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Post by Cranky on Jul 27, 2010 19:42:05 GMT -5
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Post by Skilly on Jul 28, 2010 7:20:34 GMT -5
Please tell me that the most gruesome of those accidents were fake .... some were really disturbing.
November 1, 2001 (my parents anniversary coincidentally enough), Labrador... isn't it funny how you always remember the date of terrible things. I was due to go on a turn-around back home on November 2nd to see my fiancee (now wife). I hadn't seen her since September, and the last time I was home, 9-11 was throwing doubt into air-travel.
I wanted to ensure that before I left the project I was managing , that everything that needed to be done or look after was pretty much taken care of. It was a cold Thursday morning, we had some frost and I had gotten word that the crew I sent out to conduct a survey on the river (and island in the middle of the river) was out sitting in the van for the past 2 hours doing nothing. I was a little miffed, and drove out (26 km over unpaved gravel road) to see what was the problem. Upon arriving, I immediately saw the problem, the boat and operator I had hired were no where to be seen ... which miffed me more since I recently hired the guy. I wanted this work done before I left, the alignment had to be right, so I stormed back into town ....
... well there was a steep hill that I had to get the truck up over, and I felt the tires spinning over the smaller hills, so upon approach to the larger hill I increased my speed. The road was closed, only open to contruction traffic, there was ice on the road and looking back I still don't think I would have made it up the hill that day without speeding up. When I reached the crest of the hill, I applied the break to slow down and yes I applied the break before seeing the obstacle in front of me, but the vehicle just kept sliding on the ice and down the other side. I had three options. Turn the vehicle left into the guiderail and possibly roll the vehicle down a 6m rock fill... turn the vehicle to the right with the same results as the left .... or hope the breaks kicked in before I slide all the way down the slight grade and crash full board into the back of a moving excavator that was travelling in the same direction I was right in the middle of the road. I chose option C, and he didnt even feel it. My head struck the window, the cabin crushed in, ... it was a good 5 minutes before I came to my senses and kicked the door open and flagged the operator down (who had travelled a 300 meters or so without noticing). When he looked back and saw the wreckage he says "How did you survive that?"
How the tracks of the excavator didn't pull me under, I don't know .... I only sustained minor bruises and a concussion and it taught me a valuable lesson that day.
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