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Well I missed the proverbial Bullet yesterday...
retroxler58
Member Posts: 32,693 ✭✭✭
Background information:
Standard Office style 2 Drawer Lateral File... Weight assembled ~150 pounds 'min'
Situation:
I got off work yesterday for the holiday weekend early...
So I'm tooling down I-77 happy as can be listening to the radio and traveling ~70 mph.
I noticed a utility work truck coming up my port side fast enough to pass me...
Figured he was doing about 75 mph
When he slowly passed me... I noticed two things right off.
The driver was quite unobservant of his surroundings...
AND he had a black two drawer lateral file along with a standard four drawer file cabinet thrown in the back.
They did not have the drawers in them, so I figured he had removed the drawers to make 'em lighter.
The file cabinet was leaning on the trucks left bedside and sorta overhanging a bit...
The lateral file was to the trucks right side and leaning on the file cabinet.
The truck got about three truck lengths ahead of me... And Something caught my eye.
I ducked and swerved right... Definitely encroaching upon the right lane.
I looked and seen the black lateral file hit the ground behind the utility truck and start cart wheelin'...
Within a split second the rear wall of the lateral file came off and started spinnin'...
Hitting the ground flat... It spun past and behind my DODGE... Tracking off to the right across three lanes of traffic.
The ballast blocks never left the sheet metal and kept it firmly against the ground.
Several cars split going around the spinning back of the lateral file.
Meantime, the cartwheelin' case traveled a little straighter, but still tracked slightly to the right...
A truck and two more cars almost was hit by the cartwheelin'case... That finally came to rest in the lane to my right.
The driver... COMPLETELY unaware of what just happened... Kept on goin' down the road... [:(!]
Why do people throw stuff... Especially 'LIGHT' stuff in the back of an open truck bed and expect it NOT to come out ???
This morning I wanted to get an idea of what the impact "could have been" had it hit my DODGE...
If I had been behind, rather than beside this knuckle head when the lateral file went ballistic.
The impact would have been near 1500 foot-pounds of energy!!!
If someone on a motorcycle or in a small 1500 pound car been behind him...
Or close enough to have been tagged by a crazy spinnin' metal cabinet about 3 feet x 2 feet x 2 1/2 feet high...
They'd be having the morgue review their ballistic impact regions today. [V]
Here's the calculations I did this morning.
Notice that the fps is increasing... Because the file cabinet was getting slower than the traffic.
But the delta speed between the file cabinet and an unaware car would be increasing.
I figured that it had "slowed" about 15 mph when it hit... And would be impacted by wind resistance of 60 mph...
I think it would have traveled about 100 yards before coming to a rest.
And that's about what I seen happen.
So if a car had hit it just about when it came to a rest... The impact would have imparted about 8000 foot pounds to a car.
In an area of about 8 sq feet... Or 55 psi... Definitely would have done some damage for sure.
Yep... It's just NOT my time. Wheh... [B)]
Standard Office style 2 Drawer Lateral File... Weight assembled ~150 pounds 'min'
Situation:
I got off work yesterday for the holiday weekend early...
So I'm tooling down I-77 happy as can be listening to the radio and traveling ~70 mph.
I noticed a utility work truck coming up my port side fast enough to pass me...
Figured he was doing about 75 mph
When he slowly passed me... I noticed two things right off.
The driver was quite unobservant of his surroundings...
AND he had a black two drawer lateral file along with a standard four drawer file cabinet thrown in the back.
They did not have the drawers in them, so I figured he had removed the drawers to make 'em lighter.
The file cabinet was leaning on the trucks left bedside and sorta overhanging a bit...
The lateral file was to the trucks right side and leaning on the file cabinet.
The truck got about three truck lengths ahead of me... And Something caught my eye.
I ducked and swerved right... Definitely encroaching upon the right lane.
I looked and seen the black lateral file hit the ground behind the utility truck and start cart wheelin'...
Within a split second the rear wall of the lateral file came off and started spinnin'...
Hitting the ground flat... It spun past and behind my DODGE... Tracking off to the right across three lanes of traffic.
The ballast blocks never left the sheet metal and kept it firmly against the ground.
Several cars split going around the spinning back of the lateral file.
Meantime, the cartwheelin' case traveled a little straighter, but still tracked slightly to the right...
A truck and two more cars almost was hit by the cartwheelin'case... That finally came to rest in the lane to my right.
The driver... COMPLETELY unaware of what just happened... Kept on goin' down the road... [:(!]
Why do people throw stuff... Especially 'LIGHT' stuff in the back of an open truck bed and expect it NOT to come out ???
This morning I wanted to get an idea of what the impact "could have been" had it hit my DODGE...
If I had been behind, rather than beside this knuckle head when the lateral file went ballistic.
The impact would have been near 1500 foot-pounds of energy!!!
If someone on a motorcycle or in a small 1500 pound car been behind him...
Or close enough to have been tagged by a crazy spinnin' metal cabinet about 3 feet x 2 feet x 2 1/2 feet high...
They'd be having the morgue review their ballistic impact regions today. [V]
Here's the calculations I did this morning.
Notice that the fps is increasing... Because the file cabinet was getting slower than the traffic.
But the delta speed between the file cabinet and an unaware car would be increasing.
I figured that it had "slowed" about 15 mph when it hit... And would be impacted by wind resistance of 60 mph...
I think it would have traveled about 100 yards before coming to a rest.
And that's about what I seen happen.
So if a car had hit it just about when it came to a rest... The impact would have imparted about 8000 foot pounds to a car.
In an area of about 8 sq feet... Or 55 psi... Definitely would have done some damage for sure.
Yep... It's just NOT my time. Wheh... [B)]
Comments
My best friends wife was hit by a tractor trailer tire and rim. Thank God it hit the passenger side of her Honda Accord. The car was a total and she was not hurt.
I wonder what damage it would have done had it hit a "Smart" car. They're about the same size and weight. . .
I don't think I would have wanted to witness... The 'impact'... [:0]
If you can't Dodge it, RAM it!
Almost DID... [B)]