1/29/2005: Truck drops off highway
 

http://cellar.org/2004/truckoffi95.jpg

Yeah, there's a bad day. This is the truck that drove off I-95 in Maryland the other day, and took a drop of many feet down. They say 150 feet in the official caption, but it looks like that's the height of the bridge, and it looks like the truck itself at least took out some of the bank, suggesting that it only took a partial fall to get to that point. Anyone else have more details?

Driving too fast for conditions. 'Nuff said.

At least it's not a UPS truck, one of which is currently in transit delivering my brand-new Nikon Coolpix 8800.

/Baby, it's cold outside!

Newsday, WTOP, and NBC say it was a box truck. FOX says it was a tractor-trailer. :eyebrow:

Anyway, a 50 year old woman from Florida, Nada Rakovich driving a tractor-trailer, changed lanes hitting a car. They both pulled over to the shoulder.
Nada walks out into the travel lane causing Dorek C. Miles driving the box truck to swerve. He was rear ended by a BFI Waste Management truck that proceeded to tangle with three cars.

Meanwhile Dorek goes over the guardrail, drops about 70 feet then slides to the river, but the cab stays on the bank. He broke both legs but will recover.

I'm not going to make one comment about Nada. :mad:

Messed up wreck .
I once saw the aftermath of an 18 wheeler hitting a bridge support at 90+mph , the driver fell asleep foot an the accelerator , it split the cab in 2 and damn near split the whole trailer in 2 as well , the driver didn't wake up from his nap :(

Nada single comment? ;)

What do I have to say about women drivers?
.......NADA.......

This happened in MY neck of the woods and it was discussed in class. It appears that our instructors knew at least one of the people who were right behind this wreck and got the skinny.

Bruce had it right...there was much confusion before the box truck went over the rail.

We had much fun laughing about this, but it was really just whistling past the graveyard.

We do a lot of this since our instructor is a sicko (my kind of guy) who downloads pictures of truck wrecks and posts them over the printed picture of a truck on the calendar over his desk which we all see as we come in to sign the attendance list.

Oh heck, this was my 1000th post and I didn't say anything of lasting value.... Oh well, there's always another milestone!

Brian

Not women drivers, Capn, just this woman driver. :(

I don't believe the bridge in the picture is 150 feet tall. I bet it's closer to 80 feet tall.

The 150 feet may refer to the distance the truck traveled from where it left the road to where it came to rest.

[quote]"I don't believe the bridge in the picture is 150 feet tall. I bet it's closer to 80 feet tall."[quote]glatt

Agreed... No way this bridge is over 80'...May be even less.
I used to paint these bitches in my younger years.

Quick reference: That semi's trailer is probably 52' long. The tractor is probably about 18' long. That makes 70'. Can you stand that rig up twice on end and not exceed the top of the bridge deck?

Actually, I think it is that tall. . . The photographer is standing on another bridge, the one for traffic coming the opposite way, right? Figuring on the angle that the camera is pointing. . . (not to mention the slight foreshortening of the truck because it's on an angle down and away from the camera) I do think it's that tall. It just looks weird because you don't generally *look* past and under a bridge like that. . . it's all in the perspective.

Thank you Bruce

What semi?
They said the box truck fell 70 feet then slid down to the creek. Probably the same guy judging the height though. :)

You're welcome, Sweets.

Nothing personal........just "gentlemen's humor"
Gee, Thanks, XOB.......
:)

I wonder how many fish died because of our love affair with the industrial revolution? I'd imagine that the fuel tanks must have ruptured as well as fluids leaking out of the engine.

"And there's hamburger all over the highway in Mystic, Connecticut." (Firesign Theater, 'Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me The Plyers')

30,000 pounds of bananas ...

It's not a 53' trailer; 53' trailers all say "53'" on them in the corner, and you can see that this one does not. It looks more like a straight truck than a semi (not enough space between the cab and the van, and not enough axles, though some were ripped off), which probably makes it 24'.

In estimating that it was 80 feet tall, I looked at the height of the guy in yellow standing at the base of the bridge. I put my cursor's arrow next to him. He is the same height as my cursor. Using my cursor's arrow, I measure up the far support post all the way to the far railing. I come up with 13-15 arrows of height. I did it a couple of times, and admit there is a little margin for error in my measuring. Assuming the guy is 6 feet tall, the bridge is 80-90 feet tall from the base of the support to the top of the railing. Most people are actually a little shorter than 6 feet, so any error should favor the bridge being less than 80 feet.

The truck is an unknown length, and it is foreshortened, making it a poor measuring device.

You could also use one of the people on the top of the bridge, on the far edge. They are closer to the camera, and appear slightly larger. Using one of them, the bridge comes out to around 70-80 feet tall.

I think 80 feet is a good ballpark estimate. No way is that bridge 150 feet tall.

It's a box truck, peeps. No question. I should know the difference by now.