Seth the Rodman...

> Needless to say, he's at the hospital getting glass picked outa his butt. I think he'll be ok, though.

i'll bet he will need a clean pair of drawers as well. glad he survived.

That's funny, the other PC in our office refers to my subordinate employee (hard to call him a rodman because he is an LS) "The Boy Wonder."

Back in the '80's, I was working for a company in NH. One afternoon, (cold winter day), the instrument man was driving one of the crews back to the office at the end of the day...... and rear-ended a stopped fire truck. The survey vehicle was a Suburban, I believe the whole crew found themselves at the hospital shortly thereafter with assorted ailments such as broken noses, cuts & scrapes, etc.

35 + years ago I would pick up a PC at his home if he was ready to go, otherwise he would drive himself.

'T'was an "if needed" arrangement.

This one particular day, he went ahead on his own on a rainy day, hit a RR level crossing too fast and is a paraplegic.

Danger lurks.

Derek

In 1980 I was driving a Suburban with 3 other crew members (3 in front 1 in rear) when small car ran a stop sign directly in front of me. At 45 MPH I only left about 50 feet of skid marks before hitting the car T-Bone. The fellow in the middle of the front seat laid down in the lap of the other passenger and neither was hurt. The rear seat passenger had a bloody nose from hitting the back of the front seat. I was wearing a seat belt (always do) and was unharmed. There was a nurse on her way to work waiting at the intersection to turn left. The driver of the car was not breathing but she did CPR and got him breathing before the ambulance got there. I didn't get any sleep that night, every time I closed my eyes I saw it happen all over again. I knew I couldn't have done anything different but seeing that nurse do CPR on the driver just plain brought chills to me.

Andy

The seatbelt probably saved you from serious injury or death. My Father was adamant; we all wore seat belts in the car which was unusual then. He was a Naval Aviator and also flew aerial photo missions not to mention flying the family places in a C182. I think the Aviation inflexible seatbelt rules influenced him along with an accident in Fresno County which killed a non-seatbelt wearing Sheriff's Deputy in the early 1960s.

Never understood getting a ticket on the way to work or even worse crashing while driving too fast to work! Driving home is the time for a ticket!

I know Surveyors that are in a big rush both ways. 85 to the project (as if it's a fire) then 85 back to the office. Personally I'm in no big hurry to get back to the office.

We had two crews on a project down in L.A. County for several days. The other crew was the lead; I was just there to help. For 3 or 4 days we flew in formation out to the project (fast) then flew in formation back to hotel. Finally I got tired of all this rushed driving, changing lanes like we were going somewhere code 3. So I just hung back and took my time that afternoon. He only beat me by about 3 minutes. I saw him pulling into a parking space as I was getting onto the off-ramp from the Freeway. He was all frazzled from the rush-rush-rush while I was relaxed from just going with the flow and not trying to be Mr. Hot Pursuit for a change.

And you know, some seem to think if you aren't making your tires squeal on a mountain road, using all of the road to lengthen the curve radius (squeeze a few more MPHs out of the road) and just generally making your passengers car sick then you just aren't trying hard enough to get to the job 30 seconds earlier.

I hit an Audi last night. He pulled in front of me and hit the brakes. Fortunately, I was only going 2 or 3 mph when we collided. Unfortunately, I was operating a 13 ton electric streetcar.

He will be shocked to find out that he violated the law, I am sure. Most municipalities have statutes reading something to the effect of, "The driver of a vehicle upon overtaking and passing a street car shall not turn in front of such street car so as to interfere with or impede its movement." I was very angry at him for pulling into my stopping area. I put the thing into full emergency, but he didn't leave me enough room to get stopped in time.

so how did the Audi fare against a 13 ton streetcar??

Wait, your personal ride is a 13 ton street car? I guess things really are bigger in Texas.

ISeth the Rodman...

I actually have 8 streetcars, 2 buses and 2 of the original DFW Airport people movers. 13 tons is one of the smaller cars and I was operating for the streetcar line in Dallas at the time.

I was in the process of stopping when I came to rest on his bumper. When he pulled up to pull over to the side, his plastic bumper popped out and other than a slightly displaced piece of trim, you could see no sign of injury. Can't vouch for anything underneath the bumper. I should have asked him to pop the trunk to look for damage to the interior. It could have been much worse with that F=ma formula. My m was much bigger than his m.

Noted that before, the most extreme was when I was delivering a Tera-gator from Yuma
to Portland. Over width and max speed 35 mph. At about 20 mph the big tires, a tricycle, would go egg shape and you would start to gallop, throttled through until at about 25 they would get round again. Anyway after I was on I-5 there were some cars that were hurrying right along, but they kept passing me, sometime 4 or 5 times in a day. A couple spent the night at the same motel I did, being over width I had to park at night. That trip was one of the better road trips I ever took, lots of room in the cab, hand throttle and plenty of time to look around.
jud

Glad he's ok. Reminded me of this:

ISeth the Rodman...

Subconsciencely telling the truth aren't you? In line with the rumors that I have heard, it is only right that you used a lower case m when stating that your m is larger than anyone else's. :excruciating:

x2.....
Glad he's AOK...
and just one more reason why I live on a sailboat 🙂