Be careful when someone else moves loose cargo

We’ve seen many times and for sure you too, not only on city streets but on highways; people driving all over the places with loose cargo in the back of their pickup trucks, trunks or even worse on the top of a sedan with some ropes.

This “very common” event has caused many accidents and some fatalities in our roads. Purely negligence, makes our roads insecure and the lives of many in risk, just for the ignorant pride of a few thinking they can defy the forces of physics when they need to move stuffs from one place to another. Most of the loose cargo you could see will be furniture, household items, tires, appliances, mattresses, surfboards, bicycles, woods, etc. just to mention some of them.

The bad consequences of transporting loose cargo could happen to you and anyone out there, when inexperienced individuals often over-pack and neglect to secure cargo properly, and after a few minutes exposed to the forces of winds generated by the movement of the vehicle, the load becomes unstable, producing serious, costly and potential fatal results.

Once untied from the vehicle, any of these objects can become a projectile to other vehicles behind and a potential menace to its surroundings. Something is clear, this object in “motion” can go in any direction without control, and if we are lucky, it will stop on the grass on the side of the highway or another “safe place”.

In other cases, you will see the weight distribution is not even, making the vehicle transporting the load to roll easily. Excess weight is another common mistake, this can cause stress in the brake system, making it vulnerable and insufficient if an emergency situation arise.

It doesn’t matter how safely you can prepare your trip, the actions and decisions of others could always turn things around. So, if you see something similar on the road, just keep yourself as far as possible from that vehicle (never behind) and whenever possible, overtake it minimizing the time you need to be next to it. Leave yourself a way out, in the event that something flies out the vehicle and may cause a reaction in the drivers around you.

It’s simple, never be behind (if needed, do it as far as possible).  Stay safe!!!