Wooden van racking in a car accident, scary stuff.

[tbellemare]

I lived in Houston a long time and it was VERY common to see 18-wheelers on the freeways loaded heavily with drill pipe. The port of Houston had incredible amounts of pipe coming in from Japan and it was trucked from the docks to pipe yards all around the city, waiting to be used on drilling rigs.

I once saw one of those trucks that apparently had to stop really fast on the freeway - panic stops from full speed were not too uncommon... I think the coroner had to pick the driver out of the pipe. The load went right through the tractor's cab.

Tom

 

[nickao]

Yikes! And my 16 year old daughter got her first speeding ticket today, 70 in a 55. As  I was not nervous enough.

Maybe I should tell her that story. They don't show the kids the accident vids anymore like when I was in school. By today's standards they were probably not much, but they were gory at the time. We  talked about them for weeks after seeing the movie. Maybe a little bit of that scare needs to be put back into the kids.

 

[vwdave]

I was in an accident in my work van a few weeks ago, there were 2 vans involved. The van I was in had a metal bulk head which really saved my butt. The metal shelving units were ripped out and crashed against the cage moving it about 4". So many different tools popped off the shelves and were flying around everywhere. The other van involved did not have a bulkhead, his tools hit the back of the seats so hard it ripped the seats right out of the floor. He had tools everywhere and I'm glad he didn't have anywhere near the amount of tools I had in my van or it wouldn't have been a good sight.  After seeing his seat ripped out I would never drive a van without a bulk head and that had poorly made shelves that are not securely fastened.

Dave

 

[jmbfestool]

Well I think it's stupid not having a bulk head any way.  My van did not come with one but I bought one and installed one my self after 2days of having my van.    I have always thought its simply to dangerous driving around with no bulk head often vans come with just some bars behind the drivers seat which to me offers no protection and what about the passengers they never get any bars. 

Another great benefit to bulk heads is security  but also heat! your cabin area heats up much faster with a bulk head as your heaters aren't trying to heat up back of your van.

I don't know why all vans don't come with bulk heads as standard I see no benefits in not having one.

Jmb

 

[Alan m]

a friend of mine a few years ago was in a crash in his small van. he had his metal mechnics style toolbox filled with woodworking tools inside the back door and a few chisels put in beside it. head on colision with a small wall (avoiding someone). the tool box went through the front window and the chisels went halfway through the passenger seat. luckely no one else was in it.

i had a scare in my van . i had to stop of a shot  when some one pulled out in front of me. i stuck it to the road  and everything in the back flw up against the bulk head. frightened the be jaysus out of me

never under estemate the forces involed in a crash. every van should have a bulk head. my berlingo has half a bulk head and mesh on the top half. its a pain sometimes if you want to put in a skim bead or tiling trim etc. but at least the tools wont come into the front part

 

[woodguy7]

I used to have an old Astra van with no bulk head.  Me & my mate went off snowboarding for the weekend & on the way home I fell asleep & we went into the ditch doing around 30 mph. Even at that low speed, everything in the back came flying forward & one of the snowboard took my mate in the back of the head.  Serves him right, he was supposed to stay awake to keep me awake  [blink]

Seeing as we are talking about crashes  ;D

 

[Oldwood]

I now like my trailer even more after seeing this video. Even if you have your tools all located in the steel shelving there is always something in the isle & more often than not it is heavy. I used a van for years but switched to a pickup & trailer a few years back.

Gerry

 

[jmbfestool]

I used to have an old Astra van with no bulk head.  Me & my mate went off snowboarding for the weekend & on the way home I fell asleep & we went into the ditch doing around 30 mph. Even at that low speed, everything in the back came flying forward & one of the snowboard took my mate in the back of the head.  Serves him right, he was supposed to stay awake to keep me awake  [blink]

Seeing as we are talking about crashes  ;D

Seems fair  [blink]

 

[Ken Nagrod]

My personal experience.  Around 8 years ago I had a woman come to a complete abrupt stop in the left lane of a highway, directly in front of me.  She wanted to u-turn through the median.  We were doing at least 50mph and I crushed most of her car with my big *** van.  The only damage to my van was the left corner of the bumper went into my tire and was rubbing.  The shelving units I had, I made out of heavy gauge aluminum.  I didn't have any protection between the shelving units and the front seats.  I had a lot of tools on those shelving units on both sides that ran the full length of an extended van.  Nothing hit me or the seats and the aluminum gave under the force, only distorting while still remaining attached and fully intact.  I believe that's the only reason my story differs from others - aluminum.

 

[AlexThePalex]

We were doing at least 50mph and I crushed most of her car with my big *** van.  The only damage to my van was the left corner of the bumper went into my tire and was rubbing. 

You were very lucky then. Seems the vast majority of the energy of the crash dissipated into the woman's car.

 

[RONWEN]

Finally, that cheerful music accompanying all the destruction in that test was just downright creepy.  [blink]

You Only Live Twice

I'm sure there's some irony in that selection....

Shaken, not stirred!

A bit of trivia -- In the movie "You only live twice" the actor (that got the knife in the back) screwed up his line and said "that's stirred not shaken, correct?  Bond agreed.  [huh]  Every other Bond movie got it right.  [smile]