We’ve told people before to just buy the truck and haul things properly, but this guy in his Honda Ridgeline still failed and was pulled over by police. There’s a valuable lesson in this ridiculous example which comes out of California, because of course it was going to be either there or Florida for obvious reasons.
This is why we need powerful V8 trucks.
First off, it was California Highway Patrol which spotted and pulled over this Honda pickup as it drove down SR-99 in the Madera area. You can see all kinds of junk piled up over and even on top of the roof in one of the sketchiest displays we’ve spotted recently.
CHP claims debris kept flying out of the junk pile and onto the road, presenting a safety hazard to other vehicles. There are many instances of items flying out of trucks onto surface streets or highways, triggering serious or even fatal crashes.
Plus, as the law enforcement agency points out in its social media post about the incident, the driver likely exceeded the load capacity, which isn’t all that high for a Ridgeline.
As some have rightfully noted, this is yet another example why the Ridgeline, and for that matter the Ford Maverick and Hyundai Santa Cruz, aren’t sufficient for hauling or towing anything substantial. While some argue people who buy these little unibody trucks don’t need anything bigger, clearly we have an example where that’s not true.
If you don’t want to own, maintain, and insure a full-size pickup truck for financial reasons or whatever other motivation, then rent one when you need that kind of tool for a job. Don’t use your half-measure “truck” to try doing the job poorly, because it won’t turnout well in the end.
Also, don’t load your stuff up like a tiny mountain in any vehicle. We can’t believe we have to say that, but this sort of thing is just a little too common.
Image via CHP – Madera/Facebook