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Driver dies after truck plummets from Bay Bridge at S-curve
San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 11/9/9 | Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer

Posted on 11/09/2009 7:36:46 AM PST by SmithL

Edited on 11/09/2009 8:21:14 AM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]

A truck driver died early today after losing control on the Bay Bridge S-curve at high speed and plummeting 200 feet below to Yerba Buena Island, the most serious collision yet since the new detour was installed, the California Highway Patrol said.


(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: bay; baybridge; bridge; driver; plummets; scurve; truck
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To: jessduntno

I like your thinking... ;)


21 posted on 11/09/2009 7:56:09 AM PST by reagan_fanatic (Hope....Change...Food Stamps!)
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To: equalitybeforethelaw

Houston has a really high bridge & we were traveling with a pickup & 28 foot Airstream when the engine went out just before we got to the top. There was no way to back up & my husband was able to get the vehicle started again & we coasted all the way down the bridge. No way no how am I getting near that bridge again.


22 posted on 11/09/2009 7:56:44 AM PST by jrcats (Well, I never thought there was going to be a worse President than Carter but Obama has him beat.)
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To: beaversmom

Ouch, think I will take the long way around. Did you know the Chesapeak Bay Bridge has drivers available to drive people across? Wonder if this bridge has the same?


23 posted on 11/09/2009 7:57:35 AM PST by equalitybeforethelaw
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To: OB1kNOb
some people just refuse to slow down

My experience in NY (and I don't drive all that much) is that such problem areas here tend to have 24/7 police presence with flashing lights and glowering men in blue, pulling folks over.

I've been told you do NOT want to be stopped by a couple of bored cops..

24 posted on 11/09/2009 7:57:59 AM PST by NativeNewYorker (Freepin' Jew Boy)
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To: SmithL; Pete-R-Bilt; NormsRevenge

This is what you get when a bridge is designed by a group of Community Organizers and not bridge engineers...


25 posted on 11/09/2009 7:58:18 AM PST by tubebender (Santa Claus is always jolly cause he knows where all the bad girls live...)
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To: beaversmom

I was up on the roof of the building where I work to do some patching this past Saturday. It’s a flat roof, but I couldn’t get too close to the sides because it scars the sh*t out of me when I look down.


26 posted on 11/09/2009 7:58:32 AM PST by reagan_fanatic (Hope....Change...Food Stamps!)
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To: equalitybeforethelaw
It's a tourist deal. You have to seek it out. I did it as a kid but was scared as heck. Today, I think I would rather do the scenic train ride at the bottom.

Did you know the Chesapeak Bay Bridge has drivers available to drive people across?

That's interesting. Do you have to pay a fee?

27 posted on 11/09/2009 8:00:36 AM PST by beaversmom
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To: reagan_fanatic

I don’t blame you. How high up were you?


28 posted on 11/09/2009 8:01:40 AM PST by beaversmom
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To: jessduntno
“200 feet is a long way to contemplate your fate.”

I do not know how fast the human brian "contemplates"...but a drop of 20 feet (@ 32 ft/sec/sec) would take less than .55 of a second.

Truly not a long time to contemplate much of anything.

29 posted on 11/09/2009 8:02:21 AM PST by Logic n' Reason (If you always do what you always did, you'll always get what you always got.)
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To: beaversmom

Don’t know, never used it. I just white knuckle it across. Man, what a relief when you are over it.


30 posted on 11/09/2009 8:03:07 AM PST by equalitybeforethelaw
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To: RGSpincich

I go over the S curve every day. There are flashing lights, signs, everything but a speed bump telling people to SLOW DOWN to 40 mph. But you will always have idiots, despite the jackknifed truck, despite 42 accidents that have now included a fatality, that believe they can take the curve at “60 - no problem.”

I don’t know if it’s a peculiarity of Cali drivers (of which I’m one) or drivers in general, but if the sign says take the curve at 25, 35, or whatever, I’m such a nervous nellie I do what they tell me.


31 posted on 11/09/2009 8:03:23 AM PST by Right Cal Gal (Ronald Reagan: "our liberal friends....know so much that isn't so...")
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To: SmithL

The stimulus package at work...


32 posted on 11/09/2009 8:03:43 AM PST by Third Person (Fear is the mind killer.)
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To: beaversmom

Only three stories, but it might as well have been 20. I entered through a skylight, so getting up and down was easy.


33 posted on 11/09/2009 8:04:01 AM PST by reagan_fanatic (Hope....Change...Food Stamps!)
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To: equalitybeforethelaw

Looks pretty, but I can definitely understand the fear.

34 posted on 11/09/2009 8:07:39 AM PST by beaversmom
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To: tubebender

It goes with the ‘No Fault’ approach in California Gubamint.

meshes quite well, eh?

6.2 billion , opens 2013


35 posted on 11/09/2009 8:08:06 AM PST by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ... Godspeed .. Monthly Donor Onboard .. May yur bandwidth exceed your girth)
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To: beaversmom; tubebender

don’t hire a truck driver they’re no better back east than out west...

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/944749/chesapeake_bay_bridge_accident_closes.html


36 posted on 11/09/2009 8:10:45 AM PST by Pete-R-Bilt (To gain a real gage on the economy, watch to see how many MT flatbeds go down the road...)
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To: equalitybeforethelaw

Been there done that. I once crossed the old Tampa bridge. There were two old metal spans. A freighter hit one bcak in 1980 something. There was one span going north and another south. After the accident they kept the one span open going north and south until the new bridge was built.

I made the mistake of going over it. You could see the wrecked span. I was pretty scared.


37 posted on 11/09/2009 8:11:47 AM PST by Frantzie (Judge David Carter - democrat & dishonorable Marine like John Murtha.)
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To: equalitybeforethelaw; Pete-R-Bilt
From the end of the article in post #36:

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge may be an engineering marvel- the longest of its kind- but it is one I have always faced with trepidation.

38 posted on 11/09/2009 8:14:36 AM PST by beaversmom
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To: Logic n' Reason
Truly not a long time to contemplate much of anything"

slightly less than 3 seconds. "one-thousand-one, one-thousand-two, one-thousand-thWHAM".

39 posted on 11/09/2009 8:17:37 AM PST by no-s (B.L.O.A.T. everyday...because someday soon they won't be making any more...for you.)
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To: org.whodat
Was his name Yoder???

No that was somebody hollering, "Yo dere, you alive down dere?"

40 posted on 11/09/2009 8:18:50 AM PST by jiggyboy (Ten per cent of poll respondents are either lying or insane)
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