DoubleDiamonDog

Yes it is true.

My wife and I were riding along Lake Washington in Seattle and as we passed a parking lot saw an SUV with an inflatable boat on top. Soon the vehicle was behind us on the road and as it went by the boat, which remained partially attached to the SUV, swung over to the side and caught the stoker in the lower back. This caused her to fall off toward the curb taking both of us down. Fortunately we did not go over until we hit the curb and landed in the grass and we were not going too fast when it happened.

Meanwhile the SUV continued up the road with the back of the boat dragging in the street, next to the car. They knew they hit us but did not stop and turned at the next street, heading up the hill. Stoker and I hopped back on the bike and took off after the car, thinking that they may stop in the neighborhood to the secure the boat. We went a couple of blocks from the lake and saw the boat in the street with a guy walking toward it. Thinking that he was the driver or one of the passengers, I shouted out something like “Hey Buddy, do you know what you just did back there?” Turns out he lived on the street, saw the SUV go by, with passengers laughing, and saw the boat break free and get left behind. Fortunately, he got the license number. A call to 911 indicated that the boat was believed to have just been stolen. Eventually a policeman came and took our report. I know they have higher priorities, but hopefully justice will be served.

Both of us are a little sore and the stoker’s back is bothering her a bit but it could have been much worse. As for the bike, we are having it checked out at the bike shop. The big chain ring appears to have been bent when we hit the curb and this seems to be confirmed by difficulty in shifting into the big ring. Also there may be an issue with at least one of the wheels which were dead on true before but now there is a periodic thump when braking.

mwandaw

Wow! Thank God you're both OK!

I hope the police catch up to those dangerous criminals and shut them down!

PeFSQ

Glad that you don't have any serious injuries. Hope the police will not let those guys slip away. We had several bad experiences with cars trailing boats - the drivers seem either completely ignorant about the fact that the boat on the trailer is much wider than their car or just do not care (don't know why but these problems seem to be worse in people trailing boats than in people trailing other stuff...). We double our vigilance around ports and lakes and try to avoid as much as possible finding ourselves near a car with a boat trailer.

prathmann

Agreed, and I've generally found the worst behavior to be by those with empty boat trailers - my guess is that when there's a boat back there they get a constant reminder due to the extra weight and seeing it in the mirror, but when the trailer is empty their car or truck handles normally and they may forget that the wide trailer is still back there and should be considered when passing others.

The vehicle code in most states explicitly prohibits carrying anything on your car that extends past the mirror on the right side of the vehicle. I presume this rule is to protect cyclists and pedestrians from being struck by such objects if the driver passes them too closely. But there's no rule about trailers that extend well to the right of the vehicle and pose at least as much danger. I'd like to see a requirement for a visual reminder, such as a soft (Nerf-like) bar mounted on the front of the vehicle in the driver's sight that is at least as wide as any trailer being towed. Something like a pool noodle would be soft and flexible enough so it wouldn't injure anyone it hit but would warn them to quickly move to the right as far as possible - and more importantly it would serve to remind the driver of the width of the trailer behind him and to give more space when passing others.

zonatandem

Had a similar incident and near-hit about 40 years ago on our tandem.
Guy hauling a huge Chris-Craft cruiser swerved, and boat swung toward us.
Scary!
Took evasive action and no crashing.
File a police report on an attempted vehicular homicide . . . That will get someon's attention.

conspiratemus1

"Just don't care" is the likeliest explanation. Power boaters are almost always ignorant boors whose sole priority is to get up to the lake as fast as possible so they can roar around drunk all day. God help you if you get in their way, on the road or on the water.

moleman76

the thieves can be cited for failure to secure their load, too.

Standalone 

Driving, I had a stakeside truck dump a load of highway railings in front of me as soon as it began asending a hill. The truck split. Guess where they had gotten them?

Monoborracho

On our local charity event ride we purposely plan all routes to stay away from the major resort lake in the area. Drunks dragging boats and all that.

waynesulak

I have come to the conclusion that we are not truly serious about enforcing drunk driving laws. It is no secret that very very large numbers of people drink at well known locations like lakes, sports stadiums and clusters of night clubs. If we want to enforce the law then look at where drinks are consumed in high volume to people who will shortly thereafter get in their cars and drive. It is not complicated.