Did you guys see this guy on the loader in NYC?

[Tower]

I'm laughing more at the lady on the street thats just dog cussing them out. Too funny. Reminds me of why I prefer to live in the south. Very little snow at all down here. Actually had our first white Christmas EVER here in Birmingham.

 

[Cat_Driver]

I'm not defending this idiot, but I know those tractors that Articulating tractors can be tricks at best. By turning in the center like that it throws you off and will do exactly what you saw that guy do.

Looking at it from the camera view point is a whole lot different than being in the can with figged windows.

AGAIN not defending this guy.

Also you have the wrecker pulling the front end loader as it was slipping and sliding.

SO you did have the perfect storm.

1- I think the driver was not experienced.
2- The loader needed chains.
3- The wrecker was not the brightest bulb in the lamp.
4- They had no spotters anywhere around the vehicles calling signals.

All in all I'm surprised it turned out so well. I was waiting for the loader to do a BIG FOOT monster truck deal and crawl right over the top on the whole row.

 

[dirt ditch]

I doubt the street department has chains for the loader. If they did the chains would have been put on in preparation for a large storm like that. Everyone (including the video man) assumes the loader operator has more authority than he does. When he got stuck he would have had to contact his supervisor to let him know the situation he was in. The supervisor could have sent another loader to dig the stuck one out, instead he sent a wrecker to pull it out. You can see in the video the loader was stuck making the first pass in that part of the street. That is why the tow truck had to be so close to the parked cars. At the angle the tow truck had to pull and how slick the street was it was inevitable the vehicles were going to be damaged. After pulling the loader out they did the right thing by stopping and getting a supervisor down there. With a city that large and a storm that big, the street department's resources are stretched to the limit. Yea, it's to bad the vehicles got damaged, probably not the only ones either. Under those circumstances The city knows paying damages is just part of the clean up expenses.

One other thing, it's obvious the guy that shot the video knew that his excited commentary would help his hit count on utube.

 

[varmint]

My wife was stuck in the Park Slope area of Brooklyn during the blizzard. Luckily (or, intentionaly) she parked at near the end of one of the side streets that ended in a arterial street. The big street got plowed pretty quickly (it's like 4 lanes wide, plus parking on each side) but the side street wasn't plowed when she dug out on Weds. She and some others dug thru the hill of plowed snow, and she got out of town- along with a million others, clogging the NJ Turnpike all the wall home to Maryland. In defense of the Mayor, probably soon to be ex mayor, if history repeats itself, a lot of the trouble stems from people just leaving their cars in the street- the side street where she was parked had a car double parked... couldn't plow around it, couldn't get a wrecker to tow it. Maybe a National Guard tank could have retrieved it, but a wrecker wasn't going to get in thru 20" of snow, with drifts even deeper. Still, if that had been my SUV or car, I'd be plenty steamed!

 

[Qapla]

Even though we got down to 24 degrees here, watching that video makes me glad I live in Florida.

 

[funwithahoe]

I am not defending the guy either but I wonder if this happened after an 18 hour day of dealing with people parking their cars in the wrong place. I can just imagine them saying "OK if you gonna park your car here this is what will happen." Also, I don't think running a payloader in NYC with people and traffic (wires and poles) is quite the same as in our rural areas.

Nonethess, it is hard to believe they pulled whenever it was so clear that when they pulled straight the SUV was in the way. That is why I think it was more out of disgust or lack of caring than stupidity. No one could realistically look at that situation and think that loader wasn't going to hit the SUV. They could not have been that stupid at the first pull (maybe later when they were articulating the loader into the SUV).

 

[aczlan]

I'm not defending this idiot, but I know those tractors that Articulating tractors can be tricks at best. By turning in the center like that it throws you off and will do exactly what you saw that guy do.

They have some advantages too IF you use them correctly.

IF the they had done the following they might have been able to get out without breaking anything:
1. Turn the loader as far to the left as possible
2. Hook the chain from the RR corner of the wrecker to the RR corner of the loader
3. Roll the wrecker forward to tension the chain
4. Put down the "feet" on the back of the wrecker
5. Lower the bucket FLAT on the ground and lift the front tires off of the ground
6. Turn the loader to the right as far as possible without hitting the SUV
7. Lift the bucket and return to step 1

That would use the articulation of the loader to crab sideways and move both ends at the same time.

Aaron Z

 

[waltsp]

After watching the full UNEDITED video have come to a couple of conclusions.

First -- The news media severely edited the video.
Now they can justify the edit for time constraints, but that only proves
that they make the news, not report it. That was some ones video, not
theirs.

Second -- Both of the drivers were IDIOTS!!!!!!!!
You can clearly see that when the loader first made contact with
the SUV, the Tow driver gunned it and proceeded to spin himself.
You can also see that the Loader driver tried to use the bucket
to shift himself, but only succeeded in rotating and making it worse.
When he finally started to get past the SUV, he did not lift the
bucket far enough to clear the roof of the SUV.

In conclusion, HOORAY for government workers and unions. The both provide such an excellent workforce. Shouldn't we turn every aspect of our lives over to them!

 

[SensibleNick]

I hope it's ok to ask this here: I have a little question about something that's popping up a lot in this thread... The phrase "Union worker"...

From the way it's being used, I'm getting the impression that in the US being "in a union" is often used to justify and get-away-with being an idiot.... Is that the case?

While there are lots of clear and obvious differences between US and other continents, it's the little things like this that I find the most interesting

 

[wedge40]

I hope it's ok to ask this here: I have a little question about something that's popping up a lot in this thread... The phrase "Union worker"...

From the way it's being used, I'm getting the impression that in the US being "in a union" is often used to justify and get-away-with being an idiot.... Is that the case?

While there are lots of clear and obvious differences between US and other continents, it's the little things like this that I find the most interesting

You're partially correct. Unions have grown too powerful over the years and they have protection built in to protect lack of judgement. As was the case here. It is situations like this that give Unions a bad name, because if these are union worker, at most they will get a slap on the wrist. If you know you're going to be protected by your union and wont or can't get fired, it's much easier to lose control and not care about the consequences.

Wedge