I hit an approximately 2 to 2.5’ long chunk of full width semi truck tire on I-70 in Kansas with the front grill of my Tundra going 70 mph.
I saw the Toyota emblem fly off and thought, “Well there goes the grill.”
I stopped as safely as possible with a bunch of traffic close by. No fluids were leaking so duct tape the headlight back into place, tear off the loose pieces of plastic and motor on. (Headed to MN for a funeral)

There was considerable damage to the front end. Radiator core was bent to hell as well as the condenser for the AC. One fender was out of wack.
The body shop estimate may be larger than you think. I know mine was.

Glad you guys are okay.
If your headache doesn’t go away VERY soon, see a doc, preferably a specialist.

quote:

Originally posted by Beancooker:
We weren’t on a motorcycle, so most of those ideas are a moot point.

We used to have to take defensive driving at work, and the rearview mirror point the motorcyclists have pointed out is the same thing every defensive driving for automobiles course taught.

The two main situations when stopped at a stop light:

If you're 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc at a stop light - you should stop far enough back so you can see their rear tire contact patch over your hood (i.e. ~ 1/2 car length). If you see in your rear view mirror that you're going to be rear ended, then lift foot off brake to minimize energy transferred to your vehicle and it's occupants (i.e. minimize damage not avoiding it). Taking foot off brake also lessens likelihood of injury to right leg (i.e. legs with muscles engaged to push down brake likely receive more trauma that relaxed leg).

If you're first at a stop light - way too many people stop with the wide solid stop line under their driver seat instead of several feet in front of their front bumper. Instead, you should stop far enough back to avoid low speed rear end crash pushing you into intersection but close enough to trigger the stoplight's vehicle detector. You're SOL if being rear ended at 50 mph, but play the odds and leave the space for lower speed collision or chain reaction.

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Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity

DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer.