SAN ANTONIO, Texas (KABB) – You never know what you will see when driving, but a Texas woman got a shock last week when she saw a mattress fly off another vehicle right toward her.
In the video, a mattress can be seen taking flight Wednesday night as the driver makes a left turn to get into the fast lane.
Tina Callahan still remembers the close call.
“As they pulled into the left lane, I saw the mattress wobble and then all of a sudden it just took off,” she said.
It happened on the I-10 going toward downtown, right after the Vance Jackson exit and before West Avenue.
“I’m very thankful it flew past me, I was thinking to myself this is definitely going to hit my car and I kind of actually ducked a little bit in my seat,” she said.
Callahan said the mattress disappeared behind her, and the driver who lost the load kept going for half a mile longer before she lost sight of the vehicle.
Doug Shupe, spokesperson for AAA Texas, said the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety put out a national study on just this topic in 2016 spanning over four years.
“There were about 200,000 crashes as a result of road debris, and in those crashes 39,000 people were seriously injured and about 500 were killed,” Shupe said.
Having road debris flying off vehicles is not only dangerous, it is also illegal. According to Texas law, someone caught with an insecure load can face fines ranging from $25 to $500, and if the debris cause serious injury the violator could see jail time.
“It’s crazy to me that they wouldn’t secure it, even just to keep their own stuff because it’s the stuff they own,” Callahan said.
Shupe said there are ways drivers can secure their loads.
“You know, either tie your items directly to the vehicle itself, make sure that it’s not loose and able to come undone, but then also use some type of tarp or heavy netting,” he said.
Callahan is not sure if anyone was hurt by this mattress.
If you see dangerous debris in the road, you should report it by calling your local department of transportation to have it removed and help keep roads safe.
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