http://abc13.com/2338786/?sf108967459=1
I've never been in the Houston area. I only know this came from KTRK-TV (ABC) channel 13 of Houston.
:wow:
That's one way to hasten the demise of Clearview.
That was such a nasty sight to look at :no:
This type of collision happens every so often in Massachusetts. Usually, the culprit is a driver who's just dumped a load of asphalt at a paving job and forgets to lower their dump body.
Something like that happened a few years back along I-84 West in Manchester, CT. The BGS wasn't part of a span gantry on a bridge like the Texas one though!
:-o :wow:
I think the truck beds are rising while they are driving.
I don't know if the drivers are leaving the PTO on, or if its another problem.
Either way, the trucks have a dangerous defect, and modification should be required. Could be something as simple as a buzzer that goes off if the bed rises when the truck is going over 10 MPH, or something that actually prevents it from rising.
The DOT needs to take action on this. This happens far too often.
The fact that the truck had multiple vehicles trying to wave him down to stop and he just kept on going just blows me away. I hope that driver has his CDL permanently revoked.
At the very least, the driver should lose their job. The employer and its insurer are not going to be too happy when the repair bill arrives for reimbursement.
That sign is under water by now. :no:
Quote from: xcellntbuy on August 27, 2017, 03:24:25 PM
At the very least, the driver should lose their job. The employer and its insurer are not going to be too happy when the repair bill arrives for reimbursement.
That isn't good enough he should go to jail. He is a danger to public safety and should not be driving on the road. It makes me wonder if this was even done unpurpose. I would think this was something you could notice right away.
Quote from: dvferyance on August 28, 2017, 04:36:23 PM
Quote from: xcellntbuy on August 27, 2017, 03:24:25 PM
At the very least, the driver should lose their job. The employer and its insurer are not going to be too happy when the repair bill arrives for reimbursement.
That isn't good enough he should go to jail. He is a danger to public safety and should not be driving on the road. It makes me wonder if this was even done unpurpose. I would think this was something you could notice right away.
There are some damn stupid truck drivers out there, and that's not even including the ones who bought their CDLs in Illinois.
I'm surprised that dump trucks don't have some sort of alarm or safety feature that locks the truck in park while the bucket is up.
Kind of hard to spread the load you're dumping if your truck's gear shift is stuck in "park". Warning beeper above 5 mph would be more useful.
Quote from: Scott5114 on August 30, 2017, 07:17:01 AM
I'm surprised that dump trucks don't have some sort of alarm or safety feature that locks the truck in park while the bucket is up.
What makes you think they don't? If this guy was drunk that would have done no good anyways.
Quote from: dvferyance on August 28, 2017, 04:36:23 PM
Quote from: xcellntbuy on August 27, 2017, 03:24:25 PM
At the very least, the driver should lose their job. The employer and its insurer are not going to be too happy when the repair bill arrives for reimbursement.
That isn't good enough he should go to jail. He is a danger to public safety and should not be driving on the road. It makes me wonder if this was even done unpurpose. I would think this was something you could notice right away.
People become complacent and think they have it under control, but he should have done a walk around (if that would have helped), but going to jail over this? Yes, damage to public/gov. property, but this could have been a malfunction in the vehicles hydrolics or something else. Not everyone's a criminal for something that very well could have been out of the driver's control. (If that was the case, we don't know).
On an somewhat unrelated note, can these metal gantries deal with the standing water and remain upright in the future? Or will all the submerged posts require replacement?
Assuming they were fabricated from galvanized steel, the supports themselves shouldn't be the issue. I'd be more concerned with the foundations, plus the gap between the foundation and the base plate, which could allow water to get to the inside of the support posts and become trapped.
Quote from: dvferyance on August 28, 2017, 04:36:23 PM
Quote from: xcellntbuy on August 27, 2017, 03:24:25 PM
At the very least, the driver should lose their job. The employer and its insurer are not going to be too happy when the repair bill arrives for reimbursement.
That isn't good enough he should go to jail. He is a danger to public safety and should not be driving on the road. It makes me wonder if this was even done unpurpose. I would think this was something you could notice right away.
Jump in a truck and see if that's true.
Honestly, it's not. If you're breezing down the highway at highway speeds, it's easy to not notice something.
There are many things one should do while driving that would make it noticeable, such as glancing in your rear/side view mirrors every 5 - 10 seconds. But, how often have you looked in your mirror and saw something there and wondered where they came from? It happens.
In instances such as this, he probably had a PTO button engaged, which allowed the lift to go up.
Jail's not really the answer here. A guy doing 15 over in a 25 mph residential zone is probably more dangerous than this guy.
He gets a free pass if he takes down a gantry, but doesn't hurt or kill anyone due to the fallen gantry nor causes damages to other cars if he had a load of stuff that was falling out prior to the hit??? *Maybe* (and it's a huge MAYBE) if there was nobody who tried to get him to pull over and stop. He is guilty and should at least have his license suspended for a while -- defective equipment or not.