Saturday, April 23, 2011

Eighteen Wheels... and a Piece of Metal

Hubby and I decided to take a nice drive today. For over a week, the weather has been just rotten -- rain, wind and even snow! His truck (which I have been driving in the nasty weather) was just as dirty as a truck could be, so we decided to take a nice drive and go to the car wash -- which is about 20 miles away.

Just a few short miles from home, we saw a semi truck pulled off on the side of the highway. Littering the highway behind him in both lanes were remnants of the tires he had apparently lost just moments before. Cars are swerving to avoid the debris in the road -- and we began to slow down to do the same...

Then at the same instant we saw it, we also hit it. HARD. A huge piece of metal in the road. The front tire of our truck ran over the metal piece and catapulted it into the underside of the truck. The impact was actually so hard, I thought we had been hit by another car. The jolt knocked everything out of place inside the truck and even turned the windshield wipers on. 

Hubby pulled over and checked out the damage. The piece of metal tore out three holes in the panel underneath the doors. At least it didn't tear or puncture the tires so it was drivable. We picked the piece of metal up to get it out of the road so nobody else would hit it. Hubby then pulled across the road and parked in front of the semi to talk to the driver. The driver, who was rather irritable (to state it kindly), basically said it wasn't his fault we hit something in the road.

So we circle back around, park waaaay behind the irritable driver sitting in his truck and called the police. Officer showed up a few minutes later and talked to hubby and then drove up the road to talk to the truck driver. They talked quite awhile. Officer then returns to us and verified that Mr. Truck Driver was indeed a bit irritable but calmed down after chatting a bit.

Our insurance will call for the police report. The trucker was working for a company so hopefully their insurance will pay to fix our truck.

Not exactly the nice drive we had planned! But it could've been so much worse and we are very thankful that nobody was hurt.

Using the 'stalker zoom" on my camera.
 
We parked far away from the irritable truck driver.
  
Metal piece in the road -- about 18" long and very heavy.

End of the metal piece -- this is what tore into our truck.

I was hoping he would turn the lights back on so I could get a better photo (a la Jurrasic Park - LOL)

First photo of the damage. See why we were going to the car wash? :)

After the car wash -- hubby pushed the piece in a little bit so it didn't look so icky.

 Thanks for visiting!

10 comments:

Babs said...

That is so scary, but thank God you're safe. Hopefully, the truck driver's insurance company will pay for the repairs.
Wishing you an Easter filled with joy and peace.
Babs

Anonymous said...

So happy you weren't injured; the truck can be fixed. How irritating, though!
I got my "K-fix" Friday; SO happy to see her!
Happy Easter to you and yours, Carol!

Jodi said...

That's terrible, I am glad no one got hurt, especially if that piece would have been kicked up by someone hitting it and flew threw the air! Costly trip to the car wash; bummer!

Take care and Happy Easter.

Jodi

Alison @ The Polohouse said...

That is so scary, Carolyn. I am so glad it didn't fly up and hit your windshield or something or make your husband lose control.
Thank heavens you are both ok.

I was behind a truck once on a highway and a golf ball sized rock flew from the landscaping truck right onto my windshield. My SUV was one day old! They did not have insurance on their vehicles and basically told us to take them to court to try to get them to cover damages. We never did get paid.
I hope your claim makes it through! (Your husband's damage is terrible)

So glad you are safe.
xx
A

Kathy@ Gone North said...

Oh my Goodness !! How scary & then having to deal with a nasty person... I had to quick re-read, just to make sure it was't the new B-Day present...
Thank goodness it was nothing worse...Glad that you are both OK
Happy Easter!

Diane said...

Thank God both of you are OK! That must have been so scary.

Definitely a reminder of how things can change in an instant!

Night before last, I was driving home from work on the expressway when all of a sudden there was a car driving towards me. It was going south in the northbound lanes! Talk about terrified! Fortunately, it passed by in the lane right next to me. I immediately called 911. I hope that the police were able to get there in time to arrest the person!

Pam @ Our Adventures in Home Improvement said...

OMG, I'm glad you're ok! The whole thing sounds horrible. I think you were so smart to call the police and wait to get it resolved.

Take care,
Pam

Keetha Broyles said...

Is that what you call a RIP snortin' good time?


OH - - - sorry, that wasn't even funny.

Heather at Farm to Fork said...

I am glad you were safe after such a big scare. Hope everything works out with the insurance company so your truck is fixed.

Carolyn said...

Thanks everybody! We definitely received the least amount of damage that could've happened. And we are so thankful that nobody was hurt. We found out today that we are responsible for the cost to fix it -- not the trucking company which is kinda what we figured would happen. After 3 estimates, it didn't turn out to be toooo costly.

The people we talked to at the body shops were all AMAZED at the size of the metal piece -- and the "small" amount of damage it did.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...