So I *wasn't* tailgating today, and...

I'm doing 60 in the right lane. This pick-up with a little trailer comes by me in the left lane and merges over about 3 seconds in front of me. He's pulling away, so I maintain my speed. Shortly after, I have a subconscious "something has changed". A second later I think "Is that a sponge bouncing down the road?". My next thought was "That's going to hit me." Well it wasn't a sponge. Apparently Mr. Pick-up had some stuff on his trailer under a tarp. Strap the tarp? Bungee? Nah! Throw a couple chunks of 4x6 on it, it'll be fine! Well a bit of wind shear must have caught the tarp and flung a chunk of that 4x6 off his trailer and directly into my path. The force of the impact knocked my sunglasses off the dashboard, and I felt a little shock wave on my hand, which was holding the wheel. The truck passing me got on the CB and asked "Hey Roehl, did that just hit you?" ... "Yep." He offered to get the license plate, but I had already pulled over, and my poorly set-up/tuned CB/antenna didn't get it.

I don't tailgate, and make a habit to keep a nice long following distance. This is the second time this year that my windshield has been damaged by crap flying off of vehicles. (the first was in my 2010 Nissan which I had for a week, yes a week). I actually told the lady at safety: "Ya know, if I was tailgating, this wouldn't have happened." She agreed, and I assured her that no, I would not start tailgating.

Reported it, took care of business, got to a safe spot, yada yada. Road repair should be here tomorrow morning with a new windshield. Good times!

 

I've been looking at HD dash cams. I am into video/audio editing and production, and I imagine I could get some interesting footage. Of course, having the cam would also act as an insurance policy. I would have had one running, but I won't be able to afford it for a few weeks on account of blowing most of my spare cash in the 3 month transition from my last job to driving.



A 32gb card can record just under 11 hours at 720p/30fps. An external 1tb hard drive can hold a lot more than that, lol.

That guy would be busted if I had that running. I don't even think he realized he lost anything.

 

Me too. I called my fleet manager and said something to the effect of "Yeah I almost got my head taken off by a flying piece of wood." It was an exciting conversation... haha.

 

I keep hearing on XM RoadDog that trucking is in the top 20 most dangerous jobs.