close call with a tele.pole guide/support cable

[Buckie]

Ooooh, boy, I had a close call sunday. Was mowing with the 2210, listening to music on headphones and NOT paying attention. I circled around a telephone pole to mow, cutting under the 45 degree supportcable that was anchored in the ground. Clear the overhead cable easily, or so I thought, till the ROPS hit it hard, behind me. The guide-support cable vibrated and bounced and the entire telephone pole moved. I looked up and saw the live wires above me dancing. Really scared me.
It is so easy to forget and get into a very dangerous situation.

 

[Henro]

<font color="blue">It is so easy to forget and get into a very dangerous situation. </font>

Buckie,

Isn't that the truth. Glad nothing worse than a scare came out of it.

Always pays to keep the rops up and seat belt on, since we just never know when something unforeseen might happen...

 

[BoneheadNW]

Some time ago I got called out to a motor vehicle accident at abuot 10 pm. A guy was driving along the highway and decided to pull over on the side of the road for some reason. Unfortunately for him he picked the spot where the support cable for a telephone pole was anchored, hitting it at 40+ mph. The cable ripped through part of the hood and pulled the pole down onto the top of the car right over the passenger seat. Other than some cuts and bruises, the driver escaped serious injury. Talk about dumb luck!

Bonehead

 

[Bird]

I saw a lot of weird things done in motor vehicle accidents, but perhaps one of the weirdest was a car sitting on a guy wire (cable) centered almost perfectly with the back bumper on the ground and the front end up in the air. I would never had believed it, if there hadn't been so much physical evidence, but the car hit that guy wire, went straight up the wire, hit the post, and slid straight back down. No injuries, and very little damage. I think the driver was still in shock. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[TheKid]

Hey Bird. You didn't happen to see that in St. Louis, MO did you? About 20 years ago one of my old neighbors kids ran their car up the guy wire at the end of our street. The only damage was to the rear bumper. They were out of town and had told him not to drive the car. By the time they got back in town he had the car back in the garage with a new bumper on it, so he thought he was going to get away with it.

Little did he know that a picture of the car resting on the guy wire had made the front page of the local newspaper.

I think he might still be grounded.

 

[Bird]

Nope, Keith, I saw it on Northwest Highway just west of Central Expressway in Dallas.

 

[California]

Slightly off-topic: how do you remove an abandoned anchor?

I was transplanting a tree by trenching with a mattox then pulling a small steel cable under it - see attachment. A moment after this picture the root ball exploded. What the ****??

I discovered I had snagged an abandoned pole anchor, and when my cable slipped off it the rootball was flung back where it came from.

I tried unscrewing the anchor out of the ground with a crowbar but couldn't budge it. It will be a hazard to run the rotary mower over that spot.

Any suggestions, short of digging a massive hole?

 

[bky]

DIG A 2 foot hole and cut if off . And dont plan on planting a tree there in the future

/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[MrJoe]

Get the Sawsall or the torch and cut it off as low as you can to the concrete /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

 

[MrJoe]

Years ago when I had little motorcycle experience to keep me out of trouble, a guy wire almost caught me. A downhill left hand curve invited me and I thought "well I'll just tap the brakes to slow down a bit" halfway thru the curve. Wrong move /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif Bike stood right up, shot me up the curb to the left of a phone pole. The guy wire flashed by my helmet to the right just at shoulder level. Came to an upright stop on the grass /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif and looked around. Went back up the hill and came down again without hitting the brakes this time. Sailed right thru, figgured if I don't get back on the horse----. Every once in a while I go past that pole and think how things might have been different. I guess it wasn't my time /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif