Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse

All the accusations of contaminated fuel seem to have been premature. Looks like elec problems getting the blame.

 

Truck -v- low bridge?
What would prevent that?

Tanker trucks already have to have a haz-mat rating.
Perhaps instead of increasing regulations on trucks we ought to pay some attention to drivers?
Probably worthy of a seperate thread, but the root cause for both incidents are caused by the same thing....

Trying to move stuff on the cheap.

 

It might not stop it, but punishment that actually hurts might make others more cautious

 

An article today suggests reckless driving of a passenger car may have been the precipitating factor.

 

possible, there's a lot of reckless driving going on out there, and very little enforcement

 

Where did that suggestion even come from?

 

Accidents like this are often a Rorschach test.

An accident in my beloved home state of Indiana drew the ire of the 'hate trucks first' crowd.


Then?
EVangelist critics found out that the accident was REALLY caused by a stalled electric vehicle that set off the chain of events.
---Perhaps a case of a BEV owner not passing the IQ test mentioned elsewhere in this forum?????

As it turned out?

No.
Eventually, the TRUE CAUSE of the accident came out as a pickup truck driver with a record of traffic violations and an already suspended license exceeding the speed limit while weaving in and out of traffic.
This person struck the stalled "electric" vehicle that may have suffered a mechanical, or whose driver just um....ran out of fuel.
The P/U driver then crashed into the semi, which traveled off the road and through the railing.
I'm told that there was a lot of people who were hating on the BEV driver for running out of amps on the bridge, and while some criticism of THAT driver is warranted it should be noted that the same chain of events would have ensued if a Hummer H3 had run out of fuel or (more likely) just stalled on the bridge.

I made the mistake of reading the actual AP article cited in the thread de-railment.

 

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse and recovery in Baltimore - WTOP News

 

Now I see. Not this bridge, but other bridges and powerlines 'discovered' by truckers making their own detours.

 

...sixth and last missing body recovered in Baltimore yesterday

 

I heard in one of my left coast podcasts that if the bridge collapse had happened locally there would have been no fatalities - because NOBODY out there is fixing potholes!!

 

Hispanics and other immigrants are the only ones doing manual labor anymore.
Americans want their kids to go to college and get a good low paying job, along with a ton of debt the taxpayers can wipe out for them.
We’re no fools

 

we have enormous diversity here in Northern Va. From all over. Probably 45-50% of homes do not speak English at home. I think it was 45% they said when COVID hit. COVID was most devastating for the Hispanic community here, not sure exactly why except they were the ones being working, is part of it. We have the computer cloud a little west of here, and that has large immigrant tech experts. It's not really a cloud its a bunch of buildings that consume huge amounts of electricity. Your internet electrons go thru here first. Massive industry for us. I am trying to think of a slogan, like Your Trash is our Cash. How about Your Spam is our Bread and Butter?

 

iduno .... must be area specific. Our family physician Dr Ramirez is mexican. My ex law partner Gabe Martinez - imigrated to USA from Mexico city at age 12. One of my bosses before retiring and member of our wedding party Rudolpho - Mexican
etc
perhaps it's more an area/ poverty thing rather than a race thing. Our daughter lives in a Nashville suburb where to the South there is a huge but poor Somali immigrant area. So driving around there - you may see a lot of Somali labor available. Our less financially fortunate areas here in Montana are largely native americans. So there's a noticeable uptick of Walmart workers there.
Detroit Cab dtivers? you notice.
Simple obsetvations

 

not sure i understand. where do you find americans doing manual labor?

even our city and town workers are mostly immigrants now. they might be citizens in some cases, but they are first generation.

 

By native americans, I think he meant Native Americans or First Nations, at one time called Indians.

The rural community where I grew is still mostly a white monoculture, so they are still doing most of the manual labor. People with more recent and diverse immigration histories are slowly filtering in there, but nowhere near enough to cover the bulk of manual labor. Why would many go there when most can find better economic opportunities where I am now?

 

Our laborers (gardening - roofers - trash service - lawns - snow shovelers - contractor's helpers - resteraunt busboys - u.s.mail - waitresses - dishwashers etc) around here are still all fluent English speakers. Living in a bubble i suppose.
.

 

maybe i'm in the bubble, idk. i can only vouch for eastern mass (where most laborers are brazilian) and parts of florida (where most laborers are not fluent in english)
perhaps if you are in relatively poor area, americans still do manual labor?
watching home remodeling shows in many parts of the us, most laborers are not fluent in english.

 

Everywhere I look.
I occasionally (daily) have to climb ladders and string wire and fiber. I "own" four offices. That means I am responsible for everything that goes on inside those four walls which...yes....means I also sweep floors, empty trash and mop occasionally.

It's not as glamorous as those who polish chairs with their backsides, but there is some nobility if not at least dignity in performing manual labour.

This is not limited to Americans.

Immigrants ARE American - purely American if you understand our history.
This is a land of unbounded OPPORTUNITY.
The OTHER side of that bargain is that you obey our laws (including IMMIGRATION laws!!) and you BECOME at least a "dash American."
We have many many 'dashes' in our history:
German-American.
Native-American.
Japanese-American.
Irish-American.
African-American (like Musk ) and those quite unlike him. Africa IS after all...not a nation but a continent.
AND many MANY others.

We've had civil disturbances in our nation's past because some people think that they have more basic human rights than others do simply because they are a member of the 'lucky sperm' club who were 'naturally born' (as opposed to???)

Do the math.
There have been a lot of truly horrific 'anti Irish, German, and Italian' riots in our glorious past....
Eggs into omelets.
AMERICA's STRENGTH lies in diversity.

The weak and the lazy generally do not uproot themselves and leave their native soil when the storm clouds of history form...