Road hogs
A busy motorway had to be closed after a herd of pigs escaped and ran on to the carriageway. The M11 was closed as pigs escaped from a crashed truck and had to be rounded up, reports Sky News.
The southbound M11 towards London was shut after a lorry carrying a consignment of 82 pigs crashed.
Sticky situation
All lanes of Interstate 24 in south Nashville are back open Friday after crews worked to remove an adhesive spilled during an early-morning crash.
Tennessee Department of Transportation crews had closed off the right two lanes of I-24 East in the Antioch area Friday morning as they put down new reflectors. Police said that at about 5 a.m., a tractor-trailer driver moved to the left as directed but moved back into the right lanes before the construction zone ended.As a result, the tractor-trailer driver slammed into the back of a TDOT truck near Old Hickory Boulevard and then pushed the vehicle into the median…
Adhesive used to lay down reflectors spilled out of the TDOT truck and onto the interstate. Crews will be working to clean the adhesive off, a job made more difficult Friday morning, they said, because of freezing temperatures.
Pomegranate juice anyone?
A truck hauling pomegranates crashed on the 5 Freeway Tuesday morning in the Santa Clarita area, creating a traffic nightmare for commuters headed to Los Angeles.The crash, involving two trucks, occurred just north of the junction with the Antelope Valley 14 Freeway at about 3:40 a.m., said Officer Patrick Kimball of theCalifornia Highway Patrol.The load of boxed pomegranates spilled onto the southbound 5 freeway, creating a mess which was blocking at least one lane.
Caterpillar 797 Pics
I’ve had some doubting comment about the size of the broken truck pictured at this post. The size is correct. I’ve watched this truck in action at the copper mines just west of Salt Lake City, Utah, and they are unbelievable even when you see them. Here’s a description of the truck and there is more information at the link in the bottom left of this post.
The Caterpillar 797 was the largest truck of its kind in the world from 2000 till 2001. Its powered by a 24 cylinder V24 quad-turbo diesel engine that produces an amazing 3,400 horsepower. The truck stands at 23 feet tall and 47.5 feet long. The 797 is a whopping 30 feet wide. With the box raised the truck stands almost 50 feet tall.
Eight onboard computers monitor oil pressure, transmission torque, engine performance and tire temperature. The tires on the Cat 797 were especially designed for this machine made by Micheline. They stand 13 feet tall & each tire costs roughly 30,000 dollars. The 797 has an 850 gallon fuel tank or an optional 1800 gallon fuel tank. The truck itself sells for 3.4 million dollars.
via Caterpillar 797 Pics.
Hey, what does this yellow handle doooooooo
[A] novice flier instantly shot through the jet’s perspex canopy and was blasted 100 metres into the sky by the rocket-powered emergency chair [when he accidentally pulled the ejection seat handle]. Experts said the man was lucky to escape unharmed following the bizarre incident, which happened on Wednesday in South Africa.
It is thought he activated the ejector seat after lurching forward during an aerobatic manoeuvre and accidentally pulling on the black and yellow emergency handle between his legs.
via Telegraph.
Turns out that a 400 Ton-Haul Truck Can’t Carry 600 Tons
A Caterpillar 797 Mining Truck costs $3.4 million, weighs 1.38 million lbs., has a 3,370 HP engine and can carry 363 tons. What happens when one tries to carry 600 tons?
via Jalopnik.
Eluding police tip: Try not to be run over by your own vehicle
A police chase in Maine ended when the driver, while attempting to elude police, crashed into a stand of trees, jumped out of the vehicle without putting it in park, and was run over by his own vehicle.
Why, yes, as a matter of fact alcohol was involved. How did you guess?
When taking your driving test try not to park in the DMV building
A person completing a driving exam ran his or her vehicle into the Department of Motor Vehicles building on Castillo Street, causing significant damage to the building.
Neither the driver nor the test examiner were injured in the accident, which happened just after 9:30 Thursday morning, August 27. The vehicle jumped a curb and stopped after plowing two feet into the corner of the building on the south side.
via The Santa Barbara Independent Driving Test Taker Crashes Into DMV Building.
Don’t drink and drive
A man lost control of his pickup truck and crashed into a swimming pool Monday morning in Aloha,[Oregon] sheriff’s deputies said.
Scott Kurico, 46, was driving through the parking lot at the Heritage 185 Apartments when he lost control, said Sgt. David Thompson in a Washington County Sheriff’s Office news release.
Kurico said he dropped his coffee cup and accidentally hit the accelerator. The pickup hit a parked car, went over a curb, crashed through a fence and then careened into a swimming pool, deputies said.
via KPTV Portland.
I-5 Rendering truck spill…slip sliding around
A rendering truck lost its load and scattered animal parts all over the northbound lanes of Interstate 5 on Monday night. Crews said the stench was horrendous.
Troopers said no one was injured and no other cars were involved in the incident, but expected the cleanup to take several hours.
More at KOMO News: Local & Regional.
It seemed like a good idea at the time…
A German who tried to fix his leaky air mattress blew up his apartment instead, the fire brigade in the western city of Duesseldorf said Wednesday.
The 45-year-old man used tire repair solvent to plug a hole in his airbed and left it overnight.
But it blew up when he went to inflate it the next day. “A spark from the electric air pump ignited it,” a fire brigade spokesman said.
The blast pushed his living room wall into the building’s stairwell and caused extensive damage to walls, windows and furniture.
His girlfriend left him behind. What’s a guy to do?
A drunk German sparked a slow-speed police chase after stealing a tractor to get home from a nightclub after his girlfriend left without him, said police, who used pepper spray to try to stop the vehicle.
It took six police cars, pepper spray, a nail strip, bullet holes in the tires, and 40 minutes to stop him.
Oh, and did I mention he rammed a police car and hit another vehicle along the way? He’s going to have more than a headache and hangover to contend with when he sobers up.
via Yahoo! News.
The case of the exploding bulls
Seven bulls exploded and caught fire after power lines fell on a dairy farm in New Zealand.
The incident happened north of Auckland at Wilks Road farm.
Dave Taylor, who leases the farm, said he got a phone call from his father who was driving along the motorway, telling him his cows were exploding.
via Metro.co.uk.
Shouldn’t have had “One more for the road”
A woman in Fremont , Nebraska, managed to do $26,000 damage while attempting to turn into an alley. The first casualty was a fence, then a utility pole, a garage, another fence, yet another fence, a house and another garage.
Police estimated property damage at $26,000 plus another $5,000 to her car.
Yes, alcohol was a factor. How did you guess?
100 feet in the air…watch that first step
A lorry driver had a miraculous escape in China after an accident left his cab hanging precariously over the edge of a flyover.
The truck appeared to be defying gravity as it dangled 100ft above the ground in Chengdu, reports the Tianfu Morning Post.
via Ananova
Foreclosure turned out to be a good thing for this family.
A large boulder tumbled down a Provo [Utah] hillside Saturday and bounced through the second-story wall of a house before crashing through the floor into a basement-level garage…
Neighbor Dave Nagel was working in his yard when he heard a rumbling sound. He looked up to see the rock bounding down the hillside. Nagel said he watched as the rock bounced off the hill and went airborne, crashing through a second-story wall and off the dining room ceiling before smashing a wall and dropping through the floor into the garage. He said the jagged boulder appeared to be 8 feet to 10 feet wide.
More at Daily Herald / Utah Valley Local News.
The house was empty, luckily, so there were no injuries.
That puddle? It’s twelve feet deep, dude.
A Ukranian driver already having a bad day – having taken a wrong turn onto a highway – found it getting a lot worse when he gingerly crept over a water-filled pothole, only to discover it was a 12-foot deep crater…
The driver had to smash his rear window and scramble out to the top to avoid a muddy end, before waiting for workmen to come and rescue his car.
via Mail Online.
About
Oldster’s View is intended to be a news and oddity aggregation site which presents the more unusual or just timely
items. No blood or gore or fatal car accidents or fires or cameras stuck in the face of grieving parents or any of the other “news” that your TV proudly presents. There will be some occasional tech stuff but mostly just general interest items. Links back to my source can be found at the bottom left of each post. Go to those links. It will make the bloggers happy and encourage them to do more. Enjoy.
NOTE: I derive absolutely no profit from this blog and I make no representation as to the accuracy or truthfulness of anything on this site. I am simply passing along things I have found. Follow the link and use your own judgment.
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