On Thu, 31 Mar 2005 16:28:48 GMT, Bruce L Bergman wrote:
On 31 Mar 2005 06:14:27 -0800, jim rozen
wrote:
In article , Gunner says...

After what she's been through, Borgaard said, she isn't too worried
about the car.

Yeah but her cell phone got all wet!

I'm sure all those rescue workers were pleased they
had to fish somebody out of the river because they
were yakking on the phone and just drove off the
road.

You mean all those rescue workers who regularly monitor and
participate in three or four (or five...) radio conversations at a
time?

I don't know any of those, sorry. Dispatch maybe?

Their police or fire department's Dispatch channel, their
Tactical channel, the scanner to pick up what other regional services
are doing (which can count as a dozen or more), and perhaps a CB? And
the AM/FM for traffic reports? And perhaps that little beeping LoJack
receiver even... While /they're/ driving?

(shrug) Dunno. Our radios in the rig are set to scan with priority
on the talk-to-county channel. The driver drives, the guy in the other
front seat talks on the radio. Maybe we just do it wrong?

Been there, done that, still have all the radios mounted in my
LandCruiser - I spent 15 years on a rescue team. I'll take a single
handsfree cellphone call being the sole distraction ANY DAY as far
safer than handling the average Policeman, Fireman or rescue worker's
radio load.

But how much are you really on the radio? It's just noise in the
background for the most part, and the driver isn't doing the talking
anyway. In the ambo, it's the crew leader (or the designated whoever)
talking to the hospital, and in the trucks, it's the guy in the right
hand seat. But maybe that's just us.

The factor nobody keyed in on was that she was driving on steel
bridge deck grating, not normal asphalt or concrete paving. Those
surfaces are as slippery as greased snot when wet, especially in a
light vehicle with a lot of lightly loaded rubber on the road.

Yes. And she was in an SUV, which aren't known for stability in the
first place.

And a normal passenger sized SUV shouldn't be punching through or
going over the guard railings of the bridge and into the drink nearly
that easily - unless she was in a raised-to-the-sky Hummer H2 or Ford
Excretio^w Excursion 4X4 with 33's on it, she should have bounced back
into the roadway.

I noticed the whole "how she got through or over the guardrail" part
didn't seem to get a lot of attention. I would think that if she was
driving with traffic, she should be at a speed the guardrails were
designed for. Dunno. Sounds like not-fun, though.

Dave Hinz