A hubcap came flying into my windshield yesterday during the drive home. First I knew about it was when the guy to my left and in front of me veered into my lane, then the thing flew in like an evil frisbee and smacked off my right windshield.

Could have been worse, the hubcap was pretty solid and if it had hit my grill or fallen in front of my tires the damage would have been worse.

Over the years, I have dodged a variety of things on the road, including a ladder just a month ago, and a tire which fell off the back of a truck.

What's the strangest thing you have hit or nearly hit with your vehicle on the road?

My wife couldn't avoid a dolly (hand truck) on the North Dallas Tollway last year. Almost $7,000 to repair damage to front end, radiator, and assorted bits.

curtpenn said:

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My wife couldn't avoid a dolly (hand truck) on the North Dallas Tollway last year. Almost $7,000 to repair damage to front end, radiator, and assorted bits.

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Ouch

curtpenn said:

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My wife couldn't avoid a dolly (hand truck) on the North Dallas Tollway last year. Almost $7,000 to repair damage to front end, radiator, and assorted bits.

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What a surprise. I always see those strapped in. Shocked that doesn't happen more.

Glad she's ok

Was driving home from Baylor after a summer session back in the day. The 66 Mustang didn't have AC, so my windows were down. Some crows were at a carcass in the middle of I-35, and one took off late and was right at me. I kinda ducked and heard a thud, looked up expecting to see my windshield messed up. It was fine. I chalked up the noise to the bird hitting the roof. Then feathers started wafting about. Bird had been sucked in, hit the rear window and exploded.

Guess I was lucky it was sucked in the passenger-side window.

Also narrowly missed -- as in inches -- an entire tire that had separated from a semi and was bouncing like 15 feet in the air. Looked like it was made of flubber it was bouncing so high, and it subsequently mashed a car two behind me.

Not sure these are 'strange', but I've hit:

Deer
Pig
Skunk
Armadillo
Dove
Turkey
Squirrel
Dog
Cat
Possum
Rabbit
Raccoon

BaylorGrad&Dad said:

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Not sure these are 'strange', but I've hit:

Deer
Pig
Skunk
Armadillo
Dove
Turkey
Squirrel
Dog
Cat
Possum

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Busy day, that.

Hit a buzzard with my windshield on the road from Hico to Jonesboro. Had to hang head out the side window to stay in lane all the way to Temple.

A kid hit me.

Hit 5 birds at the same time driving on a 2 lane Farm to Market road once. They were some kind of field birds...sparrows? No clue what they were doing, but all flew right in front of me. It was so weird, I turned around and went back to see how many died. 5 dead birds, possibly hit more

Driving on i-35 and a flat panel piece of wood rolled off a semi, onto the road, the next semi ran over it, the wind caught it, it sailed up nicely into the air(spinning slowly) and blanketed the front of my vehicle laying down perfectly over the windshield, all of this happening in a few seconds time.

The impact crushed the windshield on contact, had it landed at an angle, I might not be here. I barely had time to even react..

Moral of the story, beware the tractor trailers with anything not secured by a cabin.

Not the strangest, but most recent. About two weeks ago I hit a metal bar. One end took out a tire and the other put a major hole in my exhaust system.

As a teen, I lived where there were lots of jackrabbits. Everyone tried to avoid hitting them because their bones would go through a tire.

Have hit debris that took out radiator, windshield, and put a hole in transmission pan over the years. Hit a deer and had to replace or repair front end, hood, both fenders, drivers door and the car roof.

Weirdest is a barely miss where a late 70s cutlass in front of me suddenly had a T top panel come sailing off and land right in front of me.

Hit a dishwasher once backing out of the garage. Forgot I'd left it there after changing it out.

Noticed the tire on the truck was flat one morning. Griped about it. Put the truck back in the garage at an angle so I could easily get to the tire. Changed said tire. Forgot I'd backed in at an angle. Sheared side mirror off on the wall.

<bornunderabadsign.gif>

BU79 said:

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BaylorGrad&Dad said:

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Not sure these are 'strange', but I've hit:

Deer
Pig
Skunk
Armadillo
Dove
Turkey
Squirrel
Dog
Cat
Possum
Rabbit
Raccoon

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You must never have to buy meat at the grocery store

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Ah, you reminded me of something else....

I went to Ole Miss for a Ph.D. I had lots of relatives in northern Mississippi, and one night I was driving an elderly aunt home after visiting another aunt. As we were crossing a river bottom east of Oxford, I caught a streak in the corner of my eye, and a decisive thud was heard from beneath my car.

My aunt exclaimed, 'That's a swamp rabbit, go back and get it'. I did, and we took it back to her home. It was late, and I went to bed.

The next morning I smelled something cooking, and I arose to find out that my aunt had cleaned the rabbit, and it was simmering in its own gravy along with some veggies. We ate it for lunch.

So, when someone asks me, 'Have you ever eaten roadkill', I can honestly answer, 'Yes, yes I have'.

I have 3 of varying strangeness, but in no particular order.

1. A 6 foot length of pipe spinning like a sideways helicopter blade was flying, and bouncing occasionally end to end towards my windshield/car and I did not see it for the cars in front of me. When I finally did, I swerved left (fortunately nothing there, so one end barely clipped me putting a hole in the rear side panel fiberglass.

2. In heavy traffic at dusk in construction on I-35 which had it down to two lanes. We had just cleared a 1 hour backup so I started speeding to try and make up time. It had snowed the day before but was mostly <----key word melted. Rapidly looming in front of me suddenly was a fully stopped huge piece of highway construction equipment that I still don't know why it was there. Instinct made me slam on the brake pedal and hold the brake down. I maintained "straight" but was sliding and just as it appeared I was going to slam into the wall of the side of the equipment, I fishtailed into a snowbank that had built up on the bridge which, with the brake, stopped the car just short of the equipment. (I don't think it was parked as there were no barricades or signs, and it appeared to be sideways like it had hit ice or fallen off something).

3. Was driving on a freeway access road just outside a major city where there are lots of businesses with highway access in between lots of forested vacant plots of land. It was misting so I wasn't going real fast, about 45. As I climbed a hill past a forested lot and approached the entrance lightpole of a business, all of a sudden I saw a deer head on the side in silhouette in the lighted, foggy mist. I swerved in the opposite direction and must have scared it because it ran the same direction I was going a step or two and then turned and headbutted my right front quarter panel.

Then the next day on the way to work, on the opposite side of the freeway, I passed a dead deer with what appeared to be a broken neck. I am not sure it was the same one, but maybe.

Mr Tulip said:

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Hit a dishwasher once backing out of the garage. Forgot I'd left it there after changing it out.

Noticed the tire on the truck was flat one morning. Griped about it. Put the truck back in the garage at an angle so I could easily get to the tire. Changed said tire. Forgot I'd backed in at an angle. Sheared side mirror off on the wall.

<bornunderabadsign.gif>

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well mr tulip, you are a Texas grad. Lolololol

I've driven through a swarm of bees twice. The first time it happened I saw what looked like a tiny cloud moving across I-35. I didn't know what it was until I was right on top of it. Then the windshield was just smacked with all these bees at once. It startled me and I was thinking they would be coming through the vents.lol Same thing happened several years later. Also on I-35. It made a mess of the windshield and frontal area of the truck but no damage.

115

My mother ran over my dad a the ranch while he was opening a gate.

witchmo said:

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My mother ran over my dad a the ranch while he was opening a gate.

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Holy ***** Hopefully he was ok?

I've run over 2 big land crabs in the last week in my golf cart at night. Don't know if it's migration season or what, but there have been a bunch of them on the road recently. Don't see them until it's too late at night. Feel bad when I hear the loud crunch...

I think I've only run over an opossum and hit a bird in my previous 20 years of driving.

This reminded me of a documentary I once saw. Don't mess with mother nature. Giant African Toads were transplanted to Australia to control insects and such. With no natural predators the Toad population exploded. Cars go out of the way to run them over in the road.

We have a tarantula migration season where I live. At times, the whole road looks like it's moving as hundreds of tarantulas are crossing.

I've run over dozens of tarantulas on a given drive, every time I drive back and forth on that road for a full week.

quash said:

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115

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C'mon, man - 142...

- KEB

ps - that was enough for me out on 164!

KEBasketball said:

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quash said:

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115

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C'mon, man - 142...

- KEB

ps - that was enough for me out on 164!

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TX 14 north of Mexia. Turns out it's a high crowned road.

I didn't hit it, but it hit me. A truckload of tombstones, already inscribed and ready for cemetery placement backed over the front of my rental car.

I was staying at a hotel in Italy with it's own small parking lot and when I came back from the day, a truck loaded with tombstones was parked where it blocked the lot. I stopped, got out, and went to look for the driver so I could get in. Meanwhile a woman came running out of a restaurant, ran up to the truck, hopped in, put it in gear, and backed up over the front of my car. As you can guess, the truck was large and heavy and did a number on the front end of the car. I came running over and started asking her (in the politest way possible, as I remember it) how she couldn't see my car there. She said that she saw it, but it wasn't her truck and she didn't have the feel for it and lost control when she put it in gear. I asked why she was doing that if it wasn't her truck and she just said she could see that I wanted it moved and she just wanted to help. I had to fill out a damage form for the rental car in Italian and had a lot of trouble fitting the story into the blocks they gave me on the form.

forza orsi said:

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I didn't hit it, but it hit me. A truckload of tombstones, already inscribed and ready for cemetery placement backed over the front of my rental car.

I was staying at a hotel in Italy with it's own small parking lot and when I came back from the day, a truck loaded with tombstones was parked where it blocked the lot. I stopped, got out, and went to look for the driver so I could get in. Meanwhile a woman came running out of a restaurant, ran up to the truck, hopped in, put it in gear, and backed up over the front of my car. As you can guess, the truck was large and heavy and did a number on the front end of the car. I came running over and started asking her (in the politest way possible, as I remember it) how she couldn't see my car there. She said that she saw it, but it wasn't her truck and she didn't have the feel for it and lost control when she put it in gear. I asked why she was doing that if it wasn't her truck and she just said she could see that I wanted it moved and she just wanted to help. I had to fill out a damage form for the rental car in Italian and had a lot of trouble fitting the story into the blocks they gave me on the form.

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I might have taken a moment to ensure none of the stones had my name on it. An opportunity for reflection indeed!

BrutalBear said:

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witchmo said:

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My mother ran over my dad a the ranch while he was opening a gate.

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Holy ***** Hopefully he was ok?

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Sorry..just saw this. Though old bird never even limped ...I thought they were both full of it when they told me about this.

1) A feral hog, at night.
2) A kitchen cabinet that fell off of a trailer in front of me.

witchmo said:

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BrutalBear said:

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witchmo said:

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My mother ran over my dad a the ranch while he was opening a gate.

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Holy ***** Hopefully he was ok?

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Sorry..just saw this. Though old bird never even limped ...I thought they were both full of it when they told me about this.

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lolol

dale steele.

- KKM