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  • #16
    So, debris on road

    This is not my story, but my grandfathers.

    Back in time in the late 1940's, when my father was but a sparkle in my granpas eyes, my grandfather used to drive a truck. The truck he drove was used mainly for delivery of sand to buildsites, and as thus was quite big for the era. With size came also the abilities to steer, decelerate and accelerate oh-not-so quickly.

    Then while driving a relatively short multi-load delivery of sand, he noticed on the opposite lane some small boys, maybe aged 10-12, running pulling a seemingly empty cardboard box with some ropes. He came back to another direction about ten minutes later, this time with full load onboard. From some distance away he again spotted the kids, and chose to honk a few times to get them out of the way because the truck wouldn't have been able to stop anymore before them. The boys looked up from whatever they were up to, and ran to side of the road leaving the cardboard box on the lane, whilst signaling to my granpa to "smash it." He was about to, but as the road was clear he decided not to and to steer around it. It was a somewhat difficult, but manageable task. He told me that he was doing about 70kph at the time, and just as the box went out of his front view - the box opened, and yet another small boy maybe 6-8yo, peeked out of it. Only few tenths of a second later he watched from his rearview mirror as the kid jumped out of the box and joined the other gang.

    He once told me, few months before his (sudden) death, that eventhough nothing happened, he still had occasional nightmares about the situation, over half a century later. Luckily there was no oncoming traffic, and he was as good a driver as he was, since the abilities of the truck to steer at the speed were severely limited.

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    • #17
      Tsar, like your grandfather, I think I might have nightmares from that.

      That's just...
      Unseen but seeing
      oh dear, now they're masquerading as sane-KiaKat
      There isn't enough interpretive dance in the workplace these days-Irv
      3rd shift needs love, too
      RIP, mo bhrionglóid

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      • #18
        first who tells someone run over their friend... second heres my story

        Many years ago my father built a small light duty trailer him self maybe capable of 1000- 1500lb load. This was build many years ago before safety chains were mandatory on trailers. The thing had rusted over the years but was still intact then one day we're hauling the empty trailer on the interstate and all of a sudden my father looked in the read view mirror and saw out trailer skittering into the right hand lane and into the shoulder. this all happened when i was about 6 making it about 12 years ago. luckily traffic was light that day

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        • #19
          I ran over a mannequin one time. It was late, it was dark, I was exhuasted and i thought i had run over some naked guy lying in the middle of the road until I picked it up. That freaked the hell out of me. I still have that mannequin somewhere.

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          • #20
            Quoth CorDarei View Post
            i've almost hit a cow one night.... doing 55 down a darkened stretch of country road and a black cow is just standing in the middle of the road(actually 3 of them) i was probably lucky to stop in time... honked and they mosied on their way.

            one time before that, thanksgiving eve, i'm driving home and i see these glowing eyes in the middle of the road (again, country road, no lights, dark) so i slow down... sure enough, it's a horse (we were near some horse ranches)

            other times, have been plain stuff, mattresses, couches, planks of wood, etc etc etc.
            A local guy was killed hitting a cow while on his motorcycle just last month. It was dark and he came around the curve and there it was.

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            • #21
              Okay, so the missus and I are following a tourist car, with the bikes on the roof. THey had the rack set up with four bikes, and four front tires in the slots. (Tires off of the bikes). As we follow, we notice one of the wheels is jiggling, so we flash the lights at them and honk. No effect. We try again, same result. Then we swerve as the tire comes off at 50 MPH and starts bouncing at us. We watched it bounce in the rearview a couple times, then settle down to rolling until the road curved and it went off. Next two miles, flashing, honking, no answer. They turned off, and I bet they were very disappointed to find their $xxx.xx mountain bike was a unicycle.


              The other tale was from a buddy of mine in the miitary, way back when. We both worked for a pizza place for extra cash, doing deliveries. He was out on a delivery, and came back with the biggest s*&t eating grin I've ever seen. Turns out, he was on the freeway, and the rooftop sign (which the owner was to cheap to keep in good repair) flew off the top of his car. No big deal, sign hits road, big mess, over? Nope. See, there was a big rig following him. Sign hits road, bounces up, and big rig hits it full speed. He said it was like watching a ballon of confetti, one minute sign, next minute nothing but tiny plastic pieces filling the air. Rig driver honked and gave him a thumbs up, so all was good except we lost that sign that scratched your roof up.

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              • #22
                Quoth Cyphr View Post
                first who tells someone run over their friend
                I have a mobility scooter. One day, shortly after I got it, my honourary niece and I were coming back from the shops.

                She LOVED the scooter, and really wanted a go. Unfortunately, I can't walk very far, so I couldn't let her take my place for long. Being a softie, I did a couple of times - but this isn't about those times.

                I also let her play with the controls a bit - she could run the accelerator on long, smooth straight sections where I could see there was noone coming.

                . . . and she pushed the accelerator lever while her foot was in front of the back tyre.

                Yes, I ran over my own niece's foot!


                Fortunately, she was wearing her school shoes. Tough leather completely encasing the foot. Fortunately, the scooter is light enough, and the tyres wide enough, that while she was hurt, there was no lasting damage. (Yes, I checked her foot immediately, then eased her shoe back on as the only available splinting device until we got home.)

                She got her ride. On my lap, while I took us home very carefully.
                Seshat's self-help guide:
                1. Would you rather be right, or get the result you want?
                2. If you're consistently getting results you don't want, change what you do.
                3. Deal with the situation you have now, however it occurred.
                4. Accept the consequences of your decisions.

                "All I want is a pretty girl, a decent meal, and the right to shoot lightning at fools." - Anders, Dragon Age.

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                • #23
                  Quoth Seshat View Post
                  Yes, I ran over my own niece's foot!

                  Fortunately, she was wearing her school shoes. Tough leather completely encasing the foot. Fortunately, the scooter is light enough, and the tyres wide enough, that while she was hurt, there was no lasting damage. (Yes, I checked her foot immediately, then eased her shoe back on as the only available splinting device until we got home.)

                  She got her ride. On my lap, while I took us home very carefully.
                  My foot was run over by a car back when I was in high school.

                  Shoe was a write-off, but my foot was barely sore.
                  Ba'al: I'm a god. Gods are all-knowing.

                  http://unrelatedcaptions.com/45147

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                  • #24
                    Hah! A motor scooter over a foot? A car ran over my dad's legs when he was 6. It wasn't the driver's fault; she was backing up this land yacht, my dad came running up, saw her but slid on the gravel when he tried to stop. She panicked & hit the brakes, parking the car on his legs.

                    Damage? Bruises. Although, it may be part of the blame for the fact that he had bowlegs until he got his knees replaced.

                    I myself ran over a length of chrome, despite my efforts to swerve. Poked a hole in my tire, too. Nice person behind me honked to let me know that my tire was going flat before I destroyed the tire by driving it flat.
                    I'm sorry, the person to whom you were speaking has been replaced by a recording. Please leave your message at the sound of the beep.

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                    • #25
                      Didn't run over it, but I was on the Long Island Expressway and saw a driveshaft (the part that connects the engine to the transmission) come off a large box truck while he was driving down the road in front of us. The axle rolled off to the side while the truck coasted to a stop. Funny thing was the driver and gone flying by us just a couple minutes earlier.

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