A friend of mine had a same situation with a test bike he just got from the store. Just when we got at 120km/u, we heard a slam noise on the roof and then we saw the bike dancing on the road behind us. A 4000EUR GT Sensor flew off the car, but he was lucky enough to just have the front wheel taco'd and the saddle ripped. That was all. Needless to say, he was very very lucky! A car behind, too close, could mean disaster. What happened was the rubber strap of the front wheel came lose and the wind pulled the bike off the rack.
Make sure you wrap another strap or belt or anything around the wheels, just to be sure. It was a Thule bikerack, which is a top notch product here in Europe... It shouldn't happen, but it can! Protect what is valuable to you, and protect others... A bike on the windshield of the car behind you could involve casualties in the worst case scenario. But it would definitely mean the end of a vacation or the end of the hobby for a while if you ride an expensive bike and you don't have any spare cash...
l had a bike take flight off a roof rack doing about 70mph... got lucky, nobody ran it over, it just slid on the highway.. minor scuffs on the frame, couple busted parts.
i'd be so pissed/disappointed if this happened! i'd never trust a bike rack. i'd either shove it in the boot of a car or just ride to the trails (since they aren't too far from my house)
That's is so sad.I don't think they knew it fell off, and judging from the looks of it, the bike came down at high speed and was hit by several vehicles. You couldn't pay me to salvage anything off of that carnage.