Driver electrocuted after ignoring barricade and hitting wires downed in storm

PennLive.com ^ | 9 March A.D. 2018 | John Luciew

[lightman]

A driver in New Jersey made a fatal mistake when he ignored a road closed barricade Thursday morning and drove on, only to run over live electrical wires downed by this week's nor'easter storm.

As 6ABC in Philly reports, the driver's SUV erupted into flames in on Summit Avenue and Route 208 in Franklin Lakes just before 9 a.m., as the vehicle hit those live wires.

In fact, the inferno was so bad, the driver had not been positively identified as of last reports.

Fire totally gutted the vehicle, and the driver was pronounced dead at the scene.

The investigation continues.

[circlecity]

2005 sounds about right. I go every year and at my age the exact years on anything starts to get vague. But twelve years ago sounds right about the time.

[flamberge]

Inductive currents. You do not actually need to touch a high-voltage line to draw power from it.

Even a ring on a finger is capable of drawing power from a major distribution line - and from several yards away.

Every piece of wire in that car must have lit up in one instantaneous flash when he drove over the power line. The driver never felt a thing.

[shelterguy]

He may have driving slowly over the line thinking he could get past without a problem.

I have hit plenty of underground wires and gas lines due to incorrect marking. Hitting a gas line sure brings a lot of people in a hurry.

[SirLurkedalot]

If so, it’s operator failed at Dodging reality.

[Right Wing Assault]

That is a thick cable. Fairly high voltage. The cable is burning holes in the asphalt. I've seen it melt concrete. The road, the car, and the tires are probably saturated with wet road salt. I don't think the tires are going to help much. Also, the car has huge openings in the Faraday cage with all that glass.

[cyclotic]

Yea, that wasn’t the only one I’ve hit either.

[Honest Nigerian]

this is so wrong.
the guy should be given a second chance.
Don’t be a mean grump.
he didn’t think the law of electircity (sic) applied to him.
Etc. . . . . . . . Ad nauseam. / sarc

[trebb]

Must have been high tension wires - I’ve seen a downed wire arcing and jumping and banging away - nothing to fool with.

[Ciexyz]

How terrible. Pass on this story to others.

[TangoLimaSierra]

Wow! Is that a Dodge truck?

I think it's a Blazer.

[henkster]

My son went to that race and he got back to his car just before the storm hit. I was at the 81 500 and didn’t get back to the car in time.

[dfwgator]

Shocking.

[circlecity]

I would have been at both those races. I haven’t missed one since 1973.

[dfwgator]

Wow! Is that a Dodge truck? I think it's a Blazer.

There's our winner!

[pax_et_bonum]

EVERY WIRE IS A LIVE WIRE.

Great advice considering that there are lots of live wires at FR.

:-)

[BradyLS]

Signs Schmigns.

[BradyLS]

That officer was almost respected to death!

[KC Burke]

That is only based upon an incidental contact with no wet surface.

If this was a curved, damaged, grounded-in-water, or crossed wire, it could have made contact in one OR MORE places on the vehicle and the entire vehicle became energized.

The caution about not stepping out of a vehicle and grounding it yourself is only good if your vehicle is in contact AND YOU AREN’T YET being electrocuted. LOL.

[fortes fortuna juvat]

>>Won’t make any difference ...

If he’s a Democrat, he will keep voting anyway ...<<

Very astute observation. Funny too!

[deadrock]

A vehicle operates as a Faraday cage for lightening or other forms of electricity.

The rubber on the road is just an unnecessary safety bonus.