Imagine driving behind this

when a baby's diaper fails.

I'm glad to hear about the crackdown; hopefully word will get out and this will put the fear into contractors. Even so, we'd all do well to not count on the cops to take care of the problem for us (particularly because it isn't just contractors; it's also families on vacation that don't know how to secure a load and have boats bicycles floating toys go flying off the roof). If you're following someone who's car-topping something or who's driving an open-bed truck, look carefully, make your own evaluation, decide if this is a vehicle you want to be behind.

back around 1988, I was driving up the Expressway following a large open top trailer that was overfilled with scrap aluminum that had been compacted into large cubes. As traffic was too heavy for me to get around and in front of this beast, I backed off and moved into the right lane, letting two or three vehicles get between me and the truck.

Turns out my instincts were correct, because as we approached the Dewey Square tunnel, the trailer hit a bump in the road just as it entered the tunnel and immediately dumped the top layer of aluminum cubes all over the highway. Fortunately, there were no collisions from people swerving to avoid this flotsam, but a couple of unfortunate folks wound up with damaged windshields.

This was before "*SP", let alone 911, but I had the number of the old MassDPW District 8 radio room and gave them a call. I was driving a work vehicle that had an old Land Mobile Service telephone (precursor to cell phones) in it.

To this day, I am still reminded of that incident whenever I hear that line from C.W. McCall's Wolf Creek Pass:

Sign says clearance to the twelve foot line. But the chickens were stacked to thirteen-nine.

Also, ever since that day, I always give a wide berth to loaded pickup trucks and other open top vehicles, or people who have mattresses or the like strapped to the roof of their car.