Flying mattress.

[rolmops]

Did you ever see one??
I did, coming at me while rolling on the NYS Throughway at 75 miles per hour.
Saturday night on my way back from our cottage on Owasco Lake around 10 in the evening we were on our way home,when all of a sudden I saw something black in the air coming at me.Next thing I heard was a thud and total blackness ahead of me.I pushed on the four ways and eased farther to the left until I heard the rumble strips first on my left side and then on my right side tires.Then I slowed down and stopped.I got out and found a big futon mattress draped over the car hood and windshield.
I just pulled it off and threw it in the divider between the east and west bound lanes.
This mattress must have flown off a pickup and it was probably doing 75 mph in midair when it hit me,because there was no visible damage to the car and it did not even cause the airbags to go off.
I hope that the jerk who did not tie his load properly will have to sleep on the bare floor for six weeks.
It must be that there is a more spectacular death awaiting me instead of getting killed by a flying mattress.

 

[Vlad D Impeller]

Re: Flying mattress.

Whew! That had to be very scary, glad to know that you made it home in one piece.
Keep a look out for magic carpets.

 

[JB]

Re: Flying mattress.



Congratulations on a cool head, rolmops. There are a hundred things you could have done wrong. . .but you did the one thing right.

 

[OldMercsRule]

Re: Flying mattress.

Wow That coulda been real bad. Glad ya made it to the shoulder. JR

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Flying mattress.

Thankfully no one was hurt!

I saw an accident like that years ago but the mattress got run over and stuck under a car...... due to the springs and cotton caught fire.

 

[i386]

Re: Flying mattress.

Good job on keeping cool. I lost an air mattress out of the back of my pickup about 10 years ago on the way back from the drive in theater. Thankfully nobody was behind me.

 

[waterinthefuel]

Re: Flying mattress.

Ever consider he was just trying to make it easier for you to fall asleep at the wheel? =)

On a more serious note, good job in keeping your cool! Nice emergency driving work!

 

[Mark42]

Re: Flying mattress.

Ummm..... Exactly where did you throw my mattress???

 

[scrobo]

Re: Flying mattress.

I had a loveseat fly out of a trailer in front of me about 4 moths ago. Nothing in the trailer was tied down and it looked like he had quite a bit in there. Fridge included. I was going down the I-90 heading for the I-79 in PA. He (or she... I should be more PC) was about 100ft in front of me. Noone in the hammer lane so I moved over. Looked good hitting the blacktop He didn't even stop and the Freightliner only goes 78 max. I couldn't let him know he was an idiot

 

[Scoop]

Re: Flying mattress.

Wow, glad you are ok and had the peace of mind to get the flashers on and get off the highway.

A couple years back, I was behind a construction truck when it's full sized wheel barrow came out of the back. Luckily I missed it and it slide into the median. It was good it came out and landed flat on the top so it could slide, or I probably would not have been able to miss it.

 

[WaterWitch2]

Re: Flying mattress.

I was driving on the freeway Saturday and was showered with shattered glass. Up ahead I caught up with an old Toyota pick-up that had a sliding glass door hanging off the back with most of the glass missing.

 

[i386]

Re: Flying mattress.

Wow, glad you are ok and had the peace of mind to get the flashers on and get off the highway.

A couple years back, I was behind a construction truck when it's full sized wheel barrow came out of the back. Luckily I missed it and it slide into the median. It was good it came out and landed flat on the top so it could slide, or I probably would not have been able to miss it.

You should have went back. A good wheel barrow is over $100.

 

[aspeck]

Re: Flying mattress.

Several years back I was making a new vehicle trade between dealerships. Passing a semi on a bridge while drive the never been titled car the left front wheel came off the semi and started rolling right for me! I watched as it bounced and I hit the accelerator. Somehow it did not land on my windshield, but bounced over the car. In my rearview I watched it hit behind me, bounce right, and head over the guard rails. I sure home no one was in a boat fishing under the bridge!

 

[Tyme2fish]

Re: Flying mattress.

Comedian Heywood Banks has a song about a "Flying Queen". A mattress not the other kind of "queen"

 

[mrfixitman40]

Re: Flying mattress.

wow good driving . never saw one flying but have seen lots along the roads over the years . my worse had to be when i was at the dragstrip and my own slick passed me . but all is good that ends injury free .

 

[treedancer]

Re: Flying mattress.

Glad it was only a mattress rollmops,unfortunately when your on the road you see a lot of that. Not all of it is on pickups, a lot is on the top of cars ,tied to the back of campers/rv,s whenever someone can tie something on with twine and go down the interstate at 70 mph.

 

[Monkaroo]

Re: Flying mattress.

Reminds me of a near miss with a sheet of plywood . I was on a motorcycle and was coming up on a flat bed truck ahead of me in the right lane . I was about to pass him when I noticed a big sheet of plywood on top of a big crate that was loose and flopping around . I backed off of the throttle just in time to watch it get airborn and fly like a blade across the lane in front of me . If I hadn't noticed it and slowed down , I probably wouldn't be sitting here right now . Good Lord was looking out for me that day , no doubt .

 

[scrobo]

Re: Flying mattress.

I think we can all say


RULE OF THUMB: Never drive behind stupid people hauling gravity-defying loads.


Or invet in an APC.

 

[gonfishn]

Re: Flying mattress.

I once had a 16 year old come in to pick up some bedding for her folks. I offered to tie the set down for her but he told me she was in a hurry. About an hour later she came back and in the back of the pickup was a very doa mattress. Seems like it fell off and a semi ran over it. You can imagine the condition it was in

She had just got her drivers liscense a week before. She was crying and told me that her dad would take her lisense away when he found out. It was for a quest room and the set was around 400$

Feeling sorry for her I gave her another set which we tied down. I never thought about it until a few months later when she came in and paid me for the set. Said she went out and got a job so she could pay me back. She will go far in this world i would say.

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Flying mattress.

Good work rolmops. Glad you kept a cool head. Could have been a bit of disaster.