tex2670

Comcast worker doesn't provide enough warning of his parked truck (and blindly sticks to dry-weather "guideline" for spacing warning cones)?

Drivers fly over the crest of a hill like it's 85* and sunny?

Amateur consumer advocate continues to film so he can become an internet sensation, instead of just calling 911 to get the cops to take care of the situation?

So much blame to go around...

RXSF

Comcast workers were being jerks, but man, people need to know how to fight their instincts on slamming on the brakes if they live in snowy areas. Pick up truck at the end was driving way too fast, the passat wasn't even going that fast.

mjeds

sorry but the drivers are at fault, utility workers have right of easement, a Comcast cable worker is no different than an electrical company, telephone company, or even city work crew worker. They have the right of way and they are the road side workers and the drivers are responsible for slowing and moving around them.

the truck is there to protect the worker from having someone slam into them.

maybe if people had the correct tires and slow the f down in incumbent weather they wouldn't be sliding off the road. I have no sympathy for them at all, and I side with the workers even if they are being jerks.. it is their lives at risk because some dope is crying about his cable service being out and they can't watch Jerry Springer.

mmarshall

While the Comcast guy could maybe (?) have been a little more co-operative, the main problem (as usual), was people simply driving too fast for conditions, especially on an untreated icy road over the top of a blind crest. Slow down when the road is icy means EXACTLY that....SLOW DOWN, not make excuses why you can't or won't.

TangoRed

Most of the drivers were definitely going too fast, but the question is did the Comcast people provide the right around of notification given they were on the side of the crest of the hill. Many people on different forums have indicated that may not be the choice, which is why the police are still investigating the incident.

mjeds

laws of course vary from State to State on the matter:

In CA it is 1 cone for every 10 miles of hour speed on the road, spaced no less than 20 feet apart. So a 40 mph road is 4 cones for a total distance of 80 feet. We also have a law here (Senate Bill 240 "The Move Over" Law) that requires drivers to slow down by 25mph on a highway, and 15mph on a surface way and if possible move over 1 or more lanes away from the workers, 45 other States have a similar law. The fine in CA is $50 plus court fees and penalty assessment fees, putting the cost at about $180 for the first incident, and > $571 for 2 or more incidents within a 36 month period.

on a posted 40mph road with workers the safe speed under the CA law would have been 25mph, in which case everyone coming over the crest would have had plenty of time to see the workers and stop or move over.. With the snow and ice people should have been doing 15 or so, and if people had snow tires instead of their cheap summer or all season tires it is even less of an issue.

tex2670

Easement rights don't give utility workers the right to perform their work in an unsafe manner.

The drivers were going too fast--but Comcast could have easily abated the issue by putting a cone or sign at the crest of the hill -- MEN WORKING AHEAD. That's why those signs exist--what on earth does a cone 20 feet behind the truck do??

mjeds

see this is where common sense would be used.. with snow and ice on the road no one should be doing 40mph even if it is the posted speed, the basic speed law over rides the posted speed limit, and the basic speed law is simple, drive the speed SAFE FOR THE CONDITIONS not to exceed the posted limit.

since there was snow and ice on the roads in my mind I think, well I am cresting a hill with icy conditions and there is a possibility that there could be a stopped vehicle I can't see, so I need to slow down and drive cautiously. Something that apparently many in the video did not grasp.

low and behold there is a STOPPED vehicle, with WORKERS on the road. The workers didn't create an unsafe situation, the speeding idiots did..

Now I just looked up IN law on the matter, and it appears to be the same as CA law, which also happens to be the rules set forth by the U.S. Dept. of Transportation regulations as set forth by the Federal Highway Administration:

1 cone for every 10mph of the posted limit, spaced 20 feet apart. So yeah the Comcast workers were doing what the law required..

Was it enough? obliviously not as to combat the complete lack of common sense prevailing in the video, but it was within the requirements of the law, so IMO the workers did not create an unsafe situation, the drivers speeding on an icy road with a blind crest did.


Even after the "I wanna be famous youtuber" put up his own cones alerting people several hundred feet before the truck, they still crested the hill at a higher than safe speed, many cars went through without an issue, but many also ditched because they weren't paying attention and don't know how to drive in the snow and ice.


for me this all comes back to personal responsibility and learning how to properly drive in dangerous conditions such as ice, snow, blind curves, blind crests, residential zones, school zones, etc.


as far as the "investigation" that is being conducted, all I can find on the matter is that Comcast is doing an internal investigation as a result of the video, if the video had not surfaced Comcast would be doing nothing..
http://corporate.comcast.com/comcast...n-indianapolis

tex2670

So what? The Comcast workers see what is unfolding right in front of their eyes. And what do they do? Nothing...nothing at all. "I followed my corporate procedure, so if someone gets hurt or killed in a completely foreseeable situation, gee, I don't care. I followed procedure." Who cares about everyone else, as long as I followed my procedure. Why take affirmative steps as a safety precaution? The corporate policy manual doesn't say that they have to. Well, bravo.

mmarshall

That just shows you how much companies today are run by lawyers, instead of simple common sense. However, I have to agree with some of the other posters here that it's still no excuse for driving too fast for conditions, even if the Comcast guy could have made things a little better, and didn't because of company hamstrings. As a driver, in most cases, one is still responsible for what one does behind the wheel.

mjeds

ah the mentality that places blame on everyone and everything else except those that are at fault.

THE IDIOT MAKING THE VIDEO PUT UP CONES TO ALERT THE DRIVERS AND IT CHANGED NOTHING. AT 1:06 INTO THE VIDEO HE SHOWS WHERE HE PLACED THE CONES AT THE TOP OF THE CREST, ONLY 2 CARS OFF IN THE DITCH OCCURED BEFORE, ALL THE REST INCLUDING THE ACCIDENTS OCCURED AFTER HE PLACED THE WARNINGS. FURTHERMORE THE BLACK TRUCK THAT TOOK OUT THE CABLE JUNCTION OCCURED BEFORE THE FIRST COMCAST TRUCK HAD ARRIVED, THAT IS WHAT CREATED THE SITUATION TO BEGIN WITH, SO HOW ARE THE COMCAST DRIVERS RESPONSIBLE FOR THAT? THAT TRUCK SLID OFF THE ROAD BEFORE THEY WERE EVEN THERE.




THE BLAME IS SQUARELY ON THE MORON DRIVERS THAT WERE NOT PAYING ATTENTION AND WERE SPEEDING AND DRIVING WRECKLESSLY IN UNSAFE ICY CONDITIONS.

tex2670

Thanks for the ALL CAPS -- I'm not sure I could read your very important words without that assistance.

Say you are in 7-11, and there's a bunch of spilled ice cubes on the floor in front of the soda machine that you could easily kick out of the way under the soda machine so no one falls on the ice--do you do it? Or do you think "I didn't put that ice there, so I'm not to blame if someone falls--I'm good"?

Better yet--if YOU spill the ice, do you just leave it and think "People need to be watching where they walk anyway, so if they slip and fall, it's their own fault, not mine"?

mjeds

hardly the same situation because I wouldn't be running at 40mph through a 7-11, and chances are I wouldn't smash into someone else causing injury or death

however, the first thing I would do is alert the workers of the unsafe situation,
secondly I would walk around and avoid the area, that's where common sense comes into play,
and lastly I am not to blame, because I didn't spill the ice.

and if I DID spill the ice, I would be there cleaning it up, because that's how I was raised, to clean up after myself if I make a mess.

I don't blame others for my mistakes, if I am the idiot driving too fast in unsafe conditions and I plow into a ditch or another car, that is on me and I own it.. It's called being a responsible adult, not a petty idiot child that points their finger and blames others.

TLe2006

It's common sense to slow down in that road condition but workers could've put a couple more cones to help out.

Aron9000

I'd say the comcast guys and drivers going way too fast are at a 50/50 fault for this mess. Main thing that pisses me off is the comcast guy sees some idiot slide off the road and just shrugs it off nonchalantly, no big deal, so what if I'm causing people to slide off the road and wreck. Not my problem, just need to get up in the bucket and fix this line. Granted people were driving way too fast for the conditions(especially drive the Chevy to the levy guy in that old truck), but damn, put up a couple of signs before that blind crest like

"Utility Work Ahead"
"One Lane Road Ahead"
"Lane Closed Ahead"

Really Comcast should have had a couple of flag guys on that road(you know, guys with the STOP and SLOW sign who stop traffic and have walkie talkies). Also that idiot in the bucket truck could've been up in the bucket and had somebody hit the truck. Might have thrown him from the bucket and killed his dumb ***. That guy in the "drive the Chevy to the levy" truck, if he had gone the other way instead of through those people's yards, he would've hit that Comcast truck.