Given any thought lately to vehicular drop-offs? Perhaps you should, whether you’re a potential victim or someone who might inflict damage, injury or death upon someone else.

At issue is the growing number of cars, trucks and the like that transport various items such as furniture, ladders, tree limbs, sod rolls and other movables atop their vehicles with a semi-luggage rack or perhaps lying loose in the bed of a truck. How many times of late have you been following somebody on a street or highway, noted the excessive cargo bouncing, whipping and even shifting, and been terrified that some piece of cargo might break loose and land on your vehicle or so close in front of you that you can’t avoid hitting it?

Even some commercial vehicles don’t seem to have their material anchored firmly enough anymore. The responsibility for that, of course, lies with the driver or the owner of the firm. It is amazing that more “stuff” doesn’t wind up on the road where it can damage a following vehicle or cause an accident. Enough of it does, of course.

Think of the times lately when you have traveled a local highway and have approached a loaded car or truck and found its cargo perilously bouncing and shifting.

Drivers are at the mercy of people who carry things on their cars and trucks, and accidents can happen so fast nobody can compensate. Consider it the responsibility of the carriers to get things battened down sufficiently so they won’t fall off.

There is a tendency not to secure material when taking a short trip around town. With the right combination of shaking and rattling and rolling, a ladder, a couch, a bed or something of a similar nature can fall just as easily in one block as on a 10-mile trip.

Traffic was sent swerving to the outside lanes of a three-lane section of Interstate 70 recently to avoid an extension ladder lying in the center lane. A pickup truck sat on the shoulder ahead and the driver presumably came back to retrieve the ladder – also a dangerous feat on a busy interstate.

Truth is, all of us are quite lucky we haven’t had more serious accidents and injuries caused by items falling from vehicles. But let’s not push our luck.

Next time you approach a vehicle with a wiggling and wobbling load, get away from it as fast as you can, and give a honk as you pass to let them know you are concerned. If you are in charge of a vehicle that is moving goods, check and double-check how well they’re tied down and how far you have to go.

Drop-offs can be serious business and everyone has to be more mindful than we seem to be about the dangers they might create.