Who says "I didn't see them."

[Snaggletooth]

Well I've always known the answer to that. Because they are not paying attention. But yesterday I ran across the King of Oblivious Drivers. I don't want to, or even hope to run across another one like this again.

 

I had to run to see my daughter yesterday in Lincoln. A 50 mile ride on the bike on Interstate 80. Had finished up there and headed back EB around 6:30 PM. Traffic was not heavy but enough where you had to pay attention at 75 MPH.

 

I saw something unusual on the WB side. Looked to be bright orange lights on the WB side maybe a mile away. Not like flashing emergeny lights but bright and big. As I got closer I could see the light was moving from lane to lane and it was coming WB with traffic.

 

I could make out that the light was low to the ground and pretty intense. I'm thinking I need to upgrade my log lights. But I can see the light was still changing lanes through traffic and moving quite a bit faster than the other vehicles.

As I came within the distance where I could make out what it was I saw it was a SUV pulling a trailer. The bright lights..... flames rolling out from under the engine compartment and blowing back along the sides under the passenger compartment. The flames were the entire width of the SUV and all the way back under it.

 

In the few seconds of time were I could look at it the driver was not alone in the vehicle. He had one hand on the wheel and didn't seem concerned at all. I figured he was headed for the next exit just a 1/4 ahead of him. But as I dropped my speed and pulled in to left breakdown lane I saw him move back into the passing lane and keep going on WB past the exit.

 

I sat there looking back at this driver, burning like a bonfire rolling on toward the city limits.

 

What does a guy do? Brain says turn around and chase him down and wave him off the road. Not going to happen with the water still in the center strip and oncoming traffic. Didn't look like anyone on his side was trying to stop home either. I'm only hoping someone was on a cell to get him stopped.

 

How could a driver not notice this? How could anyone else in the vehicle not see something was not right? It had to get getting hot and no doubt they could smell it by then.

 

Clueless.

 

How many people were endangered by this driver? Not only his passengers but those around him in traffic. Those nearby when he does stop? The 1st responders that arrive when it all ended?

 

Oblivious fool.

 

I watched the news last night but doubted if I'd see anything. Have my daughter watching the local news and paper to see if anything shows up.

 

This is the guy that is the one that says "I didn't see them." I do hope it ended well for the man and those with him, or around him. I wish him no harm, but I don't want to be on the road with these people. They scare the crap out of me.

 

So I saw my "Fool for the Day" and hope that covers me for quite a while.

[MikeWa]

External combustion engine.

 

Mike

[Peder_y2k]

OMG..... reminds me of a time when I was at a gas station fueling up and a burning car pulled up to the dispenser next to me.

Driver jumps out screaming "I'm on fire...what should I do...?"..... I immediately yanked the nozzle out, replaced the cap, started the bike and got out of there real quick, circled around the block and saw the fire truck extiguishing the flames, and stopped in to pay for the gas I just bought, and the mgr. said it was 'on the house' due to the situation. Nice.... Examining the car, it had a fire from long time oil leaks.

I could'a been a crispy critter!!!!!

 

-Pete in Tacoma WA USA

'83,88

[pmelah]

maybe he figured if he kept running at high rate of speed he would either put the fire out or run it out of gas and the fire would stop:whistling: glad he was not on your side of the road

[Trader]

Somehow, if my car was on fire I think a gas station....with thousands of gallons of flammable liquids would be one of the LAST places I would want to go!

 

At least, not close to the pumps or the underground storage access.

[abusive throttle cranker]

I used to be a truck driver and for awhile I delivered gasoline to stations in the south Chicago suburbs. I was at the refinery picking up another load. There are no people there at night- the drivers load there own and the computer prints out the paperwork. A guy comes strolling out of the office with his bills- and a lit cigarette in his mouth! OMG! A gazillion gallons of gasoline, diesel fuel, etc ,etc in this tank farm. Open vapor lines and all and this genius is gonna smoke? All I could do is scream at him! Too bad I didn't have a camera. He got the most horrific look on his face! Probably similar to my own.

[Wade 2000]

Sounds like they must have been burning one on the inside of the car to not notice the smell or flames on the outside:whistling:

[MiCarl]

20 or more years ago I saw the exact same thing, except he wasn't pulling a trailer. The only thing I can figure is the airflow must keep the heat and smell down.

 

Would sure want to bail fast when I stopped. Gotta heat up real fast with the whole underside on fire.