we were quite surprised to hear the radio news yesterday. The lead story was about the tractor-trailer that that flipped over in Chicopee (MassLive.com). It's rare to have a Boston station carry a story, let alone lead with one, that comes in from west of 128.
The newspapers and broadcast outlets got the basics just about the same - how this truck driver swerved to avoid a car that had stalled on the highway, how the gasoline and diesel fuel exploded, the heroics of a passer-by who helped the truck drive escape, the mixed safety record of the trucking company. Overall, it was a scary story that could have been even more tragic.
The worldwide web, in the meantime, finds additional, different ways of looking at tragedy. For example, there is a site called truckspills.com that focuses on the weird and varied stuff that trucks have spilled as the result of accidents.
Then, there's the granddaddy of them all, Bus Plunge.It's been around since the start of the decade and brings gripping and grim tales of buses going off of the sides of roads.It's what the web does best - bring you answers to questions that you didn't know you are too embarrassed to ask.
The newspapers and broadcast outlets got the basics just about the same - how this truck driver swerved to avoid a car that had stalled on the highway, how the gasoline and diesel fuel exploded, the heroics of a passer-by who helped the truck drive escape, the mixed safety record of the trucking company. Overall, it was a scary story that could have been even more tragic.
The worldwide web, in the meantime, finds additional, different ways of looking at tragedy. For example, there is a site called truckspills.com that focuses on the weird and varied stuff that trucks have spilled as the result of accidents.
Then, there's the granddaddy of them all, Bus Plunge.It's been around since the start of the decade and brings gripping and grim tales of buses going off of the sides of roads.It's what the web does best - bring you answers to questions that you didn't know you are too embarrassed to ask.
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Several years ago, we traveled on the Panamerican highway in Ecuador. It had two lanes in either direction, was badly maintained and full of potholes, and had no guardrails to protect against the precipitous drops. In addition to plenty of cars, we saw many pedestrians walking on the side of the road, often carrying wares or leading animals to market.
We saw many cars pass each other, including two cars passing another car up a hill with a blind curve ahead in the mist. Of course, given that everyone traveled at about 20 mph, there weren't that many accidents.
We also saw plenty of passenger buses stuffed with people with packages and anything else (live chickens, anyone?) roped to the top.
And then occasionally, we'd come across a scene in which a large truck would be alongside a cliff, winching up a bus, all its windows shattered.
We don't drive in foreign countries if we can help it, and for good reason, too.
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