Weekly Safety Tip

[Porsche9]

Just read a story about someone locally that died when his car he was working on fell on him. Don't take chances as it could be you!

[MARTHA]

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Once upon a time I purchased a brand new full time all wheel drive Bronco. I don’t think there were a whole lot of them around because I’ve seen supposedly knowledgable people online swearing none existed until they are proven wrong. The first time I got it out on the highway I realized the cruise control didn’t work. So I took it back to the dealer to have it repaired. I was in the waiting room but watching out a window into the shop. The mechanic put a floor jack under the differential and raised the rear of the truck real high in the air. I realized what he was about to do so I ran out into the shop screaming at the top of my lungs. I ask him are you getting ready to check the cruise control with the rear wheels off the ground and not the front. And he said yes. I said this is a full time all wheel vehicle, when you put it into gear it is going to drive off the jack. He said Ma’am I am a professionally trained Ford mechanic and I know what I’m doing, I do this all the time. So he crawled up into the truck and promptly ran it across the floor pinning another employee into his tool box. I don’t know if he shot the gas to it intentionally just to prove me wrong or if he panicked when he realized what was happening. It just pulled floor jack and all about 20 feet. Thankfully I had stepped to the side because it was clear to me what was about to happen. I only received a little scratch on my Bronco. They took the employee to the hospital, I never did hear how that came out. I think he may have had a broken leg. And possibly ribs. And the idiot professional mechanic ruined his Snap-On tool box, squashed it like a pancake.

[fanguy]

Martha, you lucky and the other tech weren't at this shop

[78F350]

Street Racing

For this weeks safety tip, I'll just link rexcramer's thread:
http://986forum.com/forums/general-discussions/64027-another-reminder-save-racing-track.html

It comes up a few times a year in the forum and almost always gets ugly.

[MARTHA]

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I’m sure my post will be unpopular but me I’m a racer, if you challenge me I’m going to race, thats the way its been for 57 years and its not going to change at this point of my life. Simply put its a risk I’m willing to take. The way I see things is if you try to hang with me down a twisty country lane and you lose control then your life is on your hands, I don’t think I should be held accountable for murder because of a decision you made. Now if I were to kill a child playing in the street or in their front yard then put me in prison for murder I deserve it.

[rexcramer]

Sorry Martha, I am going to take you to task here. You don't get to pick where or when an oily patch on the street pops up. In this case R/R tracks. Gravel, ice, cats, dogs, kids on scooters, wet leaves, etc. This accident happened less than a block south of a high school on the same side of the street. A busy street, smack in the middle of downtown Upland, at 4:30 PM. Fortunately the school lets out at 3:00.

I drove by the crash site again yesterday. The tree probably saved the lives of people in front of the restaurant. Not to mention the front of the restaurant. The store front is +/- 70' from the tree. The dining patio is 20' less. Lets add up the cost of all the emergency personnel that the tax payers have to pay for because somebody 'challenge me' to a race.

In California, we also have laws on the books that convict accomplices, of murder, when someone is killed during the commission of a felony, i.e. bank robbery, home invasion, etc. When caught racing, your car is forfeited. If you happen to cause the injury of someone, it is assault with a deadly weapon. Death comes with the appropriate sentence. It is illegal to be a spectator of a street race in California. Ergo, participating in activities that cause someones death is appropriately charged.

Martha, I mean you no ill will. Risk your life as you see fit. You and I are the same age. I have 11 grand kids. I don't want you, me, or anybody else, to suffer through a loss of a loved one. Thankfully, an old tree kept this carnage from being worse.

'I’m a racer, if you challenge me I’m going to race,' Sadly, this train of thought has cost the life of one 23 year old kid and will seriously handicap the life of his co-racer/felon when they are apprehended.

[MARTHA]

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Yes, you are correct, California is a nanny state. Thank God for Oklahoma!