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We were driving north on Interstate 95 and ended up in the left lane behind this truck doing about 70.
He was really moving and I figured he would go off to the right in a bit. |
You guessed it. Suddenly bricks were falling off, and with the divider on the left and cars on the right we had no where to go. One
brick bounced off the road, split in two, and smashed right up into the windshield. |
It was lucky that I was able to maintain control. Shocked, I slowed a bit, but then I thought to speed up until I passed the truck.
I pulled in front and flagged him over. |
It's a good thing I did, because more bricks certainly would have fallen off and maybe some one else wouldn't have faired as well(?)
as we did. The holding strap for that row was broken and loose. |
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| Actually, one of the bricks clipped another car, and it bounced off a lower rubber area on their vehicle. They were nice enough to
pull over, offer support and give us their names if we needed witnesses. |
The truck driver called the State Police and once they came he admitted that obviously his brick, still lodged on our hood, had hit
our windshield. We exchanged information. |
The patrolmen made sure we were safely on the side of the road.
They said we couldn't drive the car far, just slowly to a close by windshield replacement shop. They offered some suggestions. |
We pulled off at the very next exit and found ourselves in Center Colonial Heights, right next to the Southpark Mall.
We wasted an hour calling places. We were getting nowhere and found we would be stuck until the next day. |
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Janat, who runs A1 Autoglass, had recommended some of her competitors and even called the Comfort Suites hotel, to see if they had
rooms if we couldn't get a quick fix.
Kisha checked us in, and sensing how edgy we were, did her best to calm us, offered advice and make us feel at home. |
We made more calls from the hotel and Janat is the one we chose. She would get the glass and handle us first thing in the morning.
The people in this Southpark area are great. We asked Kisha if we could get a late checkout, and she graciously gave us to 2PM, though we figured to be out before then. |
After updating our anxious family, we slowly drove around the mall area with the smashed car and found a place to eat.
The car drew a lot of stares, and after we returned, even though we were tired, we didn't get much sleep that night. It was too busy a day, and we just kept realizing that we were lucky to
be alive. |
Janat called right on time next morning and showed up to pick up the car. We had breakfast at the hotel, and tried to get some rest,
because we still had about 5 hours of driving to do once we got the car back.
We were just starting to get some good rest when the housekeeping crew knocked on the door and wanted us out. |
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NO PICTURE AVAILABLE.
I don't always think to take pictures.
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NO PICTURE AVAILABLE.
I don't always think to take pictures.
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We explained about our late checkout arrangements. They went away, but then the phone rang and they told us to get out or pay up for
staying.
The manager wouldn't talk with me on the phone, because he was busy in a meeting. I went down to pay the bill and talk with him, and found him in a "meeting" with his own employee.
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When he finished he said that Kisha shouldn't have given us the late checkout, and we could just wait for our car in the lobby, but
we had to be out in 15 minutes.
While my wife quickly packed, I told him that now he was now also a part of this story. I took this picture of the EXIT sign, because Comfort Suites was showing us the door. |
We waited in the lobby with all our stuff around us. I saw Janet pulling up with our car, and went out to meet her. While looking
over repaired windshield, I saw my wife with a policewoman.
The jerk had called the police, fabricating a story that we refused to leave the hotel room. I guess he didn't like me taking the pictures. |
From what the police were told, they were surprised to find my wife all set to go with luggage in the lobby, and me outside the hotel.
Three police cars pulled up to find nothing going on. It's unfortunate that the manager pulled them away from their stations. I'm waiting to hear back from Comfort Suites HQ about all this. |
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| It felt strange getting behind the wheel and driving again in fast traffic, but we had a lot of road to cover. We even came upon another
brick truck, and now look at this. |
See how they have their bricks secured and safely locked down.
Truckers pay real close attention. The life you save could be mine. |
Once again - Good truck.
Bricks wrapped and securely locked down and truck driving in the right lane.
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Bad truck.
Plastic hold down straps rubbing against the rear metal of the flatbed.
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| Final notes: Southpark is a nice place to visit, but pick a different reason for stopping there. The people were great (all except
for one), and thank you very much Janat, and Kisha, the manager at the Arby's for your phone directory help, the AAA club, various local enforcement agencies, and especially Nissan for making
a windshield that really holds up. Thank you all. |
