Driving protip

This is off-topic (has nothing to do with guns) but if you’re one of my Hoosier readers, you probably know by now about the liquid propane tanker that experienced warp-core failure on 465 today.

Protip: if you are driving a truck full of stuff that really, really likes to explode energetically, it might be in your best interests and the interest of your fellow drivers to not drive in a manner that causes your damn truck to flip over, catch on fire, and then explode.

On a note of things that are rad, apparently the driver of the truck was pulled from his burning truck before it exploded by a pair of bystanders.  Let’s pause for a moment reflect on the sheer badassery required to run towards a burning tanker truck full of liquid propane to pull a dude out.  To the heroic passerby, I salute you, good gentlemen.  Talk about cojones.

7 Comments

  1. Apparently the driver of the car behind him was taken to Wishard with severe burns. Which leads me to protip #2: Never, ever, EVER tailgate anything with more wheels than you.

  2. Wow!

    You may remember the time, about ten years ago, when a truck full of “gunpowder” overturned on the Capitol Beltway at the “Mixing Bowl” interchange. It shut down the Beltway in Virginia completely for twelve hours. The truck was carrying several tons of black powder from the factory to a commercial fireworks company in Pennsylvania, if memory serves. The driver just took the exit ramp a little too fast and rolled over, quite gently. No explosion or fire, thankfully.

  3. Those guys must have wheelbarrows to carry their huge mansacks around! You just never know how you’ll react, some run towards, some just plain run.

    The driver was 73 and while I’m not usually ageist, I think it’s a little too old to be driving around something that can obliterate a city block.

  4. Interestingly, tanker fire overpass closures have occurred in Oakland, Bridgeport, Atlanta, Detroit, and now Indy in the last few years.

    “Overpass Closed Tanker Fire” makes an interesting Googlewander.

  5. maybe I am just the naive type, but I believe that most every able bodied man out there would at least try and help out the driver. of course, I am from a small town in west michigan, and was born in 1960, so my belief system is probably different from a lot of people’s . still, I am optimistic about the good in every day people. did I mention that I am naive? I have helped people out of tough spots several times in my lfe, although not as dangerous as this. it is just what anyone would do.

  6. Tam – the tanker fire in Bridgeport, CT occurred on a brand new overpass that had only been up for a week. Fire burned so hot as to melt the structural steel and cause a 4 foot sag.

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