Maybe this is why I always drove old Volvo wagons when I was young/single.
Now I drive old Audi wagons. 
I drive a 20 year old Toyota pick up. She drives a new Camry with all the bells and whistles.
Another example:
No crossbars and he didn’t want to damage his roof.
That’s a police car in front of him.
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I was so astounded at that photo, I searched Google for the image and found the following article. Driver claims a strong wind storm twisted the kayak, which had been carried correctly:
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So it was a hot day. The strap gave way and my kayak swung out 90 degrees. A lumber truck driver was passing waving at the boat. Noticing boat I pulled over to the breakdown lane… …I forgot about the light poles.
The kayak and rear rack was knocked off the truck into the boat I was towing. I pulled off to the side when I got off the bridge to tie it all down in he boat. A BIG VOICE from above asked "ARE YOU ALL RIGHT? … Looking up I just stood there amazed .
Then the voice…from the State Troopers car in the median said , " No over here!"
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This is why l always double strap for trips of any decent length.
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Something smelly about this story.
If there are no crossbars, what is the silvery thing below the kayak? Looks to me a lot like a crossbar.
And why aren’t the straps above the side railing in either side, which they would be if the were used to secure a kayak on a car without crossbars?
Obviously I’ve been taken in by fake news spread by the New Zealand police. I’ll demand their immediate defunding. The reporter for the original story in the Waikato Times should be fired and blacklisted for not properly investigating this tragic incident. All people of Irish descent are due monetary reparations for this vicious slander. I expect a check by the end of the week!
Does make a good example for the use of bow and stern tiedowns though.
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Seen on Cape Cod yesterday. We were first struck by the angle of the boats, the wind load must have been strong. But notice that all the cords are bungee cords, and the bar or so wide they probably could have laid both both flat. But it gets better, the rear wide bar might not be that wide, it just isn’t centered. And finally, one of the bungees goes through the door.
And yes, we passed on the right. We were heading into 25 minute no passing zone and really didn’t want to be in an impact zone for that long.
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Route 6 in Orleans?
Hope they got to their destination yesterday. Wicked windy last night and this morning… Not a bungee friendly day!
ahem I call it Route 666. We were just over the line in Eastham.
The front bar was about 1’ wider than the car on each side. Why? I have no idea. I couldn’t get around and away from him fast enough.
And yeah, super windy today. It was a sustained 35-38 mph this morning, gusts over 50. Windy for tomorrow too!
I won’t carry boats on their sides In wind and I have a proper rack on my pickup.
Friend ran over his front bow strap folded his brand new Eddyline Raven bow down in a flash. Totally junked boat.
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I ran over my front strap once. Broke the webbing and did some cosmetic damage to the front bumper; didn’t hurt the boat (OK Scrambler).
This may be a point of consideration concerning failure modes and what you want to sacrifice.
A lot of rack manufacturers have made the unfortunate choice to terminate their bow and stern tiedowns with open hooks. Driving on a rough road or hitting a large bump is often all it takes for the boat to bounce and the hook to come free. We had a front tiedown come loose once but were able to stop before anything was damaged and a rear tiedown come loose and found out about it when a following driver pointed it out. Now I take these open hooks and close them into a loop with a large bench vise. I then use either a brass swivel hook or a stainless captive eye carabiner. There are other solutions as well, but I would never recommend using an open hook on a tiedown, especially with a long boat.
Also, when tying down your boat never become distracted or stop until you have finished completely. I have seen too many instances where someone stopped in the middle of securing their boat to help someone else get their boat on a car and then drive off having missed a strap resulting in a catastrophe.
Most rack manufacturers supply tiedowns and require their use for the warranty to cover a rack failure and any subsequent damage to the boat or car.
I was starting to back up and heard the car groan. I immediately stopped. Found that the Thule stern strap was still attached to the metal loop on the undercarriage of the car and when I went to back up, I ran over it and it bent the undercarriage metal loop down, but it didn’t break off. Good PR for thule straps, too.
I had a bike rack failure due to this issue once. I always load my bikes fork first. Loaded additional bikes on the rack, with a friend’s bike pointing backwards. I neglected to fasten his rear wheel to the rack, which probably wouldn’t have been catastrophic with a forward pointing bike. With the rearward facing bike, an hour or so into the trip, the wind caught the rear wheel and tried to rip the bike off the rack. Destroyed the carbon fork, put a gouge in the C pillar of my wagon.
My fault entirely. And if it were my bike someone else was loading on his rack, I would have double checked the mounting…
Oh well.