I went through some small road construction late at night recently, these fools cut out the asphalt across the road and didn't cover it. It was over 3" deep, square cut so no smooth edge. No one was attending to flagging traffic even though they had both directions using the same single lane.
I didn't see the cutout because the stadium lighting they were using was facing towards me. Said cutout was 2' long and the width of the lane, unavoidable. After I hit it, some seconds later my wheel swung out and crushed into the fender. The lower ball joint had sheared off. The balljoint did not pop out, it broke in half. Fortunately this happened to my Honda and not anything overly valuable.
I know a thing or two about road construction so I took video of me measuring the depth of the cutout for insurance. 2" requires a steel plate. It was over 3" deep. These dummies put plywood down afterwards. Unfortunately, while I was waiting for a tow truck I jacked the car up to set the wheel back in place to hopefully have a chance getting up that rollback and while trying to unjam the wedged/broken axle I crushed the tip of my finger and took the nail off. No fun.
Surprisingly, so far, their insurance company seems willing to make this right. One because I have good documentation and two because the permitee in this case will look bad if they mistreat me since I got the Township and DOT involved from the start.
The car will get fixed, body work and paint(likely all by me) but I'm thinking just about everything up front should be replaced. Especially the upper balljoint/tie rod and brake hose that was strained. Both sides so it's all fresh.
I didn't see the cutout because the stadium lighting they were using was facing towards me. Said cutout was 2' long and the width of the lane, unavoidable. After I hit it, some seconds later my wheel swung out and crushed into the fender. The lower ball joint had sheared off. The balljoint did not pop out, it broke in half. Fortunately this happened to my Honda and not anything overly valuable.
I know a thing or two about road construction so I took video of me measuring the depth of the cutout for insurance. 2" requires a steel plate. It was over 3" deep. These dummies put plywood down afterwards. Unfortunately, while I was waiting for a tow truck I jacked the car up to set the wheel back in place to hopefully have a chance getting up that rollback and while trying to unjam the wedged/broken axle I crushed the tip of my finger and took the nail off. No fun.
Surprisingly, so far, their insurance company seems willing to make this right. One because I have good documentation and two because the permitee in this case will look bad if they mistreat me since I got the Township and DOT involved from the start.
The car will get fixed, body work and paint(likely all by me) but I'm thinking just about everything up front should be replaced. Especially the upper balljoint/tie rod and brake hose that was strained. Both sides so it's all fresh.