Be Safe

[rob love]

Originally Posted by Alex Blair

Rob
'This has to be you....

Yes, that was (and luckily still is) me. I looked to the right and there was a locomotive heading down the tracks. It was cloudy out, the short train was mostly silver, and somehow it had not caught my attention until then. I locked on my brakes but was pretty sure I was either going to stop on the tracks or else hit the side of the train. So I gunned it and hoped for the best. Here was the result:



You can see where my car caught air and bent the bottom corner of the train crossing sign. Not sure where the ride went from there, I think I may have spun in the air once before the car hit the ground and headed down the ditch. I was quite happy to walk away from the car, and noticed my tools laying all over the road. I picked them all up and brought them near the car. Some ladies pulled up and I wanted them to just call the RCMP and not 911, since it was not an emergency in my books. I went to meet the train crew who were relieved that it was not a fatality. I then went and disconnected the negative terminal on my battery, knowing the rescue guys would cut them. The first volunteer fireman showed up and wanted me to sit and he would hold my neck in case of spinal injury. I did not want to, since I thought it was pointless at that time, but he seemed like a nice fellow so I did. When the ambulance showed up they were going to put on a neck brace and put me on a board. I told them they were blowing this way out of proportion, and if they insisted I would refuse treatment. So they gave me a quick checkout in the amb and released me. During this time one of the fireman snuck down and cut the positive battery cable, for what reason I do not know.

A policemen from CNR had driven out all the way from Winnipeg and was also relieved it was not another fatality. He had been to 59 fatality's in the 10 years he had worked there. He was actually quite a nice guy, but had to do his job and wrote me a ticket. He also said to me that he felt I made the right decision since I was still alive.

I had called my friend Dirk who was heading to Wpg and he came and got me and drove me home. Before leaving, he held the cables onto the battery and I recovered my Johny Cash CD from the player. I also had called my wife to tell her that I was fine but that the car had been written off by a train.

By the time I got home I was stiff to the point of not being able to get out of the truck. Chest strain from the seat belt, a twisted ankle, and for most of the week, a very stiff neck. But not a scratch on me.

I'll miss that car, it was a 2007 Honda Accord EXL with navigation system. But it is just a car, and I have more. Unfortunately my clean driving abstract will go down the toilet.

I apologized to the train crew for putting them through that, especially the two guys in the locomotive. I also felt bad for the passengers: they were still there 2 hours later when I left. I think they were removing some part of my car from the front of the train.

Funny thing is, I wasn't in a hurry, wasn't speeding, just for some reason I did not see the train. I guess when it is your time, it's your time. I looked at the ditches after the crash, and had I gone into the right one, I would have struck a solid cement culvert. The left side may have worked out better, but it was pretty steep, and there were railway ties there. Anyway, I made a decision, and I'm still here. A little sore still, but getting better every day.

Am I more aware of railway crossings now? You want to believe it.

[Harry Moon]

I'm glad you survived Rob, many don't. My union participates in a lot of awareness campaigns but sadly nearly every day some where in Canada someone is struck and killed by a train. Sadly the 19 year old son of one of our western Command members was killed only last december by a passenger train while out on his mountain Bike.
Be careful, we all take some risks but lets think of the consequences.
Dieing is only one outcome, there is worse.

[cantankrs]

Originally Posted by Harry Moon

I'm glad you survived Rob, many don't.

Be careful, we all take some risks but lets think of the consequences.
Dieing is only one outcome, there is worse.

Hi Rob,

Even though you're on the other side of the world and we've never met - I'm glad you've come out of it reasonably well.

Maybe the Firey chopped your +ve lead so you couldn't try and drive home..?

And Eric, Phil and Harry, Yep I hear ya. I had a 9 inch anglegrinder bounce off my jawbone 20 years ago and some people call me Magneto cos if it's metal and flying it usually gets me! (And cos I attract rusty metal ).
I stopped and reconsidered my situation with that grinder before I began, and it still got me. Improper use of tools is what it boiled down to. Also I can't believe how many people don't wear eye protection, or even dust masks - the latter even when wirebrushing or grinding.

Be Safe and Live Long (to enjoy this hobby. Or should that read 'to suffer' from it? Maybe - but not for the reasons we're discussing here.)

Regards

Alex

[hrpearce]

Phil when I broke my finger I had metal added between two nuckles I gained three pieces of metal and six screws. I still have a finger but the metal shore gets cold in winter

[NORTH-SHORE(CANADA)]

Hi,
Wow i won't complaint about my foot your a luky guy after this did you went and buy a 6/49

[rob love]

Originally Posted by Harry Moon

Dieing is only one outcome, there is worse.

That thought crossed my mind afterward. But it is what it is and I am still here, and not much worse for wear. A little wiser mind you.

Originally Posted by NORTH-SHORE(CANADA)

Hi,
your a luky guy after this did you went and buy a 6/49

Nope, I am pretty sure I used all my luck that day.

The train sliced through the trunk. But since I was moving forward, it actually left the left taillight undamaged. The rear window was blown out. My wallet was actually thrown from my top pocket into the back seat.

The only thing I bought from the salvage yard that day was a 8X10" piece of tin for my 5/4 ton. We found that about 75 feet down the ditch. I also had a hammer in the tool bag. I suspect the momentum must have been higher on that item as we never did find it.

Both side airbags deployed, along with a little airbag in my seat. I don't think I contacted with them, as I was pushed in to the middle of the car by the spinning momentum. The center console was pushed over on it's mounts.

[maple_leaf_eh]

North Shore - ouch!

Rob - phew!

Although I have not yet been injured working on my Jeep, I can attest to the strange forces during car accidents. After a drunken high-flying trip off a T-intersection into the pucker brush ... I found my glasses up underneith the pedals. Uninjured except for my wallet, which got lightened expeditiously.

[Mike Timoshyk]

Hey Rob,

I just checked with the Advocate.....your number is 17689342097465134....there was a typo.....so your still here!

All the best...

Mike in Windsor

[Greg]

Hi Rob,

Glad to hear you survived the train. I have been a fire fighter for 25 years as a volunteer and full time. I have been to hundreds of car accidents and only a few involving a train. I have yet to see somebody beat the train and survive. You have an angel watching over you.
As for cutting the battery cables, in the Ottawa are we usually loosen the bolt and take them off properly unless the car is right off.

Stay safe.

Cheers,
Greg

[REL]

While I don't have any military vehicles to work on, I do work on a lot of rusty old stuff at times. A North full face mask with screw on HEPA/vapour filters is a must have. Protects the eyes and face, and neck to some extent when you're looking downwards, while keeping the nasty particulates and vapors out. Putting on separate face mask and eye protection is a nuisance, but the North mask with ear defenders or plugs can be taken on and off in a moment. Heavy welders type gloves are a must have with rotary wire brushes, which I use a lot. A leather apron is a good idea too. At 9000 rpm those wires will go through a pair of Carhartt double thickness dungarees at times.

The "zip disks" or 1/16 cutting discs are another favorite tool and they can kill if they break in use. Someone had his femoral artery cut by one a year or two back and bled to death. A leather apron would have prevented that. It's a good idea to keep your head and shoulders, and preferably you whole body, out of the "plane of rotation", because if they break that is the direction in which the pieces are going to fly out.

The neck is an area that doesn't get enough consideration. One of those wires from a rotary brush could easily penetrate an artery in the neck if it hit the right point. That's why I like to keep my head down when using them.

At least have an old furnace fan going to blow the dust away if no mask, or just do like the old fellows did, and hold your breath! That's all pretty obvious
stuff, but we all forget at times and it took me some years to learn the hard way.

Wise to get a Tetanus shot too. The disease is still about 50% fatal if I remember correctly.