http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,523367,00.html?test=latestnews

In general - good advice, but the article doesn't mention tailgating.

I have a similar story, but I wasn't tailgaiting...just riding a bit closer than I should . A bus on 80E was going slow in the carpool lane. All of a sudden, an orange cone comes popping out of nowhere, half flatten, but with the base still up. It's bouncing around like a football. I managed to avoid hitting the base, but my front tire rolls over the tip and I'm slaloming around doing my best impression of Picabo Street. Didn't panic and allowed the bike to correct itself. Had to throw away my underwear afterwards...

lol... it was meant as an aside when I said "don't tailgate" - hmmm - I guess it's that miscommunication syndrome

Well, at the risk of sounding all judgemental, anyone who tailgates a car or a truck with a mattress on it is an idiot.  Especially when you see how most of the dipsticks who tie them to their car roof "secure" the load. Usually with kitchen twine or similar.  I'll get around those people in whatever way possible. Same goes for pickups with construction debris (esp. plywood or sheetrock) tossed in the bed, or landscaping trucks with a huge pile of clippings and a lawnmower bouncing on the top.

If you can't tell, I've had more bad experiences with these situations than I'd care to recall.  Seriously, just don't follow anyone with an unsecured load, shifting load or crap that looks like it is going to go airborne any moment now.

What's a pontoon trailer?   

I hate following anyone with any kind of load.  <shivers> 

Quote from: mostrobelle on June 01, 2009, 02:30:19 PM
What's a pontoon trailer?   

I'd guess it's a trailer for a pontoon boat.  Which leads to the question why was there a matress in their pontoon trailer?

That's all I could find online...which then led me to the question that you just asked.   

... pontoon trailer... apparently it looks like a 2 wheeled trellis frame that acts like a trailer... ummm stop looking at my monster that way.

I tailgate these guys just long enough to pass around them.  I hate being behind any vehicle that has stuff strapped to it - including work trucks.  I see the garbage littered all over the freeway and don't need any of that falling on me.