If it wasn't for stuff falling off of trucks, I wouldn't have my couch. A few books takes care of the missing leg
Freak fatal accident
- Thread starter kozmic
- Start date
A few years ago I witnessed a young guy who was in the back of a flatbed trailer trying to hold down a stack of wallboard. As the truck hit the gas, the sheet rock slid off the trailer taking the young man with it. He seemed unhurt, but the same couldn't be said for the load.
Yikes!
A former coworker's mom was killed in a similar incident involving a garbage truck back around 1990 or so.
Take it from me, thinking about this too much will make you crazy. I once investigated a fatal crash in which a drunk driver crossed the centerline and killed a young woman who had been stopped and cited for speed an hour earlier by another Trooper from our agency. If she wasn't caught speeding she probably would have been farther down the highway and not met up with the drunk driver. To make things worse her heart had just filled with blood and the Coroner said she might have survived if her heart wasn't full. If only she had one more heartbeat...
A few years later I supervised the investigation of a motorist that was killed when he was hit by a piece of debris off of a semi trailer.
I've investigated (& supervised the investigation of) many similar fatal crashes. I reached the point where I couldn't look under the blanket anymore (the first time was a six year old girl). I will never forget.
The really sad part is that most of these crashes were entirely preventable.
These things don't leave you.
A fishing friend of mine was very lucky on one outting.
Leaving the lake one afternoon, he slowed down, as he was coming down hill to a corner.
He looked out his window, to see a tire at his side, go off the road, into the sage brush.
He then noticed his boat trailer at a very steap angle, going down the road !
The axle and bearing, were toast and the boat and trailer, had to be towed into town on a trailer.
We were just glad that we had not reached Interstate 80, and had this happen.
Leaving the lake one afternoon, he slowed down, as he was coming down hill to a corner.
He looked out his window, to see a tire at his side, go off the road, into the sage brush.
He then noticed his boat trailer at a very steap angle, going down the road !
The axle and bearing, were toast and the boat and trailer, had to be towed into town on a trailer.
We were just glad that we had not reached Interstate 80, and had this happen.
For those interested in a story, years ago I was driving my old '67 Toyota Landcruiser up a winding river road with a speed limit of 55. I was approaching a corner when a large truck came around towards me hauling a bulldozer on a flatbed trailer. He came around the corner towards me and from off the bed of the trailer a rock the size of a softball rolled off the trailer and onto the road heading in my direction. I immediately hit the brakes as the rock bounced once, twice and on the third bounce was at an elevation that looked to catch me right between the horns, as the rock was about twenty feet away I closed my eyes and prepared as best I could for an obviously serious situation. There was a very loud bang, I opened my eyes and right in the absolute center of my vision through the windshield was a large white powder. Off course I had slowed and pulled off onto the side of the road, the big truck never slowed at all, kept going. I ran my hand over the white dust and revealed a good sized divit in the windshield, but no crack. Considering myself lucky I went on about my fishing trip, with no issue other than the chip in the windshield right in my vision. First cold day of winter one morning I went out to go to work, got in the Yota, started up and noticed a crack forming, it basically cracked vertically and in some way almost resembled a gunsight. Fortunately the old Cruiser had a flat windshield, I knew some guys at a local glass company and had it fixed up for $100.
A guy in my club took his boat to Lake Texhoma one weekend and as he was driving down I-35 he saw a wheel roll by him that looked familiar. One of the wheels had came off his tandem trailer and crossed two lanes of oncoming heavy traffic and then went off the road and down a steep embankment. He went to the next exit and drove back and saw some people standing around, then a police car and then an ambulance. His wheel had hit an old man riding a bicycle. I never heard anymore of the story, he said his lawyer told him to not say anything about it.
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50 target
Member
I believe it was King Solomon who said: "time ands chance happen to us all".
As a reserve Deputy for our county SO, I have seen people that were deceased who should be alive and alive people who by all reason should be dead, in my humble opinion. Generally there is a series of events that all link together for that particular outcome. As a Pastor told me one time; " yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present". Enjoy the day and the gift of life each and every day for the end comes as a thief in the night.
kamloops67
Member
Worked for a guy years ago that was a major pot head , so was most of his crew
One day they had about 200 14' 2x4 loaded on his one ton flat bed
The boards were too long to lay down on the deck so they leaned them on the headache rack sloping down to the 2x10 " tailgate" on the deck a single strap was thrown over the load and off they went
The group left toward the other site with a cloud of smoke billowing from windows … and lost the entire load at the first intersection when taking a right hand turn
The 2x4s caused no damage but covered the 4lane x 4 lane intersection blocking traffic
there were a few guys scurrying around trying to pick up and reload the truck before rcmp happened to come around lol
I was the foreman for the second crew so I wasn't part of the fiasco but man was it funny at the time
One day they had about 200 14' 2x4 loaded on his one ton flat bed
The boards were too long to lay down on the deck so they leaned them on the headache rack sloping down to the 2x10 " tailgate" on the deck a single strap was thrown over the load and off they went
The group left toward the other site with a cloud of smoke billowing from windows … and lost the entire load at the first intersection when taking a right hand turn
The 2x4s caused no damage but covered the 4lane x 4 lane intersection blocking traffic
there were a few guys scurrying around trying to pick up and reload the truck before rcmp happened to come around lol
I was the foreman for the second crew so I wasn't part of the fiasco but man was it funny at the time
Transportation is dangerous.
At milepost 5, I-40 Westbound in NM, an older man and his son had a flat on their pop-up trailer. They pulled as far off the road to the right as they could without leaving pavement into bottomless mud and were changing the tire with their wives, children, and grandchildren in their Aerostar van. A 18-wheel truck driver was passing a car in that was driving in the right lane and cautiously started back into the right lane from the left after completing his pass. As he completed his lane change he checked his left mirror. Asymmetric tonic neck reflex caused him to drift 28 inches onto the right shoulder, sideswiping the trailer and van and shredding both men along the sides of the trailer and van, leaving what was left of both on the shoulder about 50 and 60 feet in front of the van and in unobstructed view of the women and children inside.
Twenty-eight inches. There is no doubt about the distance as that is where the outside of the right front tractor tire forced the tire iron into the pavement.
At milepost 5, I-40 Westbound in NM, an older man and his son had a flat on their pop-up trailer. They pulled as far off the road to the right as they could without leaving pavement into bottomless mud and were changing the tire with their wives, children, and grandchildren in their Aerostar van. A 18-wheel truck driver was passing a car in that was driving in the right lane and cautiously started back into the right lane from the left after completing his pass. As he completed his lane change he checked his left mirror. Asymmetric tonic neck reflex caused him to drift 28 inches onto the right shoulder, sideswiping the trailer and van and shredding both men along the sides of the trailer and van, leaving what was left of both on the shoulder about 50 and 60 feet in front of the van and in unobstructed view of the women and children inside.
Twenty-eight inches. There is no doubt about the distance as that is where the outside of the right front tractor tire forced the tire iron into the pavement.
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When my girls got their Instruction Permits I took them to a couple fatal crashes (after the bodies were removed), one involving a semi. Driving is risky and risks have to be managed.
Call it what it is, spastic's head and arms moving in opposite directions. Usually disappears 6 mos. after birth.
I'll never understand how people are clueless about what happens to their right while driving. Watch how many hug the left side of a lane. Is the vehicle bigger than they can handle?
Making a right turn to a multi lane surface street. Easy Peasy. Stop bar, creep up and check, if lane clear go and that's when someone changes approaching the intersection.
Try hard not to pass in a merge lane.
Oh yeah regarding the OP, wait until clearing the vehicles off the side of the road before moving back to the right lane.
We charged the trucker - he pled to misdemeanor vehicular homicide.
The jury acquitted the trucker in our case.
Can't 'like' that.
