US
Bizarre Vid: How Did This Semi End Up Upright On a Houston Freeway?
- Posted on August 10, 2011 at 4:10pm by
Mike Opelka
- Print »
- Email »
Houston, Texas already has traffic issues, but this little accident made travel in the the biggest city in Texas even more difficult today.
A semi-tractor became separated from the trailer it was hauling and that wayward trailer ended up balanced on the highway sign spanning the road. Due to concerns over the sign’s stability, traffic had to be stopped going both directions:
Popular Stories
MSNBC Host Snaps in Heated Segment: ‘What in the World Is Riskier Than Being a Poor Person in America?’ 694 Comments
Does Misstated Marathon Claim Prove Paul Ryan Is Dishonest? (POLL) 662 Comments
‘Jumah at the DNC’ Speaker: ‘Muslims Visited America Prior to Columbus’ & ‘It Was a Muslim’ Who Guided Him to the ‘New World’ 525 Comments
Obama: RNC Like Watching ‘Black-and-White TV’ Because Romney ‘Did Not Offer a Single New Idea’ 364 Comments
Paper Details Obama Admin’s Alleged Secret Note Sent to Iran: If Israel Attacks, We Won’t Get Involved 350 Comments
Faith
This Is the Creationists‘ Response to Scientist Bill Nye’s Viral Pro-Evolution Video Claiming They Harm Children 233 Comments- Pakistani Muslim Cleric Accused of Framing Disabled Christian Girl in Koran-Burning Case Read More
- ‘Made Up Religion’: TV Historian Enrages Muslims, Receives Threats After Producing UK Documentary Questioning Islam’s Beginnings 245 Comments
Meet the Controversial German Imam Accused of Brutally Beating His Wife & Pushing Sharia Law Read More
‘Self-Proclaimed Messiah’ & Unification Church Leader the Rev. Sun Myung Moon Has Died — Here’s His Life Story Read More
Business
President Obama Issues Major ‘Green Energy’ Executive Order Read More- Germany’s Upcoming Court Ruling Will be Huge for the EU Read More
Ford Looks to Beat Toyota for Best-Selling Car in 2012 With This Model 147 Comments
Bernanke & QE3: Here’s What You Need to Know Read More- ‘Extortion’: Why Did the Labor Department ‘Drop the Hammer’ on Oregon Farmers? 300 Comments
Technology
- This Is the Creationists‘ Response to Scientist Bill Nye’s Viral Pro-Evolution Video Claiming They Harm Children 233 Comments
‘TaserDrone’: Hackers Weaponize Quadcopter With Actual ‘Shocking’ Technology Read More
Ever Heard of the Wild ‘Burning Man’ Festival in the Middle of the Nev. Desert? Here’s Your Primer Read More
Stanford Develops Technology ‘Better Than Steroids’ for Athlete Recovery Read More
Have You Pretended to Know What ‘the Cloud’ Is? You’re Not Alone Read More
Submitting your tip... please wait!
Comments (56)
mecanic
Posted on August 10, 2011 at 5:20pmit’s a rock trailer,ok. the p t o went in gear going down the road. it caused hydralic fluild to extend ram-raise trailer in air- andboom there you are. is this kind of crap as important to you as what’s going on in our country. if so GOD HELP US.
Report Post »crazedbanshee
Posted on August 10, 2011 at 5:37pmThis is a news site genius, not just a political site. Showing this kind of news attracts people that would not normally be attracted to the site. And it obviously got your attention
Report Post »Rational Man
Posted on August 10, 2011 at 5:39pmThank goodness The Blaze reported on this and I got some answers from this forum.
I would have been up all night thinking about it!
To heck with the country……….and Mechanic……………………..
Take your medicine Mechanic,…….you’ll be alright…………………….
Always cracks me up when you guys who are so up tight and stuff, complain about simple human interest stories on The Blaze. As if the world is going to end while your reading it. And instead of just ignoring the story and moving on, you have to waste your time and post a bitch. Aren’t you afraid the world will end while your posting?
Report Post »You guys are WAY too up tight……………………..
GIDEON612
Posted on August 10, 2011 at 5:39pmYou are spot on with your comments.
Report Post »Whether it was mechanical or not, the driver would have to be drunk or an idiot not to know what was going on. And second that that this is not an important story as compared to what is going on in this nation, world, and the resources this site has.
Weiners Wiener
Posted on August 10, 2011 at 5:44pmNever pay attention to a poster who misspells his own user name.
Report Post »Hungry_i
Posted on August 10, 2011 at 6:17pmYeah, MECANIC, lighten up. It’s a human interest story, like Barney Frank’s flatulence.
Report Post »Susie
Posted on August 10, 2011 at 6:44pmOh come-on MECANIC !!! As an Ex long-distance truck driver, I was interested in this story, because it is an oddity and it is interesting – just like the myriad of other seemingly mundane things which make up our daily lives are. Yes the sorry state of the union is of paramount importance, but I can multi-task and process more than one thing at a time.
Report Post »Rugnuts
Posted on August 10, 2011 at 7:33pmLOL at WEINER (SIC)
Report Post »Hazetiva
Posted on August 10, 2011 at 9:13pm@ crazedbanshee. You lost your trifocals, eh. Read the first paragraph genius, he’s describing to you how the trailer landed in that position.
Report Post »Ira WIlson
Posted on August 11, 2011 at 11:05amI hear you brother!
Report Post »VotersOfNY
Posted on August 10, 2011 at 5:20pmBush did it. No, the Republicans did it. No the Tea Party did it.
Report Post »ME
Posted on August 10, 2011 at 5:47pmwith out knowing the facts, I am sure the drive acted stupidly too:) :)
Report Post »Doom2022
Posted on August 10, 2011 at 5:04pmIt was the Tea Party/Christian terrorists!
Report Post »cntrlfrk
Posted on August 10, 2011 at 4:58pm‘
Welcome to the unemployment line Mr. Truckdriver.
.
Report Post »Hungry_i
Posted on August 10, 2011 at 7:59pmQ: What is the truck driver doing today?
Report Post »A: Something else.
PleaseStartBrainb4engagingmouth
Posted on August 10, 2011 at 4:58pmone of those ” OH SH_T ” moments … that Truck drivers dread … *shaking my head i really feel for the guy * with the new CDL and insurance regs. he may in for a unexpected carreer change.
Report Post »Eric
Posted on August 10, 2011 at 4:53pmIf I was to guess his pto was still engaged, and lifted the dump bed. The driver should’ve notice , but didn’t. In St Louis about 10 years ago a trash truck hauling a roll off dumpster had the bed raise and hit a overpass. It was a blessing no one was injured.
Report Post »Rational Man
Posted on August 10, 2011 at 5:16pmYou are correct!. The same thing happened here at least once.
Report Post »Also once a driver didn’t make sure the 5th wheel was locked to the king pin on the trailer. The trailer didn’t come loose from the truck till he got out on the highway. Fortunatly no one was hurt.
We also, from time to time, have seen a malfunction of the trailer or driver and the bottom dump on the trailer dumps aggregates or asphalt on the highway. All 20 tons of it!
gsdguy88
Posted on August 11, 2011 at 12:11pmI’m a little confused about the theory you guys have. If the PTO was engaged and lifted the bed as you suggest, wouldn’t the tires in the picture be in contact with the road, or at least at some angle to the trailer suggesting the dump occurred? Wouldn’t you be able to see daylight/ a gap between the trailer frame and the bed if it was dumping? Or does the bed lower if the air becomes separated from the trailer and tractor? Just curious.
Report Post »SpankDaMonkey
Posted on August 10, 2011 at 4:53pm.
Report Post »By the looks of the Ram it looks like it tried to dump……………
Tired
Posted on August 10, 2011 at 4:44pmI hate it when that happens.
Report Post »WestTexasCountryBoy
Posted on August 10, 2011 at 4:43pmLooks like driver hit the power take off lever and it raised the dump going down the road. Drove a dump for a couple of years and the PTO has to be engaged to raise the trailer which would be the only way to get it high enough to hit the overpass.
Report Post »God Bless
Help stop political correctness just tell the truth with respect and honor.
JBT48
Posted on August 10, 2011 at 4:39pmIt is just a case of being too comfortable with the run the truck driver was doing. Would imagine that just back up the road is some road construction where he dumped some dirt, rock or sand, phone rang (or something) & instead of dropping the trailer back down on the frame he rolled on down the road with the bed completely up in the air.
Have seen this before, they usually bounce/roll to the ground if they hit an overhead instead of being stuck up in the air on a sign.
Report Post »Skee
Posted on August 10, 2011 at 4:37pmThat’s what happens when all the illegals shift at once.
Report Post »rainmaker1145
Posted on August 10, 2011 at 4:33pmStrange things happen on this bit of freeway all the time. One time I was right behind (two cars back) a honey wagon that flipped over and discharged its load across all four lanes. They had to bring in a HAZMAT team to deal with it and we were stuck in “it” for hours. A few years ago a trucker wasn‘t paying attention and had the crane he was moving ripped off by an overpass and that got people’s attention as well. Weird…
Report Post »Black Manta
Posted on August 10, 2011 at 4:31pmFox had this 1st and they have a video…
Report Post »Dustyluv
Posted on August 10, 2011 at 4:31pm8-5 it was a driver from Mexico…
Report Post »Platitudes are not the answer
Posted on August 10, 2011 at 4:28pmMy guess is excessive speed was a factor.
Report Post »coryf076
Posted on August 10, 2011 at 4:26pmit was GWB and the Tea Party’s fault….
Report Post »Infringed One
Posted on August 10, 2011 at 4:26pmBush’s fault…..
Report Post »nelan72
Posted on August 10, 2011 at 4:25pmBush did it.
Report Post »Jaycen
Posted on August 10, 2011 at 4:31pmYep. He was piloting the black helicopter with Cheny hanging from a rappeling rope.
I can just hear Bush up in the cockpit yelling, “Yeah! Yeah! Get’im, Dick! Get’im!”
Report Post »Dustoff
Posted on August 10, 2011 at 4:23pmI wonder where it went.
Report Post »Psychosis
Posted on August 10, 2011 at 4:21pmum hello …………
that bar hanging off the front of that trailer is the hydraulic ram used to dump that trailer . it is a dumping bed
it looks like one of two things happened here
1) the driver accidentally raised the bed while driving and it got stuck on the sign or,
2) the trailer was not fully attached to the truck, and when it fell off the front of the trailer hit some bad patches of road and started to bounce …………..obviously quite high. this would be similar if a rear wheel drive truck lost its drive axel from the front . ……………… THINK POLE VAULTING !!!!!!!!!
either way you look at it it started with driver error poor guy
Report Post »JBT48
Posted on August 10, 2011 at 4:42pmThe hydraulic system will not operate while the truck is in motion as it is ran off the transmission. As posted elsewhere, would bet there is a road construction site a mile back & this guy left the bed up after dumping whatever at the site.
Report Post »Rational Man
Posted on August 10, 2011 at 5:25pmThe hydraulic pump for the lift ram runs off of a PTO, (power take off), that is engaged and dis-engaged in the cab by the driver. Not the transmission. And they do work when the truck is in gear and moving.
Report Post »Driver screwed up……big time!
JBT48
Posted on August 10, 2011 at 11:29pmRationalman, the PTO attaches to the transmission, typically there is a separate shaft to spin the gears that drives the hydraulic pump. I do auto transport & have a PTO on my truck to raise & lower the cylinders on the trailer. The PTO will not engage nor operate on ANY vehicle anywhere near road speed w/o blowing both the PTO unit & transmission.
Report Post »gshampton
Posted on August 11, 2011 at 6:15amJBT48, FYI. I drove a variety of trucks with a PTO from a single rear axle, dual axle and Tri-axle dump to a rock trailer/dump bed like the one shown and a walking floor. On each of these units I’ve often forgot to disengage PTO, on the walking floor I did it so often I burned up a $2K or $3K pump, Boss was not happy! Any unit can be driven with bed or floor fully operational as you are driving. I am in no way being smart with you and you sound like you know the working aspects of the pump, I am no “mecanic” but did you ever tailgate a load of gravel up a logging road or someones drive way? The clutch disengages the hydraulics but once you let the clutch out and if your PTO is in and your lever is tripped well… your bed will rise, floor will walk and before I left my PA State job, (PENN. D.O.T.) for other reasons, I raised my bed to high on the salt truck and tore off the revolving light on the over cab protection part of the tri-axle as it made a connection with a fixture much like the one on this news report spanning the highway as I was plowing and raising the bed to get more salt back to the spreader while plowing in tandem with another truck on a very busy State Route 22!. Very lucky it was only the light! God Bless!
Report Post »capecodsully
Posted on August 10, 2011 at 4:19pmAlien magnetic forces or more likely that darn Tea Party again.
Report Post »MoonPie
Posted on August 10, 2011 at 4:18pmWow!
Report Post »The_Almighty_Creestof
Posted on August 10, 2011 at 4:18pm“I tot ise whas dwivin’ a doomp truk!”
Report Post »ReaganBaby
Posted on August 10, 2011 at 4:18pmTry and do that twice
Report Post »Anonymous T. Irrelevant
Posted on August 10, 2011 at 4:03pmOops!
Report Post »sissykatz
Posted on August 10, 2011 at 4:17pmWell that is just strange. OOPS is right’
Report Post »sissykatz
Posted on August 10, 2011 at 4:29pmI’m really trying to decide how that happened.????? I have seen the trailer become unhooked to the tractor, but what caused it to go that high into the air like that?? It didn‘t fall from above it doesn’t look like. Could it have been carrying enough weight that went to the back??? But are’t they made with weight on the trailer more evenly distributed that that would never happen??? Guess not.
Report Post »