Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: WLJ on February 12, 2022, 02:14:00 PM
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Yikes
Unfortunately the news link isn't working
Semi-Truck Wreckage - Wolf Creek Pass, Colorado
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWKr6E-xtOc
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Pretty good footage. Good use for a drone.
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Driver did not survive, unfortunately. The first two times I drove from Phoenix to Colorado Springs, I went the US160 route through Wolf Creek Pass. Very scenic. Not a nice run for big rigs as I remember.
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It's an incredibly beautiful drive but also a dangerous one. Much better now than when it was a narrow 2-lane full of blind turns, long sections of 7%+ grades, few guardrails, and no margin for error, but still a drive that demands concentration and undivided attention. The corner shown in the vid is a notorious killer. It's a hard switchback at the bottom of one of the longest steep grades just south of Wolf Creek Pass. It may only be a few miles of road but it's very heavily traveled with lots of truck traffic. A guy from my hometown died there in the 60's. Truck lost brakes and off he went. Incidents happen often enough that WCP has a dedicated CDOT runoff ramp & guardrail repair crew. For any drive over the pass it's pretty much guaranteed you'll see at least one truck trailing brake smoke.
On the flipside, you don't see a lot of texting and driving. White knuckles and panicked looks, however...
Brad
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I have a friend who fell asleep while driving up through Colorado. He woke up two weeks after the crash in a hospital. Took him a year to mostly recover. They couldn't believe he survived. The roof of his Jeep was sheared off and it tumbled down the side of a deep ravine.
When I get tired I find a place to stop and sleep. I'm not the iron man behind the wheel I used to be, plus they don't sell Stacker anymore :)