FLY ME TO THE MOON

[boxcarOkie]

So, you are tooling down the Super Slab, minding your own biz and then you see this:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iEaMr0zpCk#ws

I would desperately want to be somewhere else for sure.  Does anyone know why this thing "double posts a link?"

BCO-CTA

[Lin]

Wait a moment! Don't you have an Eagle?  I thought that's why they called them Eagles.

[belfert]

I'm wondering why the truck burst into flames?  It doesn't look like a tanker in the video, but it is hard to tell for sure.

[boxcarOkie]

Wait a moment! Don't you have an Eagle?  I thought that's why they called them Eagles.

Yeppers, shore do.  It doesn't fly however,  most of the time it is poking along in the slow lane.

BCO-CTA

[boxcarOkie]

I'm wondering why the truck burst into flames?  It doesn't look like a tanker in the video, but it is hard to tell for sure.

Making an assumption or guess, I would say when he hit the guardrail, it ripped off the fuel tanks, and that provided the diesel for the flames.  Just sayin ......

BCO-CTA

[chart1]

It was amazing that the driver lived. It is more amazing that it was caught on video. I think he might qualify for the guiness book of worlds records for longest truck and trailer in flight..

[Lee Bradley]

Heard that he lost control avoiding a car on the freeway; that is the truck going up an off ramp and over a overpass.  The driver's son also survived.

[muldoonman]

E Ticket ride for sure!

[Iceni John]

I sometimes think it may be better to not swerve enough to probably lose control, but to instead rely on the laws of physics and use the bus's momentum to keep going as straight as possible.   However, in the heat of the moment all bets would be off as anything can (and probably will) happen in those split seconds of abject fright and butt-puckering.   I know if I swerve enough to avoid something there's a good chance I'll flip over (or worse), but it's basic human instinct to try to not hit something ahead of you, even though it may result in more collateral damage.   I just hope I'm never in that situation.

I drive at a comfortable speed and VERY defensively when in the bus, but it's those factors entirely out of my control that scare me the most.   I drove 1000 miles last weekend mainly along I-5, and saw numerous examples of car drivers being stupid when near trucks and buses.   Cars even cut me off and behave like idiots when I'm driving my bus, and it's still looks like a school bus for now!

John

[belfert]

I've always heard it is better to hit an animal than to swerve.  I know plenty of people who have put vehicles into ditches trying to avoid animals and in some cases rolled the vehicle.  Now, I might swerve for a cow or other really large animal as a cow can do serious damage.  I know a guy who hit a cow and rolled his car.  Luckily, some folks stopped to help him roll it back on the tires and it still ran fine.

This guy must have turned pretty sharp when trying to avoid the car to end up across the highway like that.  In some cases, you might be better off hitting the car from behind rather than swerving and possibly sideswiping that car or another vehicle.  Obviously, the best thing is to not hit the other vehicle and to keep your vehicle running down the road, but it isn't always possible.

Car drivers do some pretty stupid things around a 67 foot bus and trailer that weighs 45,000+ pounds.  We recently drove from Minneapolis to Reno and back.  We saw more vehicles on the road between Lincoln and Des Moines than we had seen in the past 2000+ miles with the exception of Salt Lake City.  It wasn't even rush hour and it was still nerve wracking driving through Omaha on I80.