Just When You Thought It Was All Over….
A pile up attributed to poor visibility stemming from fog as well as to…a number of drivers not keeping a safe distance from other motorists that occurred on Wednesday in Russia's southern Stavropol region, led to a 20-vehicle accident, including 15 passenger cars, three trucks and two busses.
A vehicle's dash-cam recorded part of the pileup on the Kavkaz highway. Even though the driver of said automobile managed to stop in time before crashing into the cars in front, other motorists weren't as diligent or successful…
One person was hurt in the crash, and had to be hospitalized, albeit with non-life threatening injuries. A video from the pile-up can be found below.
Get Out Driver, You're Drunk as a Skunk
After observing this video, you could say that even a piece of machinery knows when its operator is completely out of line with far too much booze flowing through his veins and that it's time to put an end to the driving shenanigans.
The car with the dashboard camera was travelling from behind when the driver noticed the truck swerving towards his line and performed the traditional road ritual of horn honking to wake up the operator.
It only worked momentarily, as at the next set of lights, the large dumpster smashed into the rear end of another truck waiting for the green light.
At least this incident had a happy / funny ending, which you can watch in the video below the break.
So Close You Can Almost Feel the Driver's Heart Fail…
There's a reason, or rather scratch that, there are several reasons why passenger car drivers and motorcycle riders have a visible or hidden fear about big trucks on the road. And yes, size and weight has a lot to do with the anxiety people feel when they see these wheeled-monsters approaching them on the highway.
True, your chances of something happening are extremely small, but then again, they're not zero either.
The driver you're about to watch in the following video fits into that small percentage, as well as an even smaller one of motorists involved in an accident with a truck but coming out completely unscathed.
Actually, it's a pretty amazing scene, even though we can almost smell the driver's fear as the truck swayed towards his lane…
Ghe-O Motors Unveils Rescue Vehicle for Extreme Weather and Terrain [w/Video]
With extreme weather becoming the norm rather than the exception all around the world, authorities find that conventional rescue vehicles are sometimes unable to perform the duty they were built for. Romanian company Ghe-O Motors thinks it has found the solution for this type of situations with their special vehicle called Rescue.
Designed and built in Romania, the vehicle can transport up to 11 people on “all types of terrain and on any type of weather” and can offer medical support and fire extinguishing capabilities. The Rescue features off-road solutions borrowed from racing, with Ghe-O Motors saying that it can go where any small racing-equipped extreme off-roader can go.
Furthermore, thanks to its big wheels and even mass distribution, the Rescue is said to outperform a two-seat off-road car in most situations, with the notable difference that it can do that while carrying 11 passengers on board.
The Rescue is 5.2-meters long (204.7-in), 2.7-m (106.3-in) wide and 2.39-m (94.1-in) tall and weighs 3.2 tons (6,400 lbs). It can be fitted with accessories like water pumps for firefighters, a 620-liter water tank, tracks on rear wheels for very difficult terrain, foldable roof-mounted cargo space, pneumatic pillows on wheels to help it float on water and not sink into snow, medical stretch (with side door access), and even a passenger trailer with no wheels that can that can be towed in slippery conditions.
The vehicle features a heavy-duty transmission with lockable axles and can be powered either by gasoline engines with outputs of 340hp or 500 hp (for the performance version) or by diesels producing 218hp or 304hp. The company says that for military application the engines can be fitted with extra electromagnetic and water protection.
Scroll down to see the Ghe-O Rescue vehicle in action as well as a gallery of the other vehicles in its lineup.
By Dan Mihalascu
Another Truck Stalls at Rail Crossing, is Obliterated by Train
Out of all the realistic places where your vehicle could stall and not start back up again, rail crossings have to rank among, if not the, one of the most dangerous of all.
And yet, the same kind of accident always seems to be caught on video, featuring one vehicle (usually a truck) that can no longer be moved, a driver that tries to restart it, but jumps out at the very last second, and a train that smashes through and drags the debris on for hundreds of yards.
Well, here’s another one that perfectly fits the bill. As you can see in the video below, the tractor-trailer is unable to move, despite the driver's best efforts and the Union Pacific-operated train smashes through it with ease.
The incident took place in West Texas, and was shot via phone-cam by Kelly Blay, with the man yelling ‘Holy Smokes!’ in the background. However, despite the violent nature of the crash, the truck driver jumped out with time to spare, and nobody was hurt in the end.
Moreover, the train made contact with what was an empty flatbed trailer, so it didn’t offer too much resistance.
By Andrei Nedelea
Volvo Releases the Bulls on Its New FL Distribution Truck
Remember Volvo Trucks’ promotional video featuring a hamster? Well, the Swedish truck-maker has released a similar commercial, only this time it used bulls to promote one of its products, the Volvo FL distribution truck.
In the new film named “The Chase”, the FL truck is chased by bulls in a race through Spain’s medieval town Ciudad Rodrigo. With precision driver Rob Hunt behind the wheel, the red-painted truck manages to squeeze through the town’s narrow streets while being pursued by angry bulls.
The idea behind the video is to show how easy the 12-ton FL truck is to maneuver in a demanding urban environment, on a 2-kilometer (1.24-mile) long course. “The town is old, the streets are narrow and we drive on slippery cobblestones. To be chased by bulls on top of that is a real challenge,” said Rob Hunt.
To keep ahead of the herd of bulls, he had to maintain a speed of at least 30 km/h (18.6 mph). “The bulls maintained a consistently high speed and were really close sometimes, but the truck handled the corners very well so it was just a matter of driving,” said Rob Hunt.
You can watch the unusual chase after the break.
By Dan Mihalascu
Tremendously Stupid Yet Remarkable Overtake in Korea
How can an occurrence be both ill advised and amazing at the same time? Well, it happens that you can actually have both - when the decision to make a move is bad or unwise but your actions afterwards amend the situation you put yourself in.
Something of the sort happened in this video, purportedly shot in South Korea, when the driver of what looks like a Hyundai Genesis (judging by the rear lights), foolishly attempted to overtake the camera-car from the right lane, squeezing behind a truck.
Yet, the situation somehow worked out in an amazing way with the Genesis swerving around the lorry and the driver saving his head. As you would imagine, his next pass was much more civil…
You Won't Believe What this Truck Driver Found in the Middle of the Road
Truck drivers have the unique opportunity to see many things while traveling on the road for miles and miles on end, some of which are interesting, some of which are boring and some of which are, well, just plain scary.
Without much debating, we decided that we are going to count this one as odd, shocking and mostly sad, all at the same time.
Porsche Cayman Coupe Slams Into the Rear End of a Truck without Lights
The driver of a Porsche Cayman coupe was filmed by an adjacent vehicle fitted with a dashboard-mounted camera smashing violently into the rear end of a truck at high speed.
The accident, which looks like it took place in China or at least in a neighboring country (if any of our readers can help with the translation, leave us a message in the comments), occurred when the Cayman driver didn't notice the truck that did not have any lights open at the back and was traveling on the left hand side of the road.
Awesome Time-Lapse Videos of the Endeavour Space Shuttle's Final Mission on the Streets of LA
After 20 years of service and 25 missions, NASA's fifth and final space worthy shuttle, the Endeavour, was finally retired last week.
The 85-ton space shuttle was hauled from the Los Angeles International Airport to its new home in the California Science Center. The distance it needed to travel was only 12 miles, but it was no trip to the park, that's for sure.
Justice Has Been Served: Frustrated Drivers Knock Over Audi A3 that was Blocking the Road!
Usually, when an insensitive driver double-parks on the road blocking the way to other vehicles, all it takes is a call to the police to get things sorted out. But there comes a time when frustrated drivers take matters into their own hands…
Which is what happened in Exarcheia, a neighborhood in downtown Athens, Greece, when the owner of what looks like a fairly new Audi A3 Sportback parked in front of a couple of large metal trash bins partially blocking the road.
While most passenger cars were able to make it through, a city bus that was making its routine trek around town couldn't fit. The bus driver along with the other drivers that were piling up behind kept honking again and again but to no avail; the owner of the Audi was nowhere to be seen.
