Jason Eidem is tired of strangers crashing at his house.
It’s not that he has an issue with unexpected guests spending the night. The Lehighton, PA, homeowner has a problem with strangers literally crashing into his house.
The most recent accident happened in January when an 18-wheeler made a right turn in front of Eidem’s home and took out the cement barricade he erected to protect his property.
Eidem told 28/22 News that the sound of tires screeching and mud splattering as trucks veer off course has become an all-too-familiar soundtrack. During the eight years he has lived in the home, he says “more than 50” trucks have hit it.
January’s incident unfolded like most of the others, with the driver having no idea he hit Eidem’s property. This "I didn't know I hit anything" refrain, as Eidem put it, has become a predictable excuse.
He attributes the recurring accidents to trucks disregarding the no-truck designation that PennDOT gave his street several years ago due to the tight turns, like the one in front of his house.
Despite the ongoing challenges, Eidem finds solace in the support of his neighbors, who rally to help repair his property after each collision.
Eidem remains hopeful that PennDOT will enforce road regulations to ensure his safety and bring an end to years of worry.
“We could make a documentary... documentary or horror film honestly,” Eidem said.
Flash forward
A woman in Salt Lake City found it strange how traffic was suddenly not a problem after buying a Dodge Charger. In fact, many motorists seemed to pull over just to let her pass.
Turns out they weren’t pulling over just to get a better look at her new wheels — it was because of the red and blue flashing lights installed in the Charger’s fog lights.
The woman was unaware of this feature until she saw a public warning issued by Salt Lake City police. The notice included a picture of her new car and a warning that the driver may be trying to impersonate a police officer in order to pull over unsuspecting motorists and either rob or carjack them.
The woman immediately contacted Salt Lake City police and explained how she had recently purchased the Charger and was completely unaware of the flashing lights.
Turns out the LED lights in the Charger’s fog lights were an add-on feature that could be set to display different colors using a smartphone app, and the last setting used before the woman bought the car was red and blue.
Getting keyed up
A pair of masked vigilantes have taken to the streets of Atlanta to save drivers from the dreaded parking boot.
The balaclava-clad pair call themselves The Boot Girls and are quickly become the most in-demand entrepreneurs in Atlanta. The former beauticians go by the names Boot Baby and Boot Sheisty and have built up a following of more than 140,000 across Instagram and TikTok where they promote their services with a simple tagline:
“You got a boot? We can take that s**t off. It’s $50.”
That $50 is far less than the fees charged by private booting companies, which often run $75 per day that the boot is on.
The pair started their business after Boot Sheisty got booted while visited Boot Baby at her apartment complex. Instead of paying to have the device removed, she contacted a friend who had a boot key. The women decided to buy their own keys and “ever since then, we just went on our bulls**t,” Boot Sheisty told NPR.
Today the women say they average about 40 boot removals each day.
The Boot Girls’ success doesn’t surprise Atlanta attorney Matt Wetherington, who has been fighting Georgia’s parking enforcement industry for nearly a decade.
"We're trying to stop what I consider piracy,” Wetherington told NPR, “because they're seizing your property, and you're not getting it back until you give them money, and your options for recourse are essentially nonexistent."
Not only have The Boot Girls provided some recourse, but they also have a merchandise line and a podcast in the works, and they recently put out a call for new Boot Recruits.
"We're gonna expand and we're also going to do it until we can't," Boot Sheisty said.
