Will our roads ever be 100% safe? The answer is probably “no”, even when autonomous systems are intelligent enough to take over and minimize risks – but even an AI would have a hard time avoiding being hit by this type of debris.
The incident took place Down Under, on a freeway leading towards Melbourne, and it’s hard to imagine any driver (or computer) managing to mitigate such an impact.
As if seeing that large piece of metal come flying at you isn’t scary enough, wait until you hear about what went on inside the vehicle. This is in the driver’s own words:
“I was traveling along the M1 freeway towards Melbourne with my three-week-old daughter in the rear right passenger seat. I changed from the far right to the middle lane and after I had fully entered the middle lane, broken off piece of metal came flying from under a truck carrying logs in front of me.
“One piece [metal] rebounded off the road and into my bonnet and through my windscreen on the passenger side. It then rebounded off the headrest and fell into the passenger side footwell.”
It’s quite terrifying to think what would have happened if there was somebody sitting in the front passenger seat, or if the piece of metal would have ended up in the rear seat, where the infant was.
According to the video’s description, the truck driver failed to stop, although there’s a chance they simply weren’t aware of what had just happened.