Posted on 05/04/2012 2:07:48 PM PDT by GOP_Party_Animal
DETROIT LAKES, Minn. - Detroit Lakes High School students — who had gathered to watch a pre-prom auto accident drill Friday morning — were shocked to see an unmanned fire truck slowly accelerate down the street and plow into two cars that were staged for the mock crash, injuring several people.
Authorities said nobody appeared to be injured very seriously (although several were taken to the emergency room at Essentia Health-St. Mary’s to be checked out) and mechanics are examining the truck to see why it malfunctioned.
The crash occurred at a low speed, perhaps 5 mph or less, but the weight of the fire truck caused the chain-reaction accident, said Detroit Lakes Police Chief Tim Eggebraaten.
The mock crash started out as planned, with student actors portraying the aftermath of a drinking and driving accident on Madison Avenue near the high school, which is a fairly level street.
There were two cars involved in the mock accident — the first with a family of three and the second with five young people in it.
Emergency personnel were dispatched to the scene, and soon after, it turned into a real accident.
(Excerpt) Read more at inforum.com ...
How many were hurt by the swarm of tort lawyers bolting for the hospital?
I always get the creeps when the police/nanny state runs these “realistic” drills. DHS is going to release bacteria on a boston commuter train to run a response drill. The bacteria, they say, is perfectly harmless...
Somewhere, someone is face-palming...
the medical/charitable complex?
A friend of mine had his car damaged in a similar incident.
His neighbor was moving cars around, and left one idling with the transmission in D and got out of the car and started walking towards the front of car. The car started rolling, the open door knocked the guy down, and then the car rolled into a parked car that then smacked my friend’s car.
He saw the whole thing from his bathroom window. When his insurance agent was taking the report, he was asked, “what were you doing when the accident occurred?” His reply, “blow-drying my hair.”
I operate a fire engine. My personal rule check parking brake and transmission twice then set wheel chocks.
Man-card revoked.
/johnny
Then it's less an accident than a fender-bender. I've hit things on a bicycle going faster than that.
More media hyperbole.
F=M*V^2 They did teach that at culinary school.
/johnny
It’s refreshing to hear something asinine coming out of a locale named Detroit and for once, it’s not the Detroit I live near.
The one that kills you is conservation of momentum: m1v1 + m2v2 = m1v1' + m2v2'
/johnny
Or re-learn them.
/johnny
It’s not the speed or distance of the fall, it’s the sudden stop at the end which kills you.
Notice that it’s the SQUARE of velocity, while it’s linear with mass. Someone inside a car that’s hit by a cement truck at 5 mph is probably pretty safe, although I’m sure the car is going to get bent.
How many tons does a firetruck weight? A full tanker’s probably heavier than a hook-&-ladder, is it? Just asking. And thank you for your service.
“...swarm of tort lawyers...”
Get the RAID Bug-Spray, Helen!
Whoa there, I used to have hair down to mid-back in high school, and I blow dried it daily; it only took 15 minutes and it was finished.
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