Debris On Interstate

[3Chief]

I was crossing the Coronado bridge a month or so ago and had a 2'x3' piece of what appeared to be plywood come flying towards me...I discovered it was cardboard when it hit the fairing broadside...I had nowhere to go, scared the poo out of me...The B never wavered...

[JGF6B]

I ran over firewood doing about 75 mph. It was dark and I was cruising in moderate highway traffic. The wood was in the center of the lane so the cars were fine, I wasn't.
I was on my ST1300. Both tires blew out, both rims damaged and required replacing. I just coasted to a stop on the side of the highway. I tried to push the bike once it stopped but couldn't get the bent rim through the front brakes.
It scared the crap out of me but it actually gave me more confidence on two wheels; these bikes want to stay upright going forward.
It also makes me very aware of my position on the highway and how far I can see the road. I now try to choose the lane where I can see the furthest. I also try to keep my tires in the lane where the car tires are if I'm following traffic and can't see far down the road.

[Greg O]

When I was driving from Illinios to Florida to see the giant I noticed and mentioned to wife about all the debris we seen on the interstate in Georgia. It was ten fold worse than Illinios. Doesn't Georgia have road crews to pick that stuff up?

[Navvet]

Several weeks ago, I was riding on a 2 lane, 55MPH road with my wife following on her Spyder.

She yelled out when a buzzard flew out of the woods from my right and right across in front of me !!!!

I did not hit him but his wing slapped my helmet.

Scared my wife more than me.

[FlaMike]

Ran over a Windsheild that came out of a wrecked car on a Rollback wrecker on I-10, in heavy traffic near Houston. Was checking my mirrors and never saw it come out, just ran over all this broken, sliding glass. Didn't scare me, but my wife, riding her bike behind me, saw it and it scared her.

8' 4x4 jumped off a trailer and slid in front of me bout 45mph. Aimed for it and it slid out of the way.

Empty (didn't know it at the time) cardboard wardrobe box. Hit that one but it was empty.

Had a chunk of truck tire tread kicked up the air and hit windheild. my shoulder, and trunk of Goldwing. That spooked me good.

Was next to a bus on I-75 near Macon, Ga that blew a rear tire, that proceeded to beat the fiberglass fender flare into pieces and onto me. That one got my attention.

Most of these happened on I-States, so I try to stick to back roads. Same dangers, just slower speeds.

[TailGunner]

I ride to work early in the morning while it still dark on the 57 freeway which seems to have a lot of debris. The first incident happened on my VTX when I hit a car part(maybe alternator) I didn't go down but when I got to work I was checking for damages and noticed the front wheel had a good size dent in it. Don't know how it didn't go flat. The second one I was on my brand new 2013 F6b again riding to work when I hit debris from a accident that had just happened. It was all over the road so I tried to miss it but hit something heavy but again didn't go down. Thought I was ok so I tried twisting the throttle and nothing. I still had enough speed and coasted to the side of the road. Got off, foot hurt a little and looked at the bike. Oil all over the bike and my right leg. So now foot is hurting more so I sit down hoping I didn't break anything. I come to find out it was a damaged ligament so that was cool but my bike turned out to be totaled. In the end my insurance paid me more that what I paid for it so I bought a 2015 deluxe with the extra cash.

[VStarRider]

All of these stories remind me why I like state highways the best. They, for the most part, have wide shoulders and good sight lines. With a lot less traffic, rarely do I see any road debris. What you give up is the increased safety of all traffic moving in the same direction on interstates, with no driveways or intersections.

I had 7000 miles on my bike before I ever rode it on an interstate, other than some local routes around here for short distances.