Motorway Debris

One thing I really hate about motorways is the amount of road debris. More so if you hit any.

This evening driving home on the M4 to Chippenham from Swindon, in the dark with drizzle, the car in front hit a large object the size of a big dog that bounced up and went into the front of my car, it took out most of the lower front bumper and its made a right mess of other front bits including the lower radiator bits of pipework and parts of the wiring harness are now dangling. Apart from the fact that this will cost me a few hundred pounds to get fixed I guess I was pretty lucky as the air bag did not deploy and I did not loose control of the car and damage any other vehicle. I was bloody lucky that I was not on the bike because as I sure as beenz is beenz I'd have been off.

After reporting it to the police as soon as I could (which they were very greatful) it was clear that some idiot had not secured the item to their vehicle and now I'll be out of pocket to get the car fixed as well as the poor driver in front who hit it first. I don't think it was an animal as there was no blood or guts on the car. The fact is that the @sshole who owned the item has got off scott free.

The car is now off the road till I get it fixed. Oh well, another one to put down to experience. Will not be claiming on insurance if at all possible as the excess will make up a large portion of the cost. At least I should keep my no claims.

Guess I'm just pi$$ed off so sorry for the rant.

Aw that really is nasty. Very nasty. Is there no hope of identifying the owner of the item. Or can you complain to the Highways Agency? After all they employ people to patrol motorways to remove this sort of crap.

I had a similar incident a few years ago on the M20 but in my case it was a lorry on the opposite carriageway which had blown a tyre and it was the tyre tread that hit my car...I was third in line to be hit...We tried tracing the lorry via CCTV but the cameras were out of action that morning so no luck there. Cost my employer around £3000 in bodywork and another £1000 to replace the A/C unit which sits behind the front bumper on th 307...

Good luck with it

Yup looks like its the AC heat exchanger is toast. Can't see any fliuds leaking which is a good sign (AC stuff would have evaporated). The car still steers OK and appeares to run OK. Will have to wait untill the garage puts it up on ramps befre the full extent of the damage is clear. It could have been a lot worse though.

[fizzwheel]

Had a close one with a Oxy Acetalene ( sp ) gas bottle on the A303 last year. It must have fallen off a lorry and it was rolling about in the middle of the road. I was glad I missed that I can tell you.

[Stu]

Always drive at a speed that will allow you to stop well within the distance you can see to be clear.

Originally Posted by Stu

Always drive at a speed that will allow you to stop well within the distance you can see to be clear.

Absolutely right!

[Stu]

Just a late night joke, you have my sympathies.

you might be able to claim from the MIB

worth checking out..

I'm forever calling the police to remove debris form the road... usually there very great full just the odd obnoxious idiot it he call centre wondering why i bothered to breath,,,

Originally Posted by 454697819

I'm forever calling the police to remove debris form the road... usually there very great full just the odd obnoxious idiot it he call centre wondering why i bothered to breath,,,

I'm the same here, and always make a point of calling the local station rather than the non-emergency call centre, or 999. I've always had a better response (in terms of attitude & time) whenever I've called the local station direct to avoid the Chinese whisper message system they must use.

The last 2 incidents I've had like this I was pretty damn lucky too. About 1sq ft of wood in the middle of the road, thrown up by the car in front of me. In the car, there was nothing I could do except duck as it hit the windscreen, luckily not causing any damage. On the bike, I swear it must of been the same bit of wood, same size & colour, I swerved, but because of the nature of flying wood, it swerved towards me & clipped the right fork, again, luckily, causing no damage.

Beenz, seems like you came off pretty bad from a fairly hefty object. You have my sympathies fella, and hopefully it won't cost too much to get fixed.