Saw a scary scene today

Some people lack rigging sense and each time they somehow survive their carelessness it just reinforces the carelessness. Eventually it catches up with them and they go splat, hopefully without any civilian casualties.

_Not_ an OSHA-controlled dismantling operation, I see. =:0

-- [Television is] the triumph of machine over people. -- Fred Allen

Someone got lucky when he rolled the Darwin dice.

Yep, its easy to cheat death.

Trouble is, death only has to win once.

If I may play a devil's advicate for a minute, I must say that this sort of stuff is naturally a very dangerous business. Doing that work properly would necessitate bringing in two telehandlers instead of one, which is, alas, very expensive. I am not advocating any unsafe things, but I am saying that this is a naturally very dangerous job that is not easy to make safe.

It was gypsy controlled.

Yep, I'm rigger for a day tommorrow. bet us part timers without good equipment have even more accidents.

The road trip starts at 0500 getting the kid his first CNC mill.

Karl

Well, they can be top-heavy, just make sure you keep it level and don't raise any higher than you have to. I've moved my Bridgeport twice with no oopses.

Jon

A friend of mine and myself once did a 360 in a car going 75 MPH. We hit glare ice on an overpass and the car just lost any friction with the pavement whatsoever. Fortunately, this was on a divided highway (so no oncoming traffic) AND we ended up heading in the same direction as we started when we got to the end of the glare ice (so we didn't hit dry pavement going sideways and rollover).

We stopped, pulled over onto the shoulder, and began to laugh hysterically. The laughing part was just a release of incredible nervous energy I think....same as your rigger guy who just about got killed. Dave

It was a damn strange feeling spinning in a circle going 75MPH. Happened so quick there was nothing to do but hold on and hope we'd be ok. I see those signs "Watch for Ice on Bridge" and know what they mean now. Dave

One Feb. morning, on an interchange between two freeways, I looked in the rear view mirror to see a pickup truck crossing three traffic lanes and bouncing off the railing multiple times. I gradually eased off on the gas and managed to keep within my lane markings. From then on I was a much slower driver.

I find that driving at, or near, the speed limit, is many times safer than speeding more than 10 MPH above the speed limit. A hge difference. I just set my cruise control to 61 MPH or some such and enjoy the ride.

If it were legal, and if the road supported, and if my vehicle could do it, and if traffic were low, I'd drive 300 mph to my vacation destination each year.

As it is, I'm happy to travel at 80 mph, right along with the flow of traffic.

If you're paying attention, driving 120 is no less safe than creeping along at 61.

I just hope that you guys who like to drive slowly will always keep yourselves in the far right lane.

-- Win first, Fight later.

--martial principle of the Samurai

I, personally, stay in the far right lane, thinking my thoughts.

IMHO, it's far more dangerous to be driving at a significantly slower speed than traffic. Higher speeds too, but a bit less so (except Italy where it's always nerve wracking). In my area that's somewhat above the posted limit on controlled-access highways, so that's where the cruise control gets set if traffic is light enough to use it.

I gave it a good try driving at a bit below the speed limit in a heavy traffic commute situation (when photo radar was tried), and found it quite nerve-wracking- especially with the heavy truck traffic overtaking, honking, burping their jake brakes etc. If you stuck to one of the middle lanes it might be better, but I don't do that if I'm going slow. It saves gas and doesn't take that much longer, but it's not worth it IMHO. In an unfamiliar heavily loaded vehicle, that's another matter. I'd go slow.

I have driven 120-130mph for extended periods of time and I don't think it's particularly dangerous in relatively light traffic, on dry roads and in the daytime (assuming you have a good car in top condition). Of course I would not do that in North America! You do have to pay a bit more attention- there's 4x as much energy to get dissipate to come to a stop from 130mph than there is from 65mph.

On Jul 19, 10:22=A0am, Spehro Pefhany

I try to stay in between clumps of cars and/or trucks. Which means I drive at the same speed as most of the traffic on the road.

Dan

Years ago I was driving down a hill toward a long bridge in the winter. There was frost on the side of the road so I figured the bridge would be frozen even though the roadway wasn't yet. Some idiot was tailgating me all the way down the hill. When we hit the icy bridge and he started to lose control he backed way off. He finally figured out why I was driving so slow. Eric

For the rest of that trip particularly on overpasses.

The safest speed is normally the same speed as the rest of the traffic. On rare occasions the rest of the traffic is driving too fast for conditions in which case you stay right at a safe speed, paying extra attention for idiots about to rear end you until you are able to get off the highway.