The 'Worst Possible Piece of Debris You Could Think of' Flew off a Truck and Hit This Car

Driving behind a truck carrying a bunch of lumber or a paint truck laden with ladders, might have you keeping a safe distance. But nothing shows why it's so important to make sure items on a truck are secure more than an incident in Topsfield, Massachusetts, this week that resulted in this picture.

An ax from a landscaper's truck flew off the back and hit the windshield of the car just behind it on southbound Interstate 95 outside of Boston, narrowly missing the woman sitting in the passenger's seat.

"Thankfully, the [ax] only went halfway through the windshield. The passenger who is partially seen in the photo was shaken up (who wouldn't be?) but not injured," Massachusetts State Police said in a Facebook post.

The woman sitting in the passenger's seat was "shaken up" by the incident but not injured. (Image source: Massachusetts State Police/Facebook)

The landscape truck driver, who is with the company Peabody, was cited by a trooper and received a $200 fine.

If the car following the truck had not been going the speed limit, which was 65 mph, the situation could have been a whole lot worse, the police said. 

"If he had been speeding, the increased velocity of his car would have increased the power of the [ax]'s impact, meaning it could very well have gone through the glass and injured his passenger," the police said on Facebook. "We are very thankful that this situation did not have a worse ending."

Image source: WCVB-TV

State Trooper Joseph Risteen told WCVB-TV the ax was "something I hadn't seen before and I hope I never see again" and possibly "the worst possible piece of debris you could think of coming."

Watch this report from the news station about the incident:

Police aren't identifying the motorists.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.