The Dreaded Bridge Hit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpHjjwNcrJY

 

Yep that it. Something that will totally ruin your day and then some.

 

I took down my first telephone line Monday. I was hauling a backhoe on my rollback, I missed the driveway and went into a neighboring business that had no cars in the lot. It was a busy road, so my plan was to jump into the turning lane, then back up because it would be too tight to turn in again, so I did that, and then I seen an opening so I pulled in, well something caught my eye in my mirror, so I stopped and I seen a wire at caught on the top of the backhoe, so I stopped, evaluated, and backed up so I could wouldn't break it.

Called dispatch and the owner answered, first thing he asked me, was were you over height, nope, I was just under 13', he was like, don't worry about it, you did nothing wrong, unload and come to the yard, I asked, do we have to report it or anything, he said, not since it was a low hanging wire under regulation. I felt bad for the mexican crew that was about to start digging because they would likely catch flack for a downed telephone wire but I told them to say it was the truck driver because I felt I had done nothing wrong and I had the truth on my side.

Was a good learning experience.

 

Big no no . fiber optic cable.. Thousands of dollars per hour to repair. Most are underground but a few are above. Some phone lines will sag. I guess from the heat. They are supposed to be well above 15 ft, but if they sag enough, I've seen one on a 2 lane highway sag to a little more than 13-6 as the trucks weren't bringing it down. But you could sure see something was wrong.

 

Big No No is right. If you did nothing wrong, where not overheight, and the wire was below statute height...where is the issue in reporting it?
Think of it how you like, but two objects did make physical contact, and one of the objects was your load...this should be reported IMHO.

 

FWIW, back before I retired, I snagged (and took down,) a cable TV line that was low hanging across a private parking lot with a box pup that was 12'6". (I was delivering to the business there.) Strictly my fault of course. I stopped and called my dispatch. Safety officer called me on the phone and I explained what had happened and where I was. He advised me to "forget it as the wire was obviously way too low!"

 

Any incidents need to be called in.. Even if it's nothing. That way when somebody complains about it.. The company can have a comeback other than ahhhhh ahhhh we don't know anything. Then things can hit the fan when you come back to the yard.

 

Amen! I just can't imagine leaving yourself open to not reporting stuff like this. Sure, you might get away with it, but I know from my days of supervision, that if an employee left me hanging when TSHTF, that employee was going to regret it very much. However, if I was already aware of the problem, then at least there was a chance I could mitigate it a bit.

 

Don't leave us hanging, driver! LOL. Never struck anything like that myself, but I'd guess it was like stomping the brakes and getting shoved down at once, followed by a sick feeling cause you knew exactly what that was a moment after it happened.

I have a lot of respect for you guys that have open decks and have to measure loads to make sure. My reefer is only 13-4 when loaded (every time) and I still suck in going under anything marked less than 14-0. I know when I miss a turn in an unfamiliar area it's like the trees and wires just multiply and jump out there. I'd have nightmares about that if i hauled o/d LOL

 

I know what it's like a on hit. Not good.. Did not bring me to a stop, but sure made alot of noise. This was a night move..