OhNiner

Go and visit my father for his birthday in Warner Robins. Coming home, doing about 75mph on I75 in the number 1 lane, just cruising along with Debra kind of sleeping when there it is! It was BIG and black, did not see it until too late for any quick moves. I aimed to hit it dead center and when I hit it I thought I ran over a wheel. It lifted the car what felt like 6 inches, Debra woke up in a panic and I was just trying to figure out what damage had occured. Tires had good pressure according to the DIC, cooling and oil pressure okay, no weird pulling or anything other than a strange noise fron the front right. I slowed down to about 50 mph and got off at the next exit to take a look. Center air dam bent back, driver side dam gone, brake duct just hanging. Plenty of scape marks underneath the nose and big black smears.

Got home a little while ago and went out to look at it again. I used some Ice spray detail and removed almost all the black marks. Maybe I won't need a new nose, that would be great because it might be tough to get the paint to match right.

Oh well, I told Deb it could have been a lot worse.

And by the way, I hate recaps!!!!!!

RadarP3C

Our highways have become a freak’n obstacle course.

Wayne O

I'm sorry about the damage to your car and I agree those 'road gators' are a nuisance. I hope your statement you were "kind of sleeping" was more figurative than literal. I'd hate to hit something just because I wasn't really paying attention to where I was going.

Look at the glass half-full...be thankful you're both OK and the damage wasn't worse.

OhNiner

Maybe I worded that not quite right, Debra was kind of sleeping while I was driving.

As far as the damage, I am glad it was not too bad. I really hope that is the cars around me did not get hit with it.

It could have been a lot worse for us.

bent

it's tough not to get into that "comfort zone" while driving long stretches of straight pavement.....I am guilty- seat warmer on high, a/c on high, one finger on the wheel, cinemagic on the radio....enjoying life. then all of a sudden a damn rodent/ricer/road debris will come out of nowhere ......I know this sounds kinda ghey, but we all have a responsibility to take care of our vehicles as well as driving defensively to protect those around us. Being alert and scanning the road for obstacles/LEO's should be second nature....but in reality it's not. Let this be a learning experience for all that read this-stay alert and be aware of your surroundings!!!!

Something worth noting-- In Europe, they purposefully build roads with gradual curves every few kilometers to aid in keeping drivers alert....or at least I think they do.....maybe there was a study done that proved that this would help driver alertness.....I dunno....

dvilin

Sorry to hear of your misfortune luckily no one was injured, the car can be repaired but I know that does not help much something should be done about the sale of recaps, they are all over the major highways, a real safety hazard to everyone.

OhNiner

Makes really wish I could replace my foglights with a pair of real tight beam driving lights I could run with my stock low beams. I feel if I had my high beams on I might have seen it maybe a second sooner, but with oncoming cars I had my low beams on.

slojoh

that really sucks!! We have a major problem with truck recaps in the road with the heat here in phoenix. Glad noone was hurt.

John's '07

I haven't heard them called "road gators" before, but they certainly are a menace. I've wondered what would happen if you hit one head-on and I'm glad to know the damage was no worse then you described. You did the right thing then, instead of trying to avoid it at the last moment while driving 75 mph. I don't even want to think about what could have happened. Glad you're okay and the car wasn't too badly damaged.

asby69

I recently had an incident with a road snake (not gator). I was tooling down I-59S in the great state of Alabama at about 2am, kinda foggy out, and cruising at 80mph when all of a sudden, out of the darkness and fog was a loop of some sort of wire. It was about 36" in height. Not sure what kind of wire it was or where it came from. Thank goodness it wasn't a whole spool of wire and just a loop or two (not sure of that either).

Well I hit it dead center of the vette and when I looked in the rear view I saw sparks going everywhere. Of course I thought that I just had messed up my baby

It was done and over with in the blink of an eye and I thought there wasn't any reason to stop and look at it (no warnings on the DIC etc) and thought that when I stopped for fuel the next time I'd check it out. I stopped a while later and jumped out to look at my baby's front end and all I can say is.................... Thank God for the GM Bra!!! It saved my "nose" from some serious damage. The bra had a hole torn in it but that's about all I noticed.

After I returned home from my trip and pulled the bra off I was relieved to find that the paint wasn't damaged

Watch out for the snakes and the gators out there folks............ I think they are out to get us

Jimbeaux

I hit one a while back and did about the same amount of damage as you. I think those re-treads should be outlawed as they can result in major damage or even death!

OhNiner

I cleaned it up some with Ice detailer, got rid of a lot of the black marks.

dgrant3830

Me too!, Night before last just about to get off the freeway and I hit a tread. That same air duct is slightly broken. In the right wheel well, the rear plastic whatever panel it is, is shattered.

Force-1

Last year a minivan kicked up a road gator into the front of my new Cadillac STS, with 2500 miles on the odometer. It smacked the front of my STS at 80 MPH. Scared the hell out of my wife and I.

After accident pic.



After new hood, grill, headlight, and bumper cover install ($3,955.00).

danl72

Sorry to hear that, but at least you are both fine.

qcdoc1

Glad your ok and the damage isnt worse.....

40idf

I won't ride my motorcycle on an interstate at night for fear of
dying from one of these.

Joe

4CEE

Ditto! I frequently report debris.

OhNiner

There is cure for it, one day a month shut down all interstates for an hour or two and let people pick up the gators. Then they could take them to recap sellers and get a reward for each one. Soon they would stop selling them.

iw172

I remember of a guy back when I use to ride all over the states on my Harleys, who hit a re-cap chunk on his HD at about 65 mph in New Mex. To this day he still ain't right I hear.