Talk Morgan Forums Community Vehicle Talk (non-Morgan) What the ..... hit me?!

On my commute on the M4 I’ve had two debris incidents.
First....driving a Peugot 205 diesel. In the dark, passing a slow car (about50mph) in lane1, doing 70 in outside lane. Saw a pallet slap bang at range limit of dipped beam. Hard braking, couldn’t swerve, bang, on stop, hazards on.. Tried to pull over to hard shoulder but fast cars undertaking. Got there ok. Cars were hitting the pallet, and wood flying everywhere, not slowing or stopping. My car was ok, just a bend in the tow loop, no fluid leakages, brakes and steering good. I was by an emergency phone so called it in.
Few years later driving up on M4 past the DVLA. “Bump-bump” heard. Nothing in mirror. Couple hundred yards on spotted an 8’x4’ metal frame of 1” square sections on the road. Another “bump-bump”. Came up to a low loader and saw another frame come off the back and cartwheeling along in the next lane. Signalled to the low loader but don’t know if he stopped.
Also seen tyres come off lorries on the M4. Even one lorry veer off and down an embankment.
Luckily no flying stones into the windscreen........just a dented sump on the Plus8 from a large stone rolling into my path whilst on A40 near Brecon. No leaks, just a dent. Well done Rover for a strong steel sump.

Once saw a bulldozer come off a low loader. Fortunately I was far enough away and, at the time, the only car on the road. The bulldozer quietly trundled through the curve on the wrong side of the road and neatly parked itself in a sort of layby.

I have seen a couple of wheels, on different occassions, merrily travelling along the road all by themselves. Nearly happened to me once but the half axle did not come right out of the diff housing.

Lebanon aftershock

Some time back in summer 2019 before the world went odd I was driving home when this occurred in front of me. I had joined the A34 southbound from the M4 and came around the bend to find I was first on the scene as this was taking place.

The lorry had been coming towards us on the other side of the road. The 500 was on this side of the road to begin with. The artic driver has a front steering tyre blow out as he was performing a lane change and then had gone straight through the barrier. I weaved and slowed the traffic then parked blocking across the road. The steel wire was in quite some tension. Fortunately the occupants of the 500 (lady and child) were physically okay. The lorry driver was terrified he had killed them and in a worse state. The lorry was in excellent condition so not a maintenance issue, it was one of the mobile flight simulators you see at posh events and fairs. The A34 was closed for the best part of a week. All from a tyre going pop.

be sure to engage the flux capacitor next time.....

That is scary, I have often thought how ineffective those wire ropes look and this has confirmed it that was a lucky one for the 500 occupants and you.

Nasty

It’s obvious why all our motorways are having concrete central divides installed

The”cheese wire” is particularly dangerous for bikers!!

Yes that worried me, the wire is grey against a grey road surface and at just the right height to do serious damage. That's why I put the car across the road to try and stop more risk. If the wire had been damaged and snapped I would not like to experience based on what some people have told me.

To be fair the wire has provided a controlled capture where the artic would probably have hit the steel barrier stuff and tipped over in many cases leading to a bigger mess and more risk. Little or nothing will stop one of those. I wait to see the result of the new concrete barriers they are placing down the centre of the M4 in action. Mind you I would prefer not to actually see it.

I hadn’t seen the wire until it was pointed out. It would have caught me. A bright colour would help.