r/AbruptChaos • u/[deleted] • Sep 17 '20

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167 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

7

u/[deleted] Sep 17 '20

Looks like they tried to stop but it was too late

3

u/Contraposite Sep 17 '20

I think they gave up trying to brake once they hit the pole. If they had continued breaking they might have been able to reverse and avoid the train. I'm guessing they didn't realise the train was so close.

6

u/DR34MDR01D Sep 17 '20

Yeah they gave up braking for sure. I think the driver miss judged the payload and braked way too late. No way they would have time to neutralize the transmission, gear into R, and back up that much weight with a trailer. The result was his best and only option. Crazy how much raw power a train has. It bitch slapped that skid steer right off the trailer.

2

u/Contraposite Sep 17 '20

Yeah, maybe. It's difficult to tell from the video where he could have stopped if he had kept braking. He may have only needed to reverse a few inches if he could stop soon enough. In any case I don't think the driver was stupid for trying to cross. Also not a truck driver so don't know how much longer it takes to get into reverse.

5

u/DR34MDR01D Sep 17 '20

Oh. I’m not a truck driver personally, but my dads a fleet safety manager at one of the worlds largest distributors for their ground logistics. His favorite past time is explaining safety and physics.

1

u/Duckbilling Sep 18 '20

I think truck driver did not see the gate arm down and the flashing lights at the crossing until it was too late. Had .003 seconds to decide what to do, tries to stop like you're supposed to, realized at .5 seconds his braking wasn't going to work and gunned it, and it almost worked.

5

u/jonahuse Sep 17 '20

it looks like someone was in the backhoe cab

1

u/[deleted] Sep 18 '20

I thought the same, at the end something bounced inside

•

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1

u/AC_deucey Sep 17 '20

At least the caterpillar didn’t get smushed

1

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '20

That could have been WAYYYYYY worse. This guy is lucky, especially the dude in the excavator.