Another truck driver stops in front of front runner passenger train looking at GPS.
Checking his GPS while standing on the tracks… this guy is definitely Darwin material. Maybe next time.
Where did the GPS say he was? “Up a creek”? “In deep #@%&#”?
According to the rules of the Darwin Awards, he can’t qualify for anything better than an honorable mention. But there’s always next time.
And #14 driver got in way of a UP ? train
http://www.ktvb.com/news/Train-collides-with-semi-truck-full-of-food-in-Payette-245281531.html
Never ceases to amaze! [banghead]
Here you have two highly preventable incidents, fortunately no one was seriously injured–OR killed. [X-)]
Experiences over a thirty or so year career in Trucking, both OTR, Dispatch and Safety. Have shown that there is no teacher, like experience. I worked for a carrier at one time that gave every new driving employee a brand new ‘Truckers Atlas’, trucks were equipped with very loud alarm clocks to wake drivers (so they would not miss appointments!), and generally the drivers put the Atlas’ under the mattress in the bunk, where it apparently rotted away, It further became apparent that many were functionally illiterate and relied on the CB radio for directions.
There are lots of very well educated individuals driving trucks and making good livings, but a goodly number who make too many bad decisions, as they go about their work. The above two film strips, illustrate that too well. Which is why many carriers have lots of Safety Dept personnel and large budgets to fund settle accidents ( off all types); as trucks and cars interact badly with thier operating environments. [2c]
Saw a lot of pictures of #14, could have been prevented by cranking the landing gear up fully… Kinda funny, earlier this week I was talking with our driving instructor in Trenton, OH, after his class had gone home for the night. He made the comment, and I agreed with him, that half the class would not make it…
Now, that is a worrisome comment… But it reminds me of a stand-up comic that I remember seeing on the Ed Sullivan show on TV… I think the comedian was Don Adams (later of “Get Smart” fame). He was giving the welcoming speech to a new class at a Major League Baseball Umpire school. The closing line was:
“Those of you that pass this course will go on to bigger and better things, those of you that fail will become umpires.”
Trucker # 14
Payette ID ; South Sixth Street, MP 502.67 (DOT 819 449U), Huntington Sub/Portland Division…
No charges filed? - I hope UP goes after the driver & trucking company and/or the canning plant. Does not appear the approach grades were not bad here,. Somebody failed to do a basic walk-around after accepting a new trailer? (Maybe charges had not yet been filed pending investigation?)
Conversely, I came home from western Colorado last night on I-70 and got stuck behind trucks on Vail and Loveland Pass after light snow changed to corn snow and ice. The trucks lost traction in rapidly changing conditions and they were on the hill without the chain rule being placed in effect yet. I understand this and can deal with it. (Nobody was going fast and traffic was being metered through the tunnels. Had CDOT not stopped the trucks for metering thru the tunnels, they might not have lost traction at all. NOT the trucker’s fault, empathy for the drivers having to chain-up in traffic.) …A couple hours later the interstate closed for 3 hours after multiple stalls and wrecks on the hill mostly caused by cars and pickups. CDOT cited 19 cars (18 Colorado registered) for bald tires and the comment about travel on the highway being a “privilege, not a right”. Media reporting indignation from the cited about the road not being adequately treated and they weren’t at fault/ unfair. What? Maximum fine please and suspend their licenses for driving stupid.[:(!]
It would be interesting to find out if the cited Colorado drivers who were quite indignant were natives or recent transplants.
or skiers/boarders or stoners plus their age.
http://www.9news.com/news/local/article/377626/222/Crashes-closures-start-off-busy-I-70-weekend
From MC’s linked article:
Occasionally the police will get a general complaint from the locals about speeding drivers, etc. With a correctional facility nearby, and a military base, they are, of course, assuming that it’s the corrections officers and military types who are doing the speeding.
Invariably, those stopped by the resulting “speed traps” are locals…
Mudchicken: I figure it was probably caused by a lazy driver not cranking the landing gear up all the way…