Fatal Accidents

Brickman -

now they do. back then.. no. (If you ever see Bringing out the Dead, it'll give some idea of what things were like, though I wasn't anywhere near NYC)

Ergo, I didn't get the benefit of it. My wife did.

In any event, though, we both have tremendously black senses of humor. My mother grew up on a farm and has a pretty black sense of humor herself can't tolerate it when my wife and I start talking EMS

 

Hmm could be geothermal stuff now that i think about it...I always see steam or something coming up from the same spot in the ground. That is where they are lowering the....whatever they are lowering into there. I mean...thats one of the many confusing things...they have a ton of stuff they are lowering into the ground...just wondering where its going.

And Im boycotting Little America....I bought a twist cone for a treat yesterday on my way home...most of it disconnected from the cone and landed on my shirt before I got to the building door! Im on strike....until I get another 50cents.

 

In my time as a truck driver I have seen 5 fatalities, though not seen any in the process of.

My second day OTR training I saw the results of a motorcycle vs. car, that looked to be the cars fault, car was turning left, cycle was oncoming. There was a shaken truck driver, whom was first on scene, whom stated on the CB that the cops had forced him to stop CPR but the guys heart was still beating and the cops failed to bother continuing with CPR. When we drove by, about 10 mins after cops arrived, the man was mostly, but half behindly covered with a white sheet and blood was pooling on the roadside by his head. The car had massive side damage, I did not see the bike itself.

Several weeks later we were forced to a sudden unexpected stop just starting down a long downgrade. We sat behind several cars whose persons just got out and started freaking and running around. CB was chattering about a MVA. As we started rolling again we encoutered a PT Cruiser, silver in color, that had obviously been rolled. It was situated in the right hand lane, on its top, wheels in air. resting on the hood with the head lights on. There appeared to be no damage to the car besides the damage caused by rolling. A group of people were preforming CPR on what appeared to be a very very still figure laying nestled between several cars that had stopped in the left lane. I am not sure if he was thrown or if he was pulled out.

There was the Airgas incident I posted about before as well as several others. My husband however, did see a fatal accident involving an idiot in a rush and a boy on a tractor. Large farm tractor was stopped making a left hand turn, as he made the turn the car coming behind him swung out into the left lane, presumably to go around him, but as he was making a left, instead she wound up slamming at 50ish mph into his tractor tire and sent him and the tractor several dozen feet into the air, and landed and rolled a few times, the boy was probably dead when he hit the ground. My husband was first on scene, and was very shaken by it. To this day he will not go near the place it occured.

 

The only time in 15 years we were offered counseling was after the Oak street fire.

PTSD is common in society. It doesn't take landmines and bullets to cause it. It can and does happen to any number of people who experience something traumatic. What causes one person to fall apart, may not visibly bother the next. Bottom line is, don't just try to bury it. I took that route for a long time and it cost me a good career and two marriages.

Get help if you need it.

 

Oct. 11 about 9 years ago I was heading North on I29 here in So. Dak. when I heard the radio light up about a single car roll over a quarter mile ahead of me. When I pulled over a Ford Explorer was on its wheels in the ditch next to an on-ramp. I also noticed that the reflector post marking a culvert was untouched as the truck had flipped right over it six feet in the air. When I walked up to the passenger side window a little boy was standing on the passenger seat and "mom" was in tears on the cell phone with 911. She then said to me "my husband is lying in the road over there, I think he's dead, can you check on him?". First thing that popped into my head was "absolutely not!", but of course, I checked. The father/driver was lying on the on-ramp 140 feet from the Explorer. As I talked to him I heard him give a gurgling breath and say "cold". It was cold, and I was in a day cab with no sleeper, blankets or coat. The only thing I could think of was to lay down on the road beside him and "spoon" him till help arived 15 minutes or so later. He never said another word before he died right there without me even knowing it. Must have been a hell of a sight for the emergency crews that showed up.

There have been a lot more accident scenes before and since, but that was truly the closest I have ever been to a fatality for sure.

 

35E southbound downtown st paul, after talking with the driver in front of me for a few miles until the split, he was heading for wisconson and I was just ending downtown, at the split he to the left which was a sharper curve and I to the right, I saw first the trailer's left side actually lift off the pavement (like the slow motion) and it seamed as the trailer was almost off the bridge, next the force pulled the cab like a rubber band so fast he never had a chance. In the split I looked over as we were almost even at 50' apart (cab to cab) I saw the drivers face just before the truck went over. I was so shook up myself I had to take time off work. I will never forget.

 

I did not mention this one earlier because I did not see it happen. I just saw the aftermath. I was headed westbound on I-70 2 miles east of Deer Trail CO. There were two Peterbilt 379's on the side of the road. Both flat beds, both hauling BFI trash containers. They were stopped about a quarter mile down the road from a lot of emergency personel. There was a mid 70's ford truck on the side of the road. About 6 feet in front of the ford truck and about 2 feet in the road way was a person covered by a yellow blanket. It seems that one of the trucks had hit the person. I tried to find out some more information on it when I got back from that trip but I never did find anything about it. There is nothing like that to sober you up in a hurry.