The universe according to MMM

[Max Rockatansky]

Even Texas has had some single digit weather in the winter in recent years. I want the coldest temperature/overnight low in the winter to be 40. Some locations on the planet still hit 100 below zero. They call that "warm"? That's literally colder than some regions of suborbital space.

Some is better than always?  When I lived on mainland Florida it snowed briefly once but for the most part winters were pretty pleasant.  In Arizona the overnight temperatures dropped to around freezing but it got warm during the day.  In Fresno the weather usually never drops below the high 30s in the winter but there is substantial rain and fog.  The only place I've lived where the temperature never dropped below 55F was the Florida Keys.

[kirbykart]

And he says runaway truck ramps are bad because they are not "interstate standard". If they were paved they wouldn't work!

They would be redesigned as to have the right combination of flat stretches, inclined stretches, and downhill stretches, at the right angles, so a truck entering it at average highway/runaway speed would end up settled at the other end/in the middle of the ramp. Pure geometry and physics. But it would be paved to interstate highway standards.

But isn't it just easier to not have it paved?

[roadman65]

Do you have Facebook MMM.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid04aoBhwDcFNJ69ycwBdAgoW8aSvY8iUY3tgTpLnZx8Banfo87ruPNc2F3TTGH271Vl&id=1430229987281044
Click on the link above if you do.

Too bad it don't link to a public site as many of you would agree it's a real Door County, WI road that would not find favor with MMM.

Anyone signed to FB please link. 

[Max Rockatansky]

Better yet, show that link to Crash_It.

[Takumi]

I want the coldest temperature/overnight low in the winter to be 40.

Move to Eureka, California. Wikipedia says the average low in January is 40.8°F. The entire West Coast is quite mild.

theres my plan

[Max Rockatansky]

I want the coldest temperature/overnight low in the winter to be 40.

Move to Eureka, California. Wikipedia says the average low in January is 40.8°F. The entire West Coast is quite mild.

theres my plan

On my short list as well, I love to go hike up there.  It would to be a post retirement thing though for me since the job market sucks in Humboldt County.

[Takumi]

I want the coldest temperature/overnight low in the winter to be 40.

Move to Eureka, California. Wikipedia says the average low in January is 40.8°F. The entire West Coast is quite mild.

theres my plan

On my short list as well, I love to go hike up there.  It would to be a post retirement thing though for me since the job market sucks in Humboldt County.

It does look lovely, but I was making a reference.

[Max Rockatansky]

I want the coldest temperature/overnight low in the winter to be 40.

Move to Eureka, California. Wikipedia says the average low in January is 40.8°F. The entire West Coast is quite mild.

theres my plan

On my short list as well, I love to go hike up there.  It would to be a post retirement thing though for me since the job market sucks in Humboldt County.

It does look lovely, but I was making a reference.

Ah yes, you do have to watch for Eureka PD if you can't keep your mouth shut about "certain greater nations."

[kirbykart]

 ^ 'That was offensive, insulting, and inappropriate'

EUREKA

[NE2]

I wonder if better enforcement of brake check areas at the tops of long grades would reduce the number of runaway trucks.

I bet the cost of paying more police officers to sit at brake check areas is more than what would be saved by eliminating what would likely be a single digit number of runaway trucks over several years.

The societal cost would be negative, since these cops would be doing something useful rather than standing by while their friends or coworkers murder.

[MultiMillionMiler]

Well it would be more useful than like running radar or whatever.

[Max Rockatansky]

CO-91
https://maps.app.goo.gl/ar9894cMHTYhwP289

I wonder if the area off to the left is a good location to put the heliport for this plan?

Just have them take off from the Mayflower Tailing Pond.

[MultiMillionMiler]

Well the base should be at the windy weavy stretch of I-70, where a runaway truck would be most likely to crash.

[Scott5114]

Well the base should be at the windy weavy stretch of I-70, where a runaway truck would be most likely to crash.

That way they can crash into the helicopters instead of other cars.

[Max Rockatansky]

Well the base should be at the windy weavy stretch of I-70, where a runaway truck would be most likely to crash.

That way they can crash into the helicopters instead of other cars.

And presumably dump the wreck into the readily available tailing ponds just south of the CO 91 junction. 

[MultiMillionMiler]

These aren't suicide missions. Properly done, this plan wouldn't leave a scratch on the truck, driver, helicopter, or the pilot. The entire base could be solar powered given how nice and high up in the mountains it is, and even a little tourist attraction could spring up near it where people can look at helicopters not in use, talk to the pilots who are off duty, and areas where kids could play with small electromagnets, a small aviation museum and military recruitment center...etc, all of this near the Denver Metro Area.

[Max Rockatansky]

These aren't suicide missions. Properly done, this plan wouldn't leave a scratch on the truck, driver, helicopter, or the pilot. The entire base could be solar powered given how nice and high up in the mountains it is, and even a little tourist attraction could spring up near it where people can look at helicopters not in use, talk to the pilots who are off duty, and areas where kids could play with small electromagnets, a small aviation museum and military recruitment center...etc, all of this near the Denver Metro Area.

They why factor people at all?  Just replace the truck drivers and helicopter with robots, problem solved.

[J N Winkler]

And he says runaway truck ramps are bad because they are not "interstate standard". If they were paved they wouldn't work!

Actually, paved ramps--where the stopping action is provided by cable arrestors (similar to those used on aircraft carriers) rather than pea gravel--are now popular.  There are at least four examples in North America, all built in the last 20 years:  (1) US 44 Avon Mountain in Connecticut (I think this was the first to be built); (2) Hwy. 11 in North Bay, Ontario; (3) SR 22 east of Teton Pass near Jackson, Wyoming; and (4) SR 431 in Incline Village, Nevada.  The last-listed replaced a pea gravel ramp that killed one trucker (he stopped but his load kept going) yet failed to prevent several others from flying past the end and into the house nearby, where they caused extensive damage.

Runaway truck ramps are a proven technology, but they don't substitute for knowing how to drive in the mountains--specifically, relying on compression rather than friction to limit speed going downhill.

[J N Winkler]

There's a certain mode you are supposed to put your engine in when going downhill. What was the name of it? I was studying the commercial driver manual back in 2020. Don't you also have to activate your retarders?

Descent Mode? Where the engine braking takes over to save wear and tear on the main brakes.

This YouTube video gives a behind-the-wheel perspective of a descent down Seven Mountains Hill along eastbound US 322 in Pennsylvania.

The driver advises observing the truck speed limit (which is 20 MPH on this stretch), choosing a gear such that the truck does not gain speed, and not counting on engine retarders exclusively--they are powerful, but can fail, leaving few options if the truck is flying down the hill at normal highway speeds.

We've had a previous thread on runaway truck ramps; Pennsylvania has more of them than any other US state (28, almost twice as many as runner-up Idaho with 15).  I believe it also has more hill descent map signs, though I'm still trying to put together a comprehensive national list.

[roadman65]

Meanwhile let's have a pad for UFOs to land so maybe they can land too and possible assist the workers and using far out lasers to repair even faster.

[Scott5114]

Let's just make the whole I-70 surface a giant electromagnet. Runaway truck, no problem! Turn on the magnet, it grabs hold of the steel in the truck, no more runaway truck!

The Colorado Department of Transportation is not responsible for injuries to occupants of vehicles, both the truck and any other vehicle unfortunate enough to be around it, whose bodies continue going 70 mph when their vehicle is magnetically brought to a stop. Valid in the continental United States at participating locations only. Offer not valid in all states. Void where prohibited. Some restrictions may apply. See official rules for details.

[Max Rockatansky]

Let's just make the whole I-70 surface a giant electromagnet. Runaway truck, no problem! Turn on the magnet, it grabs hold of the steel in the truck, no more runaway truck!

The Colorado Department of Transportation is not responsible for injuries to occupants of vehicles, both the truck and anyone other vehicle unfortunate enough to be around it, whose bodies continue going 70 mph when their vehicle is magnetically brought to a stop. Void where prohibited. At participating locations only. Void where prohibited. Some restrictions may apply. See official rules for details.

Or forcibly eject freight vehicles for obstructing traffic.

[roadman65]

Let's just make the whole I-70 surface a giant electromagnet. Runaway truck, no problem! Turn on the magnet, it grabs hold of the steel in the truck, no more runaway truck!

The Colorado Department of Transportation is not responsible for injuries to occupants of vehicles, both the truck and anyone other vehicle unfortunate enough to be around it, whose bodies continue going 70 mph when their vehicle is magnetically brought to a stop. Void where prohibited. At participating locations only. Void where prohibited. Some restrictions may apply. See official rules for details.

Or forcibly eject freight vehicles for obstructing traffic.

Or the driver of the truck not wearing his seatbelt and thrown through his own windshield.

[roadman65]

Too bad MMM wasn't around when OJ Simpson led cops on that infamous chase up I-405. His technology could have captured OJ by using electromagnetic energy to stop the SUV.  After all there was the police chopper above following. Why not attach the magnet to that and viola, he's stopped on the four oh five.

How about police trading stop sticks for electromagnets in stopping a runaway vehicle eluding police custody.

[MultiMillionMiler]

Let's just make the whole I-70 surface a giant electromagnet. Runaway truck, no problem! Turn on the magnet, it grabs hold of the steel in the truck, no more runaway truck!

The Colorado Department of Transportation is not responsible for injuries to occupants of vehicles, both the truck and any other vehicle unfortunate enough to be around it, whose bodies continue going 70 mph when their vehicle is magnetically brought to a stop. Valid in the continental United States at participating locations only. Offer not valid in all states. Void where prohibited. Some restrictions may apply. See official rules for details.

Actually they are already developing a similar version of this idea in roads that charge electric cars as they drive on them. I think the helicopter option is much cheaper than that though. Not to mention that would affect every other car on the road nearby.