1000lbs, a steering wheel, a plumber, and a head-on collision=?

[Vince the Plumber]

when i worked in montreal i was cleaning, organizing, and stocking my assigned work van.

while i was doing that i noticed the bins located directly behind me weren't all that beefy. in other words, cheap and cheap.

i didn't give much thought until one day a crazy driver down there decided to try and "beat the train". i almost t-boned him. good thing i'm a defensive driver otherwise i wouldn't be telling you this story.:D

after that experience i started to think to myself about what just happened and the big picture, again.:scratchhead:

i say 1000lbs because i figure there was about 500lbs of stock behind me X 2g's of force just for the sake of argument.

i also figure that amount of force would cut me in half when the fittings and i met with the steering wheel in a head-on.:eek: i myself would have used an anchor system for the bins JUUUUUST a little more NASCAR like.

three things happened that day;

1 - i drove even more deffesively

2 - i never drove that van with my seat belt on so i would have at least a fighting chance of moving over if i had the time

3 - it happened to me so i could share this story with you and hopefully, prevent a needless tragidy.

Vince:)

[Fireguy97]

I used to work for a service company. The tech’s were given vans and commercial shelving for the vans. We had one guy, really good guy, very efficient. He was supposed to get commercial shelving that the company would have paid for. He thought he was doing the company a favor and trying to save the company some money. He built his shelving out of 2x4's and plywood. No one even thought to look in his van. He came to a stop one day in the middle of the road. The car in front of him stopped to let a family of ducks walk across the road. He was slammed from behind by a driver that was arguing with his wife and not paying attention to the road. My guy was off of work for almost a year because of back strain and spasms. His injuries came from equipment hitting him because he didn't have a steel restraint cage protecting the cab of the van from the storage area and contents. He has one now.

Mick

[Vince the Plumber]

I used to work for a service company. The tech’s were given vans and commercial shelving for the vans. We had one guy, really good guy, very efficient. He was supposed to get commercial shelving that the company would have paid for. He thought he was doing the company a favor and trying to save the company some money. He built his shelving out of 2x4's and plywood. No one even thought to look in his van. He came to a stop one day in the middle of the road. The car in front of him stopped to let a family of ducks walk across the road. He was slammed from behind by a driver that was arguing with his wife and not paying attention to the road. My guy was off of work for almost a year because of back strain and spasms. His injuries came from equipment hitting him because he didn't have a steel restraint cage protecting the cab of the van from the storage area and contents. He has one now.

Mick

he's lucky he's still alive to have a sore back.

that kind of stuff makes me cringe.

Vince

[killavolt]

If you were traveling at 30 mph and came to a stop after impact in about 0.2 seconds you would have about 14.5 G's times your 500 lbs. or about 7,100 lbs. of force coming at you from the material behind you. Instead of leaving your seat belt unfastened you might have invested in an ejection seat.;);)

[Vince the Plumber]

:d