Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Damage Due to the Roads of Ruin


All of this lovely winter weather has created havoc on our roadways.
First it was the snow and ice and now it's the sea of potholes. The drive home from just about anywhere is like navigating through a maze. You swerve left one minute and right the next just trying to avoid being swallowed by the deep craters. Everytime I miss and get swallowed up in one I just cringe and think of how much damage our roads are doing to our vehicles.

For us, these potholes have also caused many nights of restless sleep.
You see, there is a large pothole in front of our house. Every night for the past several months we have been awakened numerous times to the sounds of cars hitting that hole with a loud "kerthump".
Well, yesterday just topped it all!

The kids and I were in the house working on schoolwork when we all jumped at the sound of a loud crash. We looked out to find a car crashed into the side of my truck. I immediately ran out to see if that person was alright. I found a woman sitting in the car, obviously shaken and upset by physically okay. I asked her if she had hit the pothole and then lost control and she replied, "Yes". I felt so sorry for her. She was so upset and rattled. When she hit the pothole her tie rod snapped thus leaving her with no control of the steering wheel. Her car hit the back corner of my truck & continued down the side of it stopping only when it hit my front tire, which then pushed my vehicle up and onto the curb.

Photobucket
In the end, her car was towed away and she was forced to find another ride to work. Our vehicle has scuffs, scratches and a dent that begin at the back bumper and continue to the front wheel.
For now, it's parked until we hear from the insurance compnay and get the front end looked at to make sure it didn't damage anything when she hit the wheel.

As for the pothole ~ it's still there.
I contacted our Street Dept. to see if they could patch the hole or at least put a barrel or barricade of some sort up to prevent further accidents.

**Just think if my kids were out playing on the sidewalk and my truck wasn't parked there to stop that car. Would the curb itself have stopped it or would the car have continued up and onto the sidewalk?** Scary thought, Huh?


The Street Dept. told me that they would take care of it. My question is when?
Yesterday was not the first day that it's been brought to their attention!

9 comments:

Holly, the Old Western Gal said...

We are told our city is "broke" and they sure don't fix things in any reasonable amount of time, but I do believe the RICH areas of town get things fixed awfully quick -- they even have paved ALLEYS and get those fixed while we are waiting for actual ROADS to get fixed. I hope your giant pothole gets filled in soon, because you are right, someone hits it going a bit fast and they could jump the curb. Sorry your truck was hit!!!

Carmen S. said...

Thank God your kids were NOT out on that sidewalk!!!That's too bad about your truck and I hope they get it filled in before that happens again! We get bad ones here too, our local mall parking lot is the worst, it has giant ones that have been there for years, it's like driving through a mine field:(

West Side of Straight said...

That's too bad for your truck, but thankfully it protected your yard. This is a bad spring for potholes here in MN as well. Frost heaves are causing so many pot holes this year. It is so hard on tires, tire rims and like that lady, the tie rod. Hope they fill the hole for you soon.

Cheryl said...

I would take a can of white spray paint and paint a circle around it with arrows.

Farmchick said...

So glad your kids were not outside and that there were no serious injuries.

Come say hi...

Nancy M. said...

I'm glad it was just your truck and didn't hurt your children or anyone! The potholes are awful! You can go but a few feet without hitting one. I hope you're able to get your truck fixed soon!

Sandra said...

I'm sorry about that! Yes, thank God your kids weren't out there.

Anonymous said...

Good brief and this post helped me alot in my college assignement. Thank you for your information.

Callie Brady said...

Glad no one was hurt! I never thought of a pot hole breaking a tie rod and causing an accident. Loosing control is scary enough. Hope the street department people are out there tomorrow and patch that hole!