| Author | Message | ||
     Bullseye |
In the Northeast its cold blustery and in the midatlantic we are having an icestorm. Working at a dealership we spent most of Monday and Tuesday digging out and clearing customer cars. After all of the newly fallen snow thawed a bit the freeze began. A solid layer of ice awaited me before my morning commute. Luckily for me my truck has a heated rear window and when warmed up excellent heat. I pushed all of the ice off of the hood and then the roof. I put as much as I could in the bed for traction even with 4WD. Today I get a call from my wife and she seemed rattled and a little peeved. After calming her a bit over the phone she said that she had broken the windshield of her SUV. I left work half hurridly and made my way 15 miles to the scene of the crime. I made sure she was OK and my 16 month old son was fine in the rear seat. I went around to the front and DAMN!!!!!. A sheet of ice, not a small clump or even an iceball, but a sheet the size of the roof of a minivan had destroyed the windshield and crushed the roof in all the way back to the sunroof Thankfully it didn't break as well. We had to wait an hour and a half for a rollback and the police, they were busy, very busy. While waiting on the side of the road in my truck at least two other cars within a hundred yards had similar damage and we watched at least adozen cars wizz by flinging ice off of the front, back and top. All of the pics I have are way to big and compressed they lose the effect but I beg you for the sake of my family and all of the people around you please take the extra few minutes to remove ALL of the snow, ice and debris from your vehicle. If anyone wants to see how much carnage a little frozen water can do please email and I'll forward the pics. | ||
| Etennuly |
Thankfully all are uninjured. It could have easily been so bad. I saw that same kind of thing happen when I first started driving. A tractor trailer lost its load of about a foot of melting wet snow and ice, all at once over the tops of four parked cars on a corner street. Caved in roofs and broken windows for all. It's dangerous and scary to see vehicles toting hundreds of pounds of the stuff like it wouldn't hurt anything. | ||
| Johnnylunchbox |
IIRC NY started ticketing people last year for not clearing the snow off their cars. Glad to hear no one was injured. | ||
| Tunes |
Here in NH, they passed a law that states you must clean the snow/ice off your vehicle. If you cause an accident because of your neglect, YOU are libel... and with all the folks nowadays owning cell phones, believe me, you will not get away with it. All of this came about when ice/snow blew off a vehicle and smashed a windshield causing the death of the driver. I'm with you all the way. I'm glad to hear your wife and child are safe. | ||
| Hdbobwithabuell |
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz | ||
| Hdbobwithabuell |
I was riding the other day and a dump truck was dumping some gravel. Then there was an old lady that almost hit my wife and three kids and... and ... and... | ||
| Tx05xb12s |
Wow, that never occurred to me. Of course it makes sense to make sure the windows are clear, but I never thought about a slab of ice flying off a vehicle and hurting someone. Thanks for posting this. I currently live in the south near Houston, but hope to head elsewhere when I graduate next year. This info might come in handy just in case my common sense doesn't kick in up north. I'd like to see some pics if you have time to email me. I also have a sister that just finished medical school and is doing her internship in Colorado Springs. Being a newbie up there and a typical young lady, she is always running late and in a big hurry and I am sure lazy about cleaning the snow off her vehicle before she takes off. Being the good big brother I am, I'd like to send her the pics with a warning to do the right thing. Thanks again and I hope your wife and child are no worse for the wear. Sounds like that's going to leave a little mark on the SUV too. Bummer. | ||
| Toona |
I think it is funny when they come to a stop sign/light and all the snow/ice slides off the roof on to the windshield, then, instead of getting out and clearing it off with a scraper or by hand, they hit the wipers and the snow/ice is too heavy to move. I've been in a friends auto garage when he was replacing a wiper motor from the owner not freeing the blades from the ice and snow build up. | ||
| Mesa_cityx |
Best one i witnessed was in beantown. Doofus trying to stop at a light brakes just hard enough to slide the foot of snow off his roof onto the hood of his car. The snow continues to slide off the hood to the road in front of him. Now he's trying to stop on said snow BEFORE rearending the Mass state trooper.. No luck. I laughed for an hour! | ||
| Ulywife |
No luck - Some people make their own luck. Bullseye - glad everyone came out uninjured. I know how scary it is to have children in the car when glass shatters and covers them. People don't think about the roof or trunk of their vehicle because it doesn't affect their ability to see/drive. | ||
| Lost_in_ohio |
Add my van to the list. A chunk of Ice the size of a table top fell off of a Walmart truck. Broke the windshield. $283 later it is replaced......I have a call in to Walmart about it, I am not sure if they are going to do anything about it. Their adjuster and I are playing phone tag so I am not sure what is gonna happen. I gave them the license plate of the trailer, location, date and time. We shall see if they are gonna pay for it. (Message edited by lost_in_ohio on February 17, 2007) | ||
| Bullseye |
We talked to the adjuster today and because noone stopped and my wife didn't get the license plate of the minivan we have the joy of going through our insurance and determining if we are gonna pay or they are. The police officer said this type of incident is considered a road hazard and is a no-fault unless there is a witness willing to stop and file a report. Anyway I have more photos from the insurance company and my camera. I'll try to get some in here.  | ||
| Rex |
yep. My nephew had a sheet of ice come off a truck in oklahoma and go thru their windshield. crushed his face. All reconstructed surgery...still trying to find the truck. It is a 10,000 fine in oklahoma. the boy has no insurance. still eating thru a straw....rex | ||
| Xbduck |
I was wondering about what kind of damage a sheet of ice would do to a vehicle. Friday I was headed east on I-64 I was going about 70 when passed by a mini-van. I watching the entire chuck of ice on the roof of the van come of and go at least 40 feet into the air. I'm glad I had slowed just after he passed me. It hit the road well in front of me. I had to lean forward in the seat just to see how high it was going. Andrew I'm glad everyone is for the most part OK. | ||
| Court |
There was a similar incident in NYC this week. Fortunately the young man suffered only the scare of his life and a cut nose. I got lucky. I have indoor parking at school and on Wednesday, when the snow and ice was at it's worst and my car got covered, I pulled into the very warm basement garage and came out hours later to find my car ice/snow free and toasty warm. Send 100oF weather! |
