Baltimore Bridge Collapse

[roKWiz]

Sorry to hear the tragic loss of life in the US.

What a mess.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-...iner/103637582

[simon varley]

by all accounts it could have been a lot, lot worse. It was the early hours of the morning, and it appears the ship's mayday, may have allowed traffic on the bridge to be stopped.

[jaydee]

Yep, a real cluster.
Apart from the loss of life, the shipping channel is blocked too.
9 degrees in the water, poor buggers.

[randel]

Tragic…. In this day and age, with all the technology, shit still happens

[FTE217]

Shocking news - imagine in the dark how slowly that monstrous ship slowly slowly just glides into the pylon and crew couldn’t do a thing.
Could have been a lot worse as articles say.
Sorry for the fatalities terrible, road workers some were.
Wonder if any could see it approaching.
Something like 30k new vehicles a day go over the bridge.

https://apple.news/AkTMtFUfkS0mjUbnuTnl_RQ


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[russellw]

It's been a long time (49 years) since the Tasman Bridge and the Lake Illawarra had an almost identical encounter that resulted in twelve deaths, including seven crew on board Lake Illawarra, and the five occupants of four cars which fell 45 meters (150 feet) after driving off the bridge - including one Darwin Award candidate who drove around the HQ Monaro driver trying to wave him down.




Again, it was a fortunate time of day being 21:45 on a Sunday night but there were two people in the Monaro and four in the FB who survived and made the photo above famous!

[Mulva]

I have an unnatural fear of being in a car that is sinking to deep depth, not sure why but likely due to various scenes in movies I am guessing.

My phobia is that great it has got to the point where, before I drive over either of the 2 bridges over the Port River, I will wind down my window no matter what the weather so that I can make a quick exit before car sank too far if necessary. I'd hate to be ****ing around in a panic trying to smash a window with the stem of headrest or similar due to the electrics having shorted, and then not getting out at all or not getting out until I was at a depth where it was dark and I had no idea of what was up or down with possibly too far to get to surface on a held breath.

No, have not invested in a glass breaker as I hope to be halfway out the already open window when car hits the water, not fumbling around trying to reach a tool in glovebox or console that may have moved through the impact

[HIPO]

Originally Posted by Mulva

I have an unnatural fear of being in a car that is sinking to deep depth, not sure why but likely due to various scenes in movies I am guessing.

My phobia is that great it has got to the point where, before I drive over either of the 2 bridges over the Port River, I will wind down my window no matter what the weather so that I can make a quick exit before car sank too far if necessary. I'd hate to be ****ing around in a panic trying to smash a window with the stem of headrest or similar due to the electrics having shorted, and then not getting out at all or not getting out until I was at a depth where it was dark and I had no idea of what was up or down with possibly too far to get to surface on a held breath.

Had a friend that met his end, just as described & right there............

[Mulva]

Originally Posted by HIPO

Had a friend that met his end, just as described & right there............

Really sorry to hear - for you and particularly for him - and really very sorry for my post bringing back those thoughts/memories, though I suspect news coverage of this had already done that to you

[HIPO]

Originally Posted by Mulva

Really sorry to hear - for you and particularly for him - and really very sorry for my post bringing back those thoughts/memories, though I suspect news coverage of this had already done that to you

He used to take a short cut on the City side of the wharves at night & stuffed up......... his wife used to tell him not to go that way, as she had bad thoughts about it!

[FairmontGS]

Originally Posted by russellw

It's been a long time (49 years) since the Tasman Bridge and the Lake Illawarra had an almost identical encounter that resulted in twelve deaths, including seven crew on board Lake Illawarra, and the five occupants of four cars which fell 45 meters (150 feet) after driving off the bridge - including one Darwin Award candidate who drove around the HQ Monaro driver trying to wave him down.

image


Again, it was a fortunate time of day being 21:45 on a Sunday night but there were two people in the Monaro and four in the FB who survived and made the photo above famous!image

This HQ Monaro's auto transmission casing saved an entire family

According to Frank, the only thing that stopped the car from tipping over the edge was the casing of the automatic transmission, which grinded and gripped into the surface of the bridge.

“If it was a four-speed [manual], we’d have all died!” he joked.

https://www.carsguide.com.au/overste...e-family-66872

[Trendseeker]

Originally Posted by Mulva

I have an unnatural fear of being in a car that is sinking to deep depth, not sure why but likely due to various scenes in movies I am guessing.

My phobia is that great it has got to the point where, before I drive over either of the 2 bridges over the Port River, I will wind down my window no matter what the weather so that I can make a quick exit before car sank too far if necessary. I'd hate to be ****ing around in a panic trying to smash a window with the stem of headrest or similar due to the electrics having shorted, and then not getting out at all or not getting out until I was at a depth where it was dark and I had no idea of what was up or down with possibly too far to get to surface on a held breath.

No, have not invested in a glass breaker as I hope to be halfway out the already open window when car hits the water, not fumbling around trying to reach a tool in glovebox or console that may have moved through the impact

That reminds me of an accident several years ago where a car plunged into Cooks River near Sydney Airport.

The driver had just picked up a new boat from Taren Point and was towing it home. As he approached the bridge at Cooks River on General Holmes Drive he was distracted and then had to brake suddenly when the car in front slowed.

Rather than taking the collision, he swerved to the left where there is a side street that runs along the grassy area at the side of the river. There was only the footpath and a small log fence between the side road and the grass, which runs down a steep slope to the river. He went straight through the fence, down the slope, off the breakwall and into the river.

You can read the newspaper story here.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/no-e...26-gdsnp7.html

Back then, I drove that road to work every day and saw the spot where it happened and was surprised that they mended the small fence but didn’t put a proper barrier there to prevent another similar accident. It would be almost impossible to stop your car going into the river if you went over the path and down the slope.

Another tragic and forgotten accident.

[hawke]

There has been some speculation that this could be one of the largest insurance claims in recent years.

It will be interesting to see if this interferes with the Australian insurance market.

[smoo]

First thing I thought of was this disaster from 1980 Florida, under similar circumstances.





It all makes sense now.

[mondeomatureguy]

Shocking accident. The first thing that came to my mind after seeing it was the
Tasman Bridge in Tasmania that happened in 1975 that killed 12 people.

I read in the paper that its going to take over 12 months to build a new bridge. i hope they can do it faster then 12 months for those people that need the bridge.

I was still going to high school when the Tasman Bridge in Hobart was hit by a ship. When it happened and because it was at night a guy got out of his car to warn the other drivers and they just drove right past him and over the edge.

They had the two cars that did stop hanging over the edge in the newspaper the next day. one was a EK Holden station wagon and the other was a New Holden Monaro.

[HIPO]

& another.....

https://www.news.com.au/finance/mass...8f3773e2c3621b

[fatgas]

Another power loss...

[simon varley]

well, this dropped out of the news cycle pretty quickly...

[simon varley]

Originally Posted by fatgas

Another power loss...

I'm sure it happens all the time

[HIPO]

Originally Posted by simon varley

I'm sure it happens all the time

Yeah apparently so. Probably see it more often now, with the penny pinching in so many industries.

[prktkljokr]

The focus is profit, Quality and safety takes a back seat, its funny how many accidents , safety and quality issues are happening to major world businesses of late, Boeings falling apart, Toyota and Ford in court over faulty cars and many more, save a dollar here and make a profit there attitude.

[jaydee]

Originally Posted by simon varley

well, this dropped out of the news cycle pretty quickly...

You're right, someone used a homophobic slur in the footy, leading story on every news channel.