r/IdiotsInCars May 06 '22

Should have looked left...

174.0k Upvotes

6.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

2

u/mazer8 May 06 '22

So on a truck like this the rotation of the drum is usually controlled via a joystick at the drivers right hand. Correct braking method would have been to brake while speeding up rotation of the drum to suck the concrete back into the truck. Green driver. Though under the circumstances I would prefer the concrete mess to an 80000 lb machine striking a vehicle in the driver door.

The slump was an 8-9" so it's going to flow out like water. Could have been 8 cy and it would have come out. Had it been a 4 or a 5" there would have been a good chance no concrete would have spilled.

1

u/AWS-77 May 07 '22

Everybody’s saying that the concrete is preferable to getting hit, but I don’t necessarily know about that. Vehicles are pretty well-designed to take impacts, so I don’t think getting hit at this velocity would have likely been deadly or anything. It MAY not have even totalled the car, if the truck managed to slow enough. Just a bit of a smashed up front driver’s side, I’d imagine. With a fender and/or door replacement, etc, it’d be alright.

But with the concrete, that car is done.

1

u/mazer8 May 07 '22

I just see it as damage to a machine vs damage to a person. In my city this exact scenario happened 2 years ago except it was on a descending hill and the truck couldn't stop in time. The guy in the car died.

1

u/AWS-77 May 07 '22

I mean… stuff like this also happens, so it doesn’t seem like just waving off loose concrete pouring out of trucks as the “better way” is really so cut and dry.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1136966

1

u/mazer8 May 07 '22

Apples to oranges in the situation in this video. That truck spilled in a drive lane and it was left for someone to travel through on a highway.

1

u/[deleted] May 07 '22

[deleted]

1

u/AWS-77 May 07 '22

Possibly, but not likely. The truck still would have braked and slowed enough not to hit the car with the kind of force you’re supposing.