A brush with disaster...

TheShadow

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I've visited the Outer Banks of NC, specifically Hatteras Island, since my parents and grandparents first took me there in 1967 when I was 4. I took my (then future) wife there for the first time in 1988. We have had a few vehicles for beach use, but my favorite is our 2005 Excursion V10, which I bought in 2013 with 65K miles. We now have 93K miles. It's a 4WD, 8000 lbs tank, and has never let us down. Plus, it fits and hauls everything, which is good, as my wife likes to bring, well, everything. LOL.


Okay, enough background. We were driving late Thursday night to Buxton, NC from Richmond, VA for a much needed break, and hopefully a fish or two. Noticed midway through that I had a vibration that would come and go, similar to an unbalanced tire, but definitely worse with speed so I kept it on the slow side. Stopped in South Nag's Head for gas, and visually inspected all 4 tires; nothing looked out of the ordinary, so we proceeded. This was really the first opportunity to stop and check, as it rained hard from the moment we left until then, and we only had about a 15 minute window there, as it turned out. Anyway, back on the road, over the Bonner bridge onto Hatteras Island, over the newly named Etheridge bridge (over New New Inlet, which is now bone dry, LOL!), and about 2 miles north of Rodanthe heard an explosion and the sound of my left rear fender taking a real beating. Good thing it was raining again, as the windows were rolled up. Otherwise, pretty sure my wife would have jumped clean out! (Okay, I might have too. Definitely a shorts soiling moment)

Kept it straight and braked slowly, so no real drama there. Pulled to the side of the road which, there, means my right tires were in the sand as close as I dared to approach the ditch, and the truck was maybe a foot outside the travel lane on the left. Jumped out and saw the left rear tire had separated, and the road gator was wedged hard between hub/axle/frame. Extracting alone took 20 minutes, as vehicles of all sorts were flying by in regular intervals and every time we spotted lights coming I jumped out from under the truck. Please note this was all at 11:15 PM. We had at least 40 vehicles pass us, and not a single one even slowed down. A disabled vehicle with the flashers on, on the side of a narrow road at night, 2 people standing nearby, 1 waving a flashlight to make sure everyone saw us, and still not a single consideration. Did I really need help? Well, it might have been nice to have someone watching our back as we wrestled with the massive piece of rubber stuck between the frame and hub. I may be old school, but I can't think of a similar situation where I would not have at least stopped to ensure everyone was okay. With no offense to my northern neighbors, all of the plates save 1 were MD, PA, NJ, NY & OH, pretty much in that order of prevalence. The 1 outlier was an NC local, and some of them really do hate tourons, LOL!

***Next time you see someone in distress by the roadside, please stop. I frequently do, and so far it's cost me nothing but some time, and a few times, some dirty hands, LOL! I know most people here would have stopped, so I guess what I'm saying is to please spread the word. A good deed is seldom a bad thing.***


Finally pulled it free, me underneath (knowing that all that was preventing me from a crush death was a de-skinned tire) and my wife pulling from the rear as I twisted and pushed to free it.

Limped along at 10mph until we reached a lighted gas station where I could change to the spare. That's a damned long 2 mile ride, and just glad the inner held together. Unfortunately, we were packed to the nines, anticipating that we would stay until Monday, so unpacking so I could reach the jack and free the spare took about 15 minutes. Wrapped up, repacked, checked all tire pressures (spare was low; never used) and proceeded to our room. Left Friday morning and got home around 2:00. The vibration I'd felt was gone entirely, but in the back of my mind, I'm thinking, "they all have the same date code, mileage, and deflation/inflation cycles for sand driving." Therefore, not a quick trip.

Yes, I picked up the gator, and dropped it in a trash can at the gas station where I changed the tire. 40 pounds of steel spined rubber is no thing to leave on the side of the road for someone else to deal with. Also have an appointment with a body shop on Monday at 8:00 Am. Fender is badly bent, trim is probably fubar, and I have no idea where the inner fender liner went. Actually looked on the way back north but no trace found. Tomorrow I have an appointment for 4 new BFG AT KO2's, as the wife won't ride with me until the tires are replaced. Date code is 1912 btw, and fewer than 30K miles on the tires, so you just never know. If something feels wrong, there probably is something wrong. Not sure f I could really have done anything different, as there were no visual clues at all that we had a serious problem brewing. All I know is that the truck was pristine before this, and now I need bodywork. POOP!!!!!


Wish we were at the beach now, as the catch is reportedly legendary, but glad to be back home with only some hurt feels. Be careful out there fellas.
 

TheShadow

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Morbid dude, just morbid. I've stopped many times and never shot. Maybe a KC thing? Move to Richmond and get out of the hood.


Don't care what you think, I'll still stop and help.
 

DSG2003Mach1

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Stop to help at your own risk. A friend of mine's husband did just that, and the 'stranded motorist' shot him in the back of the head point blank, robbed him, then took off in his car.

Haven’t seen it in a while but there were a lot of armed robberies like that here. They’d put a woman by the road at night with her hazards on and wait in the bushes
 

TheShadow

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And you guys don't carry? Situational awareness is your friend. I'm that guy, and still stop to help. Not shot yet, and never needed to shoot back.

Please don't assume the worst .
 

Kiohtee

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Sorry for your luck OP, but I'm with Nick on the whole stop at your own risk thing.

And yes, I've been stuck on the side of the road before myself. I also carry. Doesn't mean I will put myself in a compromising situation regardless.
 

13COBRA

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So what.....you could still end up D-E-A-D Mr. Dillon!!:eek:

You're exactly right. A friend of mine was shot last night, minding his own business.

He was on his way home from work and some guy ****ed up on drugs and alcohol pulled up next to him at a stoplight and fired a couple rounds in to his BMW i8, he was dead before the paramedics were on site.

Our country is ****ed.
 

Coosawjack

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It's quite SCARY......young folks these days have no RESPECT for anyone or anything and most have never been DISCIPLINED so there's NO accountability......then comes the DAMN DRUGS so what do we do??
 

HillbillyHotRod

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That is the sad statement of what we have become. Afraid to help someone because too many times it ends badly. Used to be you would do it and not think about it. Not any more. Heck I used to hitchhike all over the place but would not even dream of doing so now.
 

PaxtonShelby

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Sorry to hear of your friend, 13. That is terrible. Prayers to his family and friends.

These days, I definitely think twice before helping someone on the side of the road. If my family is with me....no way. If I see an accident or car broken down in a dangerous spot, I will absolutely call 911, but if the person seems ok and not in immediate danger then I assume they have already called for help.

It really is sad but there are too many idiots out there today.
 

03Sssnake

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Too many cars get plowed into on the shoulder. I wouldn’t stop these days with all the distracted driving incidents. I cringe when I think about some of the scenarios I placed myself in on the side of road in the past.
 

svtfocus2cobra

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I brandished on a guy one time when I was broken down. He stopped to help but I already had my shop bringing a tow truck. I was polite to him as he asked if he could help. I explained that the problem was a sensor and that a tow truck was coming and not to worry about it, but he insisted and was getting really pushy and unreasonable. I would say I wasn't justified in brandishing my pistol but the situation was getting weird and the guy was weird so I put my hand on the grip like I was about to draw and told him to get back in his car and leave. That did the trick.

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Revvv

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Haven’t seen it in a while but there were a lot of armed robberies like that here. They’d put a woman by the road at night with her hazards on and wait in the bushes
That used to be a trend around Augusta. I would always stop, but I am also well armed and on the lookout for stupid people.

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Revvv

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You're exactly right. A friend of mine was shot last night, minding his own business.

He was on his way home from work and some guy ****ed up on drugs and alcohol pulled up next to him at a stoplight and fired a couple rounds in to his BMW i8, he was dead before the paramedics were on site.

Our country is ****ed.
That's seriously screwed up.

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BigPoppa

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Unfortunately, while it may seem the neighborly thing to do by stopping and seeing if someone needs help, the safest thing for everyone is to call the police and get road side service out.

Honestly, it is far too dangerous for anyone to stop on the side of the highway.

My wife and eldest daughter have standing orders to keep driving to the next exit, not because I'm worried about them getting robbed, etc., but because the traffic flying by is too dangerous to stop.

If they destroy a wheel, hub, etc., driving it to the next exit, so be it. It's cheap to repair or replace. I can't replace my loved ones.
 

96 cobra

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Glad things worked out in the end.

Funny story... I was at an 3-way intersection (2-lanes in all directions) years ago in an old fwd car, the axle separated out of the trans upon initial acceleration, so I put on my blinkers & had the girlfriend jump in the drivers seat while I pushed the car off the road. The guy behind me jumped out of his truck and ran up to us, motioned like he was going to help, but then started yelling that he didn't know if he was going to help or "...kick your ass!". He ended up pushing the car for a few seconds, then ran up to the drivers window to straight-arm my girlfriend like a running back before jogging back to his truck and speeding around us while laying on the horn and giving us the finger.
 

Junior00

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What exactly stopped you from calling non emergency dispatch, or 911 for that matter, and requesting an officer to assist? Maybe even AAA if you can’t handle it yourself. I’ll be honest, I feel the same about helping people, but I also know all too well what this world can possibly offer so...among other things I always have my gun, a cordless impact and jack, along with emergency lighting. While help is always nice, you can’t expect it in this day and time and frankly I’d prefer not to have it. I’m as leary about people stopping for me as they probably are stopping for you.
 

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