I hit a bucket on the way to work this morning. I was doing 75 mph on the freeway when my car plowed into it. It was dark grey and plastic and sitting in the middle of the fast lane. The headlights of the car caught it about a spit second before I hit it. There was no time to react or swerve. I mowed it over.
At first I wasn't sure what I hit. All I knew was that it was stuck under the front bumper and made an awful grinding noise. I pulled over to the side of the freeway and tried my best to inspect the damage. The good news is that even though the bucket was large, it was made of plastic and was easy to dislodge from under my car. Apparently it didn't do much damage to the car other than a couple of scrapes to the bumper. The car runs like normal and there doesn't appear to be any leaks. (And I arrived at work wide awake with a good amount of adrenaline pumping through my body.
The situation could have been worse. I could have hit a person or animal and there could have been somewhat severe damage to the car. Fortunately it was only a plastic bucket that met its demise and all I just ended up with was a good scare.
Still, I can't help but wonder what in the world a grey plastic bucket is doing in the middle of the road.