This is part of the pass between Argentina & Chile, more specifically Santiago and Mendoza.
[The first is the picture of the pass, the other photos are just random pictures for your viewing pleasure from the last week or so of the school run].
www.flickr.com/photos/125140832@N05/
This road scares the crap out of me in the summer, never mind the winter.
Here is a video, which gets quite boring quite quickly, but is worth watching for the first minute or so to see how close to the edge the truck gets. Do admire the total lack of barriers.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAx81vbIcMM
And here is something even more Chilean, although a few years old now...
A truck loses control and crashes over the edge and lands in the road below. Official recovery service (convenient man in digger) attempts to sort it all out and stands the truck back up.
Sadly, forgets the question of brakes. Cameraman runs for his life as truck runs free and falls off the edge.
Again.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=mx_5DpLDc0Y
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I suppose barriers would spoil the view, especially that one in the first vid where we suddenly see the road laid out below like a rope on the deck of the Victory.
At least the chance of meeting what I fear most - a Belgian caravannist - would be small; probably plenty of equally scary things out there, though.
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>> At least the chance of meeting what I fear most - a Belgian caravannist -
...maybe a Dutch caravanner, though. If you haven't noticed, they get *everywhere*.
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In former Yugoslavia, these types (mainly Dutch and German) are known as "tomato tourists". Meaning that they never spend any money on food or restaurants, they bring all their food with them.
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>> ...maybe a Dutch caravanner, though. If you haven't noticed, they get *everywhere*.
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I've often wondered about that, around the New Forest area (and Cornwall for that matter) I see far more Dutch registered cars / campers than all other European nations put together, never figured out why.
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Two words, Spammers: 'weather' and 'food'. Put 'Dutch' in front of each, experience daily and you'd consider almost anywhere for your holiday provided there was a border to cross in getting there. Although why you'd take your own food - or for that matter your garden shed - with you remains a mystery to me.
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Jaysus jeffing Christos and all the saints. That road is nearly as scary as the A4074 Caversham - Crowmarsh Gifford "13 bends of death".
In the truck crash video there's a lorry in the queue marked "Tozzo". I couldn't agree more.
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>>That road is nearly as scary as the A4074 Caversham - Crowmarsh Gifford "13 bends of death".
Nearly did for me in the '70s. Travelling back from The Highwayman in a friend's car, the truck in front of us deposited two large hay bales on the road in one of the narrow, banked sections. I'm not sure how he missed them (especially given the handling qualities of a Datsun), and if there had been anything coming the other way, I'm sure I wouldn't be posting this now.
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And me, broke my neck in a motorbike accident in the dip. With a lorry. Amongst many other injuries, the scars of which I still carry.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Thu 3 Dec 15 at 11:08
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There's a nice house just been sold opposite what was The Fox on the 4074 - I thought about having a look but then realised I'd rather not spend my life being woken up by sirens, having the road closed outside my driveway regularly and being the first person on the scene every time there are body parts to gather.
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Excitable lot, aren't they.............all that post-plunge screaming at each other in vid 3 !
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All I can make out from the shouting is "PUTA PUTA PUTA", quite understandably. Spanish isn't my strength, especially shouted in vernacular at high speed.
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>> "PUTA PUTA PUTA"
Quite mild expletives under the circumstances. What a terrifying incident... were there any deaths?
I've posted before, in the Other Place and perhaps here too, on the 42 awkwardly-angled bridges on the road from Lagos to Calabar which passes through the Niger delta. Piles of rusting crashed trucks in nearly every watercourse.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Thu 3 Dec 15 at 15:00
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>> I've posted before, in the Other Place and perhaps here too, on the 42 awkwardly-angled
>> bridges on the road from Lagos to Calabar which passes through the Niger delta. Piles
>> of rusting crashed trucks in nearly every watercourse.
There used to be several rusting truck chassis in the stream at the top of the Woodhead Pass. You could stop in the layby, cross the road and look down the 50 or 60 ft sheer drop.
They may still be there for all I know !
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>> Excitable lot, aren't they
Oh yes. Noisy headless chickenism is an art form here.
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>> there's a lorry in the queue marked "Tozzo". I couldn't agree more<<
Not quite sure what you meant by that remark Alanovic, but can I just point out that those guys have more experience, courage and skill than any lorry driver you'll ever encounter in this country.
I take my hat of too them.
Pat
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Note to pedants: Too many OOOOO's, I know but missed the edit!
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And not enough Fs - which is not like a trucker.
};---)
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Pat,
Whatever our differences over politics, if you ever make it out this way I will happily introduce you to truckers who do that route. I am sure one of them would take you along.
However, their approach to risk assessment, health and safety and planning ahead may may you cry.
I am not sure that they are brave, or simply oblivious. They do have a "can do" attitude though, even when its clear to the rest of us that they "certainly b***** can't do".
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I'd love that and I really do admire them for the risks they take.
I imagine they don't actually have much choice though, do they?
Pat
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Well, it depends what you mean. Its a pretty good job to have in the scheme of things so they are choosing the job itself, but freedom to turn down a load, weight or vehicle condition doesn't really exist.
They get paid, they are the lord of their own cab, they control their own day, and they have a pretty good and easy going relationship between drivers.
They are worked pretty hard, they drive too many hours, H&S doesn't exist, and mostly its their fault if anything goes wrong.
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And, to state the obvious, the risks are real. These trucks do fall from time to time.
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"but then down here trucks have rather a lot of accidents."
I found it very numbing in Ecuador when looking down from the edge of the road and seeing the number of crashed, burned out trucks. Mind you, not as numbing as when the bus-driver left his handbrake off during a ciggy-break, and we started rolling backwards down the road! Sheeeeez!
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Thanks Mark, very interesting.
If Bing translation works then it looks as though they at least have a strong union fighting for them.
Had to understand they are expected to stay in their cabs for 24-48 hours for checks to be carried out
I don't agree with unions for us here, all we need is to grow a pair and individually know when to say no, but in their case it is certainly needed.
I loved the red Pegaso rigid. So clean, such attention to detail and a man after my own heart....all his strap buckles on the load lined up perfectly!
Info like that is always welcome and makes us realise how lucky we are here..
Pat
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>> I loved the red Pegaso rigid. So clean, such attention to detail and a man
>> after my own heart....all his strap buckles on the load lined up perfectly!
As you might expect, Patty...I rather liked the bumbly green rigid with the wooden slatted back. I also liked the black Peugeot Farina...Morris Oxford wannabee.
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>> >> there's a lorry in the queue marked "Tozzo". I couldn't agree more<<
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>> Not quite sure what you meant by that remark Alanovic
Hope you're not looking for a personal slight in there Pat, or even a dig at lorry drivers, for there isn't one.
The word merely looked like a common insult aimed at the incompetent in English, and it would be quite applicable to the tozzo who didn't make sure the truck's brakes were applied before righting it. Be that truck driver, a random bloke in hi-viz, the recovery technician or a passing troupe of touring Mexican chefs seeking out new and interesting recipes for preparing alpaca (I'd go with 'kebab', personally). Noting aimed at you, nor lorry drivers in general.
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el Paso de Cristo Redentor - WillDeBeest
