[Canucklehead]

There I was Monday, Dec. 22, driving from just north of Pittsburgh to Ohio to visit he GF's parents when I come around a corner to find something big and black sitting smack-dab in the middle of my lane. I managed to slow down and swerve enough to miss most of it, but whatever it was clipped my bumper, on the passenger's side, at about 40 mph. I started breathing again and got the truck pulled over to examine the damage (something was rubbing my right front tire) and see what I hit.

Damage - bumper bashed in, driving light smashed, half of the plastic valance gone, radiator support bent, bumper support rubbing on tire (bent out by local body shop for drive home). Estimate - $950.

What did I hit? - a couch. That's right, a COUCH.

Who leaves a couch in the middle of a highway???

Can anyone from Ohio answer this simple question for me?

 

[¡Oracle!]

That totally sucks! But I've seen couches before on the NJ roads.

One time I drove over a stacked load of plywood that had fortunately slid apart all over the road rather than remaining in one huge stack. My lane probably only had 4 stacked sheets of 1/2". It always seems to happen at night too.



At least you're here to tell us about it!

 

[Jules]

I saw a truck cap come off a pick-up truck one time when I lived in Rochester NY. It was an old boxy wooden one with windows. That thing just lifted off the truck and flew up about 10 ft in the air, stopped there for a moment and came crashing down on the highway splintering into many large pieces. People really need to make sure that when they carry things in their trucks that they are properly held in place. Seems like that should be common sense huh? :roll:

 

[Canucklehead]

That totally sucks! But I've seen couches before on the NJ roads.

One time I drove over a stacked load of plywood that had fortunately slid apart all over the road rather than remaining in one huge stack. My lane probably only had 4 stacked sheets of 1/2". It always seems to happen at night too.



At least you're here to tell us about it!

...and luckily we weren't driving the GF's Civic.

I had no idea what it was when I hit it as it was about 9:30pm and it must have been lying on it's back. Visions of hitting something alot more solid than a couch went through my head as I plowed through it.

Oh well, I didn't want to use that money for anything... :roll:

 

[Kermitthetodd]

I've hd two close encounters with round bales of hay in the road. How can you loose those? Luckily there was a wide enough berm, or there
would have been a mess.

 

[mwraight]

I've hit the remains of a deer on the highway -- I could feel the bones and organs crunching beneath my tires. I don't know what the heck hit that deer before me, but it looked like someone stuck dynamite up it's arse and lit the fuse! It was nearly deer soup... YUCK!

You're lucky...there could've been some drunk college kids sitting on that couch looking for a thrill.

Somewhere someone's wife is yelling and screaming "How could you lose the couch!!!???"

A lot of strange stuff finds its way into the middle of the road.

 

[sgtboots]

I live in SW PA and the remains of deer are something to always look out for. And bales of hay. And lumber.

As for couches, I haven't seen them in the road-YET! But I will keep my eyes open for them! :shock:

 

[Jules]

I saw a queen sized mattress in the road once also. I saw the car in front of me swerve to avoid it, I swerved to avoid it and the guy behind me ran right over it. It got stuck under his car and it was smoking by the time he pulled over to the side of the freeway. I didn't stop though.

 

[lowzone]

I once saw a spare tire drop from under a old rusted out chevy pickup (60s style) and it fell tire first (not flat on the rim face) and it literally bounced under the truck and lifted the back end of the truck off the ground a good 12-14". I was driving on rt 202 the other direction and it happened as we passed each other, he ended up spinning around into my lane, but fortunately behind me. THat was scary. I have also hit a sheet of plywood with my 93 Sonoma pickup, back when it was new (before i traded it in), the rear had a posi and as i drove over it, the rear slid on it and kicked it up into the air behind me. Volvo station wagon "pushed" it back down flat with its bumper, no damage but damn, you can hit anything here in NJ. Route 80 is good for tires and box frames and mattresses. Seen one couch, so far

 

[badercarma]

A couch did all that damage? Thats wierd, you would think it would just break apart.

 

[lowzone]

yeah right. Well think about hitting a piece of wood at 40-50 mph, still going to cause damage no matter what.

 

[RodeoRed]

just outside of montreal, i was driving on the trans-canada highway around 11 pm.I had just been passed by two racing honda civics and they immediately both jumped out of the right lane and swerved around what i thought was a dead deer until i got right up on it and it was a body in the road. the dudes head was by the yellow line and his feet to the side of the road - face up. there was no wreck or signs of violence in the nano second as i swerved and drove by. there were about 10 cars pulled over in the next 1/2 mile or so - so we kept on going. the next day we called the cops to inquire and they said nothing. scared the $hit out of me though.