Hazards of Motorway Driving
Discussion
On the way home last night I drove under a motorway overpass (with no interchange) and some little 
's dropped two lumps of concrete on my car.
One hit the centre-left of the roof and the other the right-rear door sill. A microsecond earlier and I could be writing this from a hospital bed or the morgue.
Had I been driving my Westfield instead of the STi it would definitely have been a lot more messy.
's dropped two lumps of concrete on my car. One hit the centre-left of the roof and the other the right-rear door sill. A microsecond earlier and I could be writing this from a hospital bed or the morgue.
Had I been driving my Westfield instead of the STi it would definitely have been a lot more messy.
Holy shit man! That's NOT good at all!!!! Did you call the cops? did you get a chance to catch the shits? did you get a look at them?!?!?!? what damage to the car... thank god you're ok... you'll have heard of the geezer in the UK that was killed that way and I think the guy who did it was caught and done for Murder.... and rightly so.... so very disappointed to hear this sort of behaviour.... it's just shocking, completely and utterly shocking 
Kiwi XTR2 said:
On the way home last night I drove under a motorway overpass (with no interchange) and some little
One hit the centre-left of the roof and the other the right-rear door sill. A microsecond earlier and I could be writing this from a hospital bed or the morgue.
Had I been driving my Westfield instead of the STi it would definitely have been a lot more messy.
Which bridge was it ?
Maybe there's a camera in the area... then again, maybe not, NZ is still not like the UK seems to be... big brother... ;-)
P
I'd definitely follow this up. Good to hear you're OK but the next person through there may not be so lucky! You can bet they won't be doing that sort of thing just the once. Apart from dropping the concrete down on the cars a couple of stray bits on the tarmac can be very hazardous too (obviously).
Let's hope the littles get caught and given a couple of fatal beatings for their troubles!
Let's hope the little
s get caught and given a couple of fatal beatings for their troubles!It was the Wilks Road overpass on the Northern Motorway, which is just north of the BP Service Centre and the last overpass before the Silverdale interchange.
The damage is reasonably "deep" but localised and lucky to have been on curved bits of metal with a much higher rigidity than the flat of the roof (or the windscreen).
While stopped on the shoulder to see what the had happened, a car on the bridge turned its lights on and took off. I preceeded with haste 
(discovered that the speed-limiter is working again) to Wilks Road for the purpose of obtaining a blood sample 
.
By the time I got there the little
was nowhere to be seen.
Didn't seem to be much point in 111-ing at that time (12:50am), so I filled in a report at the local
-shop the next morning.
The damage is reasonably "deep" but localised and lucky to have been on curved bits of metal with a much higher rigidity than the flat of the roof (or the windscreen).
While stopped on the shoulder to see what the
had happened, a car on the bridge turned its lights on and took off. I preceeded with haste (discovered that the speed-limiter is working again) to Wilks Road for the purpose of obtaining a blood sample . By the time I got there the little
was nowhere to be seen. Didn't seem to be much point in 111-ing at that time (12:50am), so I filled in a report at the local
-shop the next morning.Of course the police probably won't be too interested in helping out unless you told them you were doing 180km/h to get to them... at which point YOU'D be thrown in gaol..... Obviously they're not going to be able to do much about it.... it just sucks that this sort of thing is so easy to get away with.... if it had killed you, they'd have been off and wih no witnesses it'd have been the perfect crime.... personally I reckon M/Way overbridges need to have fences high enough to stop people dropping debris over the side... but that's too much like a good idea.
I remember travelling towards the Blue mts last time I visited my sis in Sydney and her partner pointing out an overbridge with serious fencing- evidently put there because some delinquent chucked a boulder off it , killing a tanker driver, whose vehicle then killed others.Of course it will take a similar fatality here before barriers would be erected, and then only where it happened.
Six years later and it's happened again. 
Same motorway, different overbridge - Lonely Track Road this time.
Got hit be something dropped off the overbridge last night. Only a minor ding on the left rear quarter but the worry is that the 'tard(s) will try bigger projectiles on less fortunate victims.
Have to follow up at the cop-shop later today on last night's 111 call.
Same motorway, different overbridge - Lonely Track Road this time.Got hit be something dropped off the overbridge last night. Only a minor ding on the left rear quarter but the worry is that the 'tard(s) will try bigger projectiles on less fortunate victims.
Have to follow up at the cop-shop later today on last night's 111 call.
Perhaps i need to drive around up there and then I can fix my roof damage for free on insurance?Graham,
Get serious with the police at taking some action. I think they should take it far more seriously after the Otahuhu incident where Chris Currie was killed by Ngatai Reweti throwing a concrete brick off the over bridge. Ngatai served time for manslaughter but the original charge was murder. If the police don't seem to be interested, remind them of the case and suggest your willingness to talk to the media.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/2282891/concrete-k...
Get serious with the police at taking some action. I think they should take it far more seriously after the Otahuhu incident where Chris Currie was killed by Ngatai Reweti throwing a concrete brick off the over bridge. Ngatai served time for manslaughter but the original charge was murder. If the police don't seem to be interested, remind them of the case and suggest your willingness to talk to the media.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/2282891/concrete-k...
Edited by Atom Johnny on Tuesday 8th March 23:33
Kiwi XTR2 said:
They are taking it as seriously as is practical I think. I understand they immediately sent two cars to approach the bridge from either side.
It's a very tall overbridge and miles to get to from the interchanges. Will be interesting to get an update later today.
Heading north the next off ramp would be Silverdale, ages away. South would not take long if you keep heading left and go up Fairview Ave.It's a very tall overbridge and miles to get to from the interchanges. Will be interesting to get an update later today.
Which way were you heading?
I passed under Lonely Track Road at about 9:30pm yesterday, heading south.
Hopefully a car will patrol that stretch of road for a few weeks.
I was north-bound.
Spoke to the
and they didn't find anyone but will keep patrols going through there in the evenings. They also commented that it was an unusual day of the week for that kind of problem. Much more likely on a Thurs/Fri/Sat night apparently.
Even 6 years later I always stare up at the Wilks Road overbridge before I drive underneath (only northbound, southbound doesn't seem to bother me). This one was nowhere near as bad so it will be interesting to see how long it takes for me to get completely blasé about driving under Lonely Track Road.
Spoke to the
and they didn't find anyone but will keep patrols going through there in the evenings. They also commented that it was an unusual day of the week for that kind of problem. Much more likely on a Thurs/Fri/Sat night apparently.Even 6 years later I always stare up at the Wilks Road overbridge before I drive underneath (only northbound, southbound doesn't seem to bother me). This one was nowhere near as bad so it will be interesting to see how long it takes for me to get completely blasé about driving under Lonely Track Road.
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