[NY-Rob]

Got hit by a 18" 1/2" hollow metal pipe (probably some sort of jack or equipment handle) ejected from a shaking equipment trailer traveling at 60mph yesterday during my commute to work. :crying:

No way to avoid it as it shot about 50ft straight up from the trailer after hitting the road... came down spinning end-over-end like a drum major's baton. It hit the road right in front of me... hit my hood then spun up onto the windshield with a tremendous "thud" about middle of the windshield. It then went up and over my car and hit the car behind me. I couldn't believe the windshield didn't shatter... but it held up only incurring a 1" long 1/4" wide scratch.
Went to Safelight after work... it can't be fixed/buffed out... the windshield has to be replaced (will wait on replacement till I get something worse that's actually in my line of sight).

The hood didn't fare as well... 1/4" deep gash about 2" long... hello bodyshop!

Awe well... $hit happens right?

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[XJ12]

bummer

 

[demart]

I would replace the windshield. Cracked windshield is a significant safety issue. You are going to replace the hood anyway, why not replace them both (same deductible).

 

[CallMeBoltDriver]

Ouch! Who knows what direction the pipe could have taken had it pierced the windshield. It could have ended up skewering some piece of you.

 

[MDBolt]

Sorry to hear that. At least the Bolt did well enough to protect you from injury.

 

[GJETSON]

I would replace the windshield. Cracked windshield is a significant safety issue. You are going to replace the hood anyway, why not replace them both (same deductible).

Why would he be replacing the hood? That dent can probably be hammered out, and smoothed with a tiny amount of filler.

 

[NY-Rob]

Thanks for the concern guys!

My Bro in-law owns a body shop, so I'll have him look at the hood to determine if he can repair it or is it best to replace it. Hopefully it's repairable.. if it is I'll fix it out of pocket. I already pay $$$ insurance rates because I have a 20yo and 21yo on our policy.. I don't want a couple of hundred $$ repair raising my rates for the next couple of years.

Luckily, the windshield isn't cracked.. as confirmed by the Safelite tech yesterday... it's just scuffed. He also suggested waiting till something else happens before replacing it. I do have full glass coverage, so cost is not a factor... but the scuff is far enough off to the right where it's not in my normal line of site for driving and I hate to have them messing with the car if it isn't really necessary. It rained this morning and there were no abnormal streaks in the wiper path from the scuff. My windshields usually last a couple of years (I drive 50mi/day on the brutal Long Island Expressway)... so there is a new one in my future... but just not yet.

I agree that I'm very fortunate that the pipe hit the windshield flat not with one of the ends because it had some velocity and I was doing 60mph... it definitely would have punctured the windshield if it had hit end-first. I properly thanked our maker last night because things could have turned out much, much worse for me and the people behind me.

 

[james1]

I drive 50mi/day on the brutal Long Island Expressway...

The LIE is one of the worst but I'm convinced roads are brutal everywhere. Within its first 1000 miles, my Bolt suffered a hood ding/chip from a dump truck leaking construction limestone on the Interstate here in Atlanta. (One piece of the gravel actually wound up perched on my windshield wiper.)

I'm glad you weren't hurt; good luck with the repairs.

 

[NY-Rob]

Thanks James,

Every single person that I knows that drives the LIE has sustained windshield and/or paint damage, and usually within a couple of months of getting a new car.
It's a complete disgrace... you would think with the taxes we pay here (I pay $9,500/year property tax for a 1/4 acre property) we would have pristine roads not the embarrassing car wrecking "roads" we currently have.

I got a flat on the LIE the first week I owned my 2014 Volt! I had my 2003 CRV windshield replaced 3x over the years. My buddy got his Land Rover windshield chipped/replaced 3 weeks after getting the car. It's a mess!

 

[quirkySquirt]

PSA: dashcams are a thing. Helped me a road hog at a 4-way residential stop road raged at me for exercising my right of way when SHE was in a hurry. She literally just SAT in the intersection preventing me from completing my turn. Probably my honking provoked her little tantrum but I simply yelled "DASHCAM" and pointed at my dashcam.

Thankfully that calmed her down. Footage from the incident is going into long-term storage Just In Case cause I think I've seen her before and this was somewhat near my home.

 

[Dimitrij]

PSA: dashcams are a thing...

I have no idea why insurance companies and the police do not encourage dashcam ownership.

 

[NY-Rob]

I have no idea why insurance companies and the police do not encourage dashcam ownership.

Because then they'd have to chase the offender down rather then just saying "there's nothing we can do about it"


Back in the late 1980's our Jeep Cherokee got stolen, it was recovered several days later.
While breaking the steering column lock the thief left his greasy fingerprints all over the plastic interior... as plain as day... no smudges... literally 100% perfect samples, and plenty of them. After noticing them- I called the cop who responded to the original call if they were going to run the prints, etc... he replied "no.. you got it back right?". They would rather do nothing.....

 

[demart]

Why would he be replacing the hood? That dent can probably be hammered out, and smoothed with a tiny amount of filler.

I don't think aluminum can be hammered out.

 

[NY-Rob]

^ my bro in-law is out of the country till tonight so he can't look at the car till Sat the earliest.

I'll post back with his opinion regarding whether he can refurb it or he needs to replace it.
His body shop does mostly high-end BMW's and such, so he's used to working with exotic materials (including carbon fiber roofs, etc...) and 3-step paints.

 

[GJETSON]

I don't think aluminum can be hammered out.

Aluminum can be cold formed. If it was structural, there would be a concern for stress cracking, and a need for proper heat treating. For what is essentially a cover, and aerodynamic fairing, there should be no concern whatsoever.

 

[mraymondus]

I've said this plenty of times.. but get a Dashcam. If you had one, you could have captured the tag of that truck and hit them up for the cost of the repairs. I had a traffic barrel roll out into my lane (no fault of my own) and the dashcam caught the whole thing in beautiful 1080p. The construction company was more than happy to pay for the repairs and rental (total of $1800).

My cam has also witnessed a red-light runner accident involving the car in front of me, and I provided the video to both drivers (assuming they settled amicably since the video showed the light being green as the car plunged into the intersection from our left side, clipped the car in front of me, and hurtled out the other side.

I'm now a dashcam evangelist. For $100 and half an hour work, for big piece of mind.

 

[NY-Rob]

I've said this plenty of times.. but get a Dashcam. If you had one, you could have captured the tag of that truck and hit them up for the cost of the repairs.

While I agree that it's beneficial to have a dashcam, it wouldn't have really helped in this situation as it was a private SUV, no company markings just a plain white SUV- it was towing a utility trailer behind it so I couldn't see the SUV's license plate... and the trailer's plate was on the right side of the trailer obscured by the car behind it (the SUV was in the right lane I was in the middle lane).

With that said, I did have a working dashcam in my PIP (Plug-In-Prius) when someone backed in to it. I sent the video to his insurance the next day... they sent out a check within 24hrs!

 

[GregBrew]

While I agree that it's beneficial to have a dashcam, it wouldn't have really helped in this situation as it was a private SUV, no company markings just a plain white SUV- it was towing a utility trailer behind it so I couldn't see the SUV's license plate... and the trailer's plate was on the right side of the trailer obscured by the car behind it (the SUV was in the right lane I was in the middle lane).

With that said, I did have a working dashcam in my PIP (Plug-In-Prius) when someone backed in to it. I sent the video to his insurance the next day... they sent out a check within 24hrs!

I installed a Viofo A119. Easy install with an add-a-circuit to an unused switched fuse spot (22?) in the driver's side fuse box. The included cable tucked under the trim all the way around. Attached to the right side of the "dust-pan" as far up as I could get it w/o the dust-pan edge being visible in the video. Took about 30 minutes to install, w/o any vehicle mods. Has worked flawlessly for the three months I've had it. Got it on Amazon, and it came with the GPS mount too. Great value at $100 as an intro to the world of dash cams. I also used a 12V to 5V module for the USB input. It is about the size of an old-school pack of Wriggley's gum. About $15 on Amazon, too.


[ame]https://www.amazon.com/VIOFO-Included-Optional-included-Certified/dp/B01M28B92C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1529710642&sr=8-1&keywords=viofo[/ame]


[ame]https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C3DQRY0/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1[/ame]


[ame]https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LFXA5YQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1[/ame]



I also added the circular polarizing filter:


[ame]https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N5C8TGI/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1[/ame]

 

[AC/DC]

Agree you were lucky no worse damage to car or YOU. Glad to hear windshield held up. I got a dashcam more for some future trips and YouTube reports (inexpensive model from Amazon), but it kinda feels good to have it recording for me.

 

[Hugh]

Thanks James,

Every single person that I knows that drives the LIE has sustained windshield and/or paint damage, and usually within a couple of months of getting a new car.
It's a complete disgrace... you would think with the taxes we pay here (I pay $9,500/year property tax for a 1/4 acre property) we would have pristine roads not the embarrassing car wrecking "roads" we currently have.

I got a flat on the LIE the first week I owned my 2014 Volt! I had my 2003 CRV windshield replaced 3x over the years. My buddy got his Land Rover windshield chipped/replaced 3 weeks after getting the car. It's a mess!

I agree with almost everything you say. I've had more financial damage from highway debris issues than I have had from actual crashes.


Having said all that, I think your tax comment misses the mark. Property taxes are local taxes (to pay for police, fire, local roads, etc.) The LIE is a large part of I-495, an Auxiliary Interstate Highway. I-495 is maintained by various NY State agencies. I think (not 100% sure) that NY receives significant federal funding to maintain I-495. My point being that your complaint shouldn't include how much you pay in property tax. Your complaint should be how much you pay in state and federal taxes.


Aside: the bulk of federal highway funding comes from a tax on gasoline. (Perhaps we shouldn't try to be noticed...) We do, however, pay the tax on tires.