Train vs windmill blade on truck, guess who wins.

that's what i'm say'n.....

 

The trailer cost near $1 mil. What the driver and steer an should have done as soon as those arms started coming down is steered that trailer across the tracks. They were going slow because the steersman was making sure the blade tip cleared. Screw the tip, get off that track!

EDIT: forgot to mention…

Driver screwed the steerman when he hooked hard right. He should have hugged the left side of the road. They would have been able to clear the turn faster.

 

Probably a failure all the way 'round. What kind of company that deals with shipping these things, would take a route like that? Why would they manufacture such an important piece of freight, in a place where a moron truck driver would encounter this? And finally, in the past, companies would hire drivers they knew could do the job, it was called prevention. Today, it's deal with "after the fact" rather than preventing this,,it's unacceptable, and you guys are concerned with image??

 

yes I sure did hear about it.

last year I crossed those track every week for 8 months.

It is hard to get a totally accurate picture of what happened.

I can tell you I would have ran over that pilot car in front - I never stop on tracks.

 

You would be wrong….you wouldn’t believe the turns necessary to transport 72/74/76m blades (overall length including trucks between 270-300 feet 80 plus feet of rear overhang).

I went through that intersection every week for 8 months last year.

see above

you have to wait for the intersection to clear before trying to get through. Turns take a while and sometimes require backing up several times to clear objects both in front and behind.

this clearly is a screw up but it wouldn’t be an off route issue.

he wouldn’t have been but you know that. It done a turn out, however, that it might not be as easy as everyone thinks.

 

In this case you are totally of base. They manufacture these blades and other wind components all over the world - as the same components are used all over the world.

so the transport companies move them from where there are to where they need to go - like any other freight - just more difficult at times.


The routes are surveyed and agreed on by the states/counties/cities and the trucking companies. Many times restrictions on size dictate that San easier route is not a available- like the interstate. When you actually go to move the first one - sometimes there are “surprises” and that can be very difficult to overcome. This comes from a disconnect with the surveyor and the driver - sometimes you just can’t do what they think you can do. It is a very difficult 3 dimensional puzzle with curbs walls trees signs buildings light poles wires ditches fences slopes radius of corners. They all come into play.

in this case, I can guess that it is “human” factors mostly.

that intersection has a large hump in it and the trailers regularly grind the trailer beams on the ground/tracks. Going slow is how you generally get this job done safely (not freight hauler slow but actually slow like 2 mph or less ).

bottom line is he was where he should’ve have been but not when he should’ve been there. No, I didn’t and wouldn’t have stopped and yes I would have run over the pilot car stopped in front of me.

this is not the first blade hit by a train and won’t be the last. That said, vehicles 1/3 to 1/20th the size get hit all the time.

 

Thanks for clearing that up, but it's still no excuse. You have a piece of freight that is so important and expensive, AND SPECIALIZED,,and the weakest link is the schmuck pulling it to it's destination. I mean, doesn't the company filter out these drivers? What went on in the interview? "Have you ever hauled oversize"? "Duh, well, I pulled my old mans fissin' boat once",,,Don't they have a shred of respect for what they are hauling?,,is my gripe. I swear, I'd go out of business because I'd fire everyone of these drivers,,,,BEFORE they killed someone.

 

L O L

 

Here is my qualification