[AT] sharp turns with a baler

[Cecil Bearden]

A few years ago I was South of Stillwater, OK  on US177,  a 4 lane hwy  
construction zone diverted to 2 lanes.   Traffic was moving at about 
45mph.  A Dodge 3/4 ton was coming up fast from behind and passing cars 
behind me.   It passed me and then tried to pass the 2nd car in front of 
me.  When it pulled back into the lane of traffic, a mid sized Honda car 
hit the Dodge just in front of the left rear wheel with the left front 
bumper of the Honda.  Immediately, the Dodge pickup tail went in the 
air, and  the truck pivoted 360 deg about the left front corner and came 
back down sitting in lane of traffic. By this time I was in the borrow 
ditch next to the fence!  The drive shaft was in the opposite ditch.

I checked on the drivers of both vehicles, and the Honda driver was 
shaken, the Pickup driver was pissed and calling her husband and telling 
her kid to pick up all the Cd's and tapes that were in a rubbermaid 
container in the back of the pickup.  I noticed a used dealer tag on the 
pickup.  She had just traded the pickup and was in a hurry to get home.  
The Honda was driven by a lady with 4 kids in the car.  I had a fellow 
engineer with me, but he missed the real exciting part of the wreck.    
I made a quick investigation and found the drive shaft was one piece and 
it was a long bed truck standard cab.  The drive shaft pulled out of the 
transmission when the Honda hit the left rear wheel.  The long drive 
shaft stuck in the new soft asphalt ( remember construction zone) and 
pole vaulted the rear end of the truck in the air.   I wish I had one of 
those dash cams back then.

Cecil in OKla


On 6/30/2017 9:44 AM, Ralph Goff wrote:
> On 6/30/2017 5:19 AM, Dean Vinson wrote.
>> Ralph, yikes, that broken spinning shaft could have made for a bad day
>> indeed.   Glad you got it shut down before anything else happened.
>>
>> Dean Vinson
>> Saint Paris, Ohio
> I guess it helped that the baler has a very short telescoping front
> shaft. I still can't believe it
> didn't even dent the shield when it came apart.
>>
>> Ralph in Sask.
>>
>
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