it out of the road, but another driver beat me to it. Unfortunately, as I was approaching the obstacle, my cell phone fell out of my case and hit the shoulder breaking the lens. Luckily, it still works.

[inkyatari]

There's currently a mattress on the inner shoulder on I-55 southbound, just south of the IL-126 exit.  It's been there for a week.  Way to go, IDOT

[ET21]

There's currently a mattress on the inner shoulder on I-55 southbound, just south of the IL-126 exit.  It's been there for a week.  Way to go, IDOT

You could say they're sleeping on the job..............