Despite dog electrocution, city says streetlights are safe

Seattle P I ^ | December 1, 2010 | VANESSA HO

[skeptoid]

Seattle officials worked this week to reassure people that its streetlight system is safe, after a dog was electrocuted and another injured on electrical vault covers in Queen Anne last week.

A pinched wire and the faulty grounding of four streetlights had caused the dangerous energizing of the metal sidewalk covers, authorities said. A private developer had paid a contractor to install the lights, according to the city, but

[skeptoid]

Vanessa Ho / seattlepi.com
Sam, a 6-year-old German shorthair pointer, was killed last week when he stepped on this plate (right) next to a streetlight on Queen Anne Avenue.

.

In the article, others claim they and their dogs have been shocked.

[Candor7]

Doogy feet on plate, tail hits street light post....DOGGY TOAST!!

KAAAAAzap!!!

Canine switching devices are not very efficient.

I feel a new computer gane design coming on.

Dalk Your Wog!

[Oztrich Boy]

Of course the streetlights are safe. They are defended by electricity!

[Plumberman27]

The dog should have used the fire plug. Lucky this was not down south where the dog and owner use the same pole (fireplug).

[Libloather]

Safe - up until the point the dog explodes.

[Diver Dave]

The dog should have used the fire plug. Lucky this was not down south where the dog and owner use the same pole (fireplug).

I guess the dog really got pissed off (weird humor from a fellow plumber).

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

I’m going to feel so empty if a new law isn’t passed in 10, 9, 8, 7....

But I like the idea of that photo being taken by Vanessa Ho. Every city with electric sidewalks needs women named Vanessa Ho.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

city says streetlights are safe

And now that we've conquered that problem, just wait until you see how we handle health care!

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

I’m still trying to understand how the circuit was completed and what wasn’t grounded. I hear Thomas Edison’s tormented ghost calling “ Ne frusta vixisse vidar”. (”Let my life not be seen to have been lived in vain.”)

[6SJ7]

Seattle City Light said the city's transportation department was in charge of inspecting the project. The Department of Transportation said City Light had final responsibility.

Classic. The person hired to do the job did it wrong. Then the inspector didn't inspect. Finger pointing ensues.

[Candor7]

Yeas, I know what you mean. There was a freak factor in this accident.

Loved your Freeper homepage. So very few of us understand genuinely that the Obama movement is a liberal fascist movement, and what that means for America.Many here on FR think to say so is being distinctly alarmist.It is not. We need to fight them for our very lives, if we must. It will come to that eventually, if we do not stop their evolution.

Great article here:

http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/05/barack_obama_ipthe_quintessentia_1.html

[Issaquahking]

Being ground, and circuit completion, are two different animals...

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Normally a hazard exists when “stray voltage” can find a path to ground through the body of the victim. Yes, if you grasp two leads of an ungrounded transformer, woe be unto to you, but that's not what generally happens. More commonly, the chassis of a piece of equipment comes into contact with an energized conductor. If the chassis is ungrounded and conductive, then if a victim touches (or pees on) the chassis while grounded, by say, standing barefooted on a grounded access cover, a circuit can be completed. It the lamppost was grounded, then the access cover and lamppost would be at the same potential and no circuit across a potential would be completed.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

PS: That was the reason why Thomas Edison was an advocate of grounding all electrical equipment.

[a fool in paradise]

City assures public ZOTs are safe.

[SunkenCiv]

Clearly they need taller streetlights. Thanks skeptoid.

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

I get a charge out of your weird news pings. Been collecting them:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2609314/posts

[Freedom_Is_Not_Free]

YOU JERK!

When I read your hilarious response, I was eating and sucked something into my windpipe and damn near choked! I was hacking for a good 30 seconds straight minimum there. Maybe a minute.

Thanks for the laugh. That was dang hilarious! But my eyes are still watering. You almost added me to the death toll.

“Seattle dog electrocution covers causes asphyxiation death of California man. News at 11:00”.

Dalk your wog, indeed.

ok, I”m still coughing here - no more eating on the interwebs

[Candor7]