Secure Your Gear Folks!

[Mike Ellis]

I just got back from a very sad visit to Mineral Wells, one of my cousins was killed in a car wreck yesterday up near Bridgeport.



He and a friend had been working on a night welding job, and my cousin was riding shotgun with the friend driving (small truck it seems). Driver apparently fell asleep, wandered into the other lane and had a head-on with a larger truck, driven by a lady and her two kids. The lady and her children survived, but my cousin was killed instantly. I am told that they had a welder in the back of the truck, not bolted down to the frame. When they collided, the welder shot forward and crushed my cousin.



Obviously a head-on wreck would be bad news in any event, but it is worth remembering that even in a MINOR collision something heavy in the back of your truck that is unsecured can rocket forward and inflict terrible damage - something most restraint systems are not designed to cope with.



Remember to secure your gear folks, don't end up like my cousin Jamie. He was 30 years old.

 

[duaneparks]

VERY sad news Mike. Sorry to hear about your family's loss.



Unfortunately it does serve as a sobering reminder that objects in motion want to stay in motion. I am guilty of hauling a few heavy items in the rear of my truck without having them secured, never even giving a thought (at the time) that it could enter the cab in a collision. I won't be so careless in the future.



Our prayers are with you and your family as you head into the holidays without Jamie.



Duane

 

[BKenny]

Sorry to here about the loss ,its an eye opener i will keep my eyes peeled for looss equipment for now on.

 

[Andy Perreault]

While we're on this subject, here's another story to emphasize the importance of securing your load (you are liable for it, you know). Up here in the Seattle area last year, some guy was hauling unsecured furniture items in an open bed U-Haul trailer on the freeway. A panel from a disassembled entertainment center fell out of the trailer, flew around in the turbulence, and crashed through the windshield of a car driven by a young woman. It went through edge-first and it hit her right in the face. It tore off half of her face and destroyed both of her eyes. She's now blind and brain damaged and faces many reconstructive surgeries. This happened at night and the panel was painted black, so she probably never saw it coming. The guy drove on, and all the State Patrol had to go on was this black panel. They researched who had rented U-Haul trailers recently and eventually caught the guy.

This also serves as another important reminder: Keep an eye out for unsecured loads and don't follow behind them! One time I was driving on a freeway in L. A. with my dad, and I noticed the spare tire under the bed of an older beater pickup was dangling down close to the pavement right in front of me. I told my dad, "look at that spare tire, it looks like it's going to fall out. I'm gonna back off. " A few minutes later, a small car got in front of me and the truck was ahead of it. Sure enough, the tire fell off, hit the pavement, and flew up in the air. The car drove right under it! It then bounced harmlessly to the shoulder. I saw the guy in the truck look over his shoulder and then he looked straight ahead and kept on going.

Andy

 

[GFrance]

Sorry for your loss.

Being a truck driver I have seen it way to many times to count. People think that gravity will take care of everything they haul. It can be a jungle out there on the road when stuff starts comming out of pick ups, flat beds, hay wagons, & yes even leaks from contained cargo trailers. I"ve seen it all.

 

[rmrc]

Very sorry to hear of this terrible accident and the loss of your cousin. It always seems to take an accident like this to wake the rest of us up regarding safety procedures for cargo.



Prayers are being sent for you and your family!!!!!

 

[Boomer II]

I'm sorry for your loss Mike, we learned that lesson Jeeping, a loose bottle jack in a rollover is a pretty deadly weapon.

 

[Mike Ellis]

Thanks for the kind thoughts and prayers fellows, they are greatly appreciated.



The funeral was held yesterday afternoon, it was sunny and warm here in north Texas and there was a huge turnout. The funeral was at Rock Creek Baptist church, a very small place, and there must have been 100 people or more standing outside that couldn't fit inside. He had so many friends and our family is very large.



Jamie worked so many car wrecks in his career, during the funeral they talked about him giving CPR and saving people, nobody ever thought something like that would happen to the person that was always there to help everybody else. You never know.



It was crushing being at the funeral, somehow years had passed and this energetic little boy I remembered was now a grown man lying in his coffin. His Mom, not much older than me, was standing there with iron gray hair and iron will, trying to hold it all together. Gray hair, when in my mind we are still kids and she and her sisters are laughing and running in the sun. She is one tough lady, but sometimes it takes more than just tough. May God be with all his family in the times ahead. He was a good man.



Incredible how a single mistake, a fraction of a second can change everything forever.

 

[Bob Wagner]

sorry to hear of your loss

 

[Jumbo Jet]

Sorry to hear of your loss.



Years ago when I was a teenager, had two friends that had a head-on at 65MPH.



The box-end of a combination wrench lying in the trunk penetrated the spare tire in the trunk of their car.



Needless to say, all the occupants of both vehicles did not make it. I wish I still had the picture of that spare tire.

 

[michigandon]

Sad thing to hear.



And to think that I hauled a 6BT home in the back of a '68 Dodge A018 van...

 

[EMD Diesel Power]

Same thing with stereo rigs too... .



granted, most of us know how to tie down subs, or the housings for em, but you'd be surprised how many housings are just floating free.



Just like the bottle jack, or something as light as a wrench..... mass in motion stays in motion. Just look at a train wreck---- and just how far the little *wheels* fly sometimes. same principle. Those runaway lumber cars at (Commerce or Industry CA??? It was UPRR) come to mind... covered everything for 80 yds on both sides of the track in nothing but lumber.



Tie em down... . keep em down. A good wreck is when nothing leaves the trailers or storage areas.



Jeff

 

[Alphacowboy]

While we're on this subject, here's another story to emphasize the importance of securing your load (you are liable for it, you know). Up here in the Seattle area last year, some guy was hauling unsecured furniture items in an open bed U-Haul trailer on the freeway. A panel from a disassembled entertainment center fell out of the trailer, flew around in the turbulence, and crashed through the windshield of a car driven by a young woman. It went through edge-first and it hit her right in the face. It tore off half of her face and destroyed both of her eyes. She's now blind and brain damaged and faces many reconstructive surgeries. This happened at night and the panel was painted black, so she probably never saw it coming. The guy drove on, and all the State Patrol had to go on was this black panel. They researched who had rented U-Haul trailers recently and eventually caught the guy.

This also serves as another important reminder: Keep an eye out for unsecured loads and don't follow behind them! One time I was driving on a freeway in L. A. with my dad, and I noticed the spare tire under the bed of an older beater pickup was dangling down close to the pavement right in front of me. I told my dad, "look at that spare tire, it looks like it's going to fall out. I'm gonna back off. " A few minutes later, a small car got in front of me and the truck was ahead of it. Sure enough, the tire fell off, hit the pavement, and flew up in the air. The car drove right under it! It then bounced harmlessly to the shoulder. I saw the guy in the truck look over his shoulder and then he looked straight ahead and kept on going.

Andy

this young woman wouldnt happend to just have been married had she?

 

[RDupree]

tie them down

something that i see alot is the motorcycles on trailers that are tied down with those 2 for $12 straps from walmart. a $30,000 harley on a $500 trailer tied down with $12 straps. what are they thinking? sorry about your loss... .

 

[Andy Perreault]

this young woman wouldnt happend to just have been married had she?

I have no idea. Here's a link to a news article about her: http://www.komotv.com/news/story. asp?ID=29946

I thought they caught the guy, but I guess not.

Andy