Dead live truck: Macon, GA

[DW]

http://www.13wmaz.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=64388&catid=175

This is what you get when you let the traffic guy drive.

[scotman1]

Oh boy, more furloughs!

[wx or not]

When you can't find traffic problems, make your own...:rolleyes:

[Sparky]

http://byfiles.storage.live.com/y1pSE7F8vGmWM5eC_TEd52tAC2kSF9dxTRL_-TEs5gRbY5S9vKp0O50KsL4rNllzK-a6nrhoq1aOJIGeez, what a maroon.

[newz2me]

"Reid told police that the live truck is designed not to start when the tower is raised and the truck apparently malfunctioned."

Sure, blame the live truck for your stupidity. It's the truck's fault that you forgot to stow the mast.

[BadgerWXman]

They need to run a promo:

"Some stations report the news."

"Some stations break news."

"Here at WMAZ, we MAKE news!"

[TAFKA wacowx]

"Reid told police that the live truck is designed not to start when the tower is raised and the truck apparently malfunctioned."

Sure, blame the live truck for your stupidity. It's the truck's fault that you forgot to stow the mast.

All well and good, but how many live trucks are broken like this? Thank God he didn't hit power lines. :eek:

[Clever Login Name]

A lot of those warning systems get broken or 'malfunction' on purpose too.

[Mighty Dyckerson]

I hope no GA reporters were injured.

[DW]

I hope no GA reporters were injured.


Your worst fears have been realized!

Reid also cut a finger while picking pieces of the tower out of the roadway

I love how they call it a "tower" & not a "mast". How quaint.

[SamG]

Another poorly written story... was the mast extended? Were the traffic lights "lower" and struck the mast as it was stowed?

The warning/safety system can be bypassed... truck won't start with mast up? Don't turn truck off at live shot.

[newz2me]

All well and good, but how many live trucks are broken like this? Thank God he didn't hit power lines. :eek:
Your #1 safety device are your eyes. If you can't remember to look up and see if the mast is stowed you shouldn't be driving the truck.

[newz2me]

Another poorly written story... was the mast extended? Were the traffic lights "lower" and struck the mast as it was stowed?

The warning/safety system can be bypassed... truck won't start with mast up? Don't turn truck off at live shot.
I'm guessing (because I've seen this before with older trucks) that the mast lowered but stuck with a section or 2 still extended. I worked at a place where we had to jump on the back bumper to get the mast to unstick and lower.
As far as the safety system, it's usually an interlock system that will allow the truck to start(in case you want to run the heater for example) but will cut the engine if the truck is put in gear. This live truck looks like it's at least 20 years old. It's possible that it has a totally different system though.

[Mighty Dyckerson]

...the mast lowered but stuck with a section or 2 still extended.

Same thing happened to me last night.

[tater]

Same thing happened to me last night.

Dyckerson, ladies and gentlemen...he also does erection jokes.

[Mighty Dyckerson]

Dyckerson, ladies and gentlemen...

That's MIGHTY Dyckerson to you, pal.

[Fake Post]

Dyckerson, ladies and gentlemen...he also does erection jokes.

In my country, the Communist Party candidate wins the erection.

http://heystupid.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/chinaman.jpg

[News Is Broken]

All the more reason to sh!tcan the stupid dog-lick live shots. Why does a "traffic guy" need to be in the field? Shouldn't he be in the studio listening to the scanners and checking the freeway cameras?

Yes, he should have looked up before driving off but this is the TRAFFIC GUY and from the sounds of things he was out there running this thing BY HIMSELF. Not exactly someone like a photog who I'd expect to be operating a live truck every day let alone without any sort of supervision.

Dumb? Yes... on management's part.

[newz2me]

Shouldn't he be in the studio listening to the scanners and checking the freeway cameras?...
...from the sounds of things he was out there running this thing BY HIMSELF. Not exactly someone like a photog who I'd expect to be operating a live truck every day let alone without any sort of supervision.
Perhaps his live truck was fitted with a mast cam. He goes to a parking lot near an intersection, raises the mast, points the camera down at the intersection and PRESTO traffic cam. I know because I used to have to do this when I worked overnights. I chased breaking news all night and wrapped up my shift sitting in the live truck for 2 hours pointing the mast cam at an intersection. What a waste of time and resources.

[Spike]

As far as the safety system, it's usually an interlock system that will allow the truck to start(in case you want to run the heater for example) but will cut the engine if the truck is put in gear.

I wouldn't say that's usually the case. Sometimes, maybe. Perhaps even often. But not usually.

There are a variety of other interlock/alarm systems that do different things. I have worked with trucks where the interlock wouldn't allow the engine to start at all, others where the engine would start but would die if you put it into gear, and still others that would allow you to drive with the mast extended but would cause an alarm to sound and/or lights to flash on the dashboard. It's the ones with the alarms that tend to get disabled the quickest.

None of these systems are that great. If the switch fails or gets out of adjustment, you can have the alarm go off even when the mast is down. This can be rather annoying when it happens as you're driving down the road. It's even more annoying when you haven't the slightest idea how to fix the switch, and you still have an hour of driving to do with that ear-piercing wail. I know a guy whose truck had an ignition cutout switch. He was driving along at 70 mph on the interstate when the switch failed and cut his engine, even though the mast was stowed.

These things use several different kinds of switches, all with their own potential failures. Older trucks often had a pressure switch. The truck would not start until the pressure in the mast reached zero. The problem with them was that if the mast got stuck with a section still up, the pressure gauge would still go to zero even though the mast wasn't all the way down. I watched a guy in one of those trucks drive off with the bottom section of his mast still up. Apparently he never knew it. We didn't hear about him hitting anything, so the mast probably came down a couple of blocks later after going over a bump.

You can have a lever switch on the mast itself that gets depressed when the mast reaches home. Those ensure that the mast is stowed, but they also get out of adjustment and sometimes open when they shouldn't. I drove a truck that would scream at us every time we hit a bump.

The best type of interlock is to have a vinyl plug hanging off the head that has to be manually plugged into the top of the truck by the photog. With that type, you can't drive off with the mast up. It also encourages you to look up before raising the mast, since it can't be raised until you remove the plug, and you have to look above you to reach it.

You also have to consider that there has been a sort of evolution in the safety systems over the last 20 years because of changing attitudes. Reading my first paragraph today, you might say, "Why in the hell would you create an interlock system that would allow the truck to move at all with the mast up, even with an alarm?" The answer is that back when I first learned to run a microwave truck, it wasn't unusual to move the truck with the mast up in weak signal areas to find the right spot, effectively tuning the shot by moving the whole truck. Back then we were trusted to look around above us to make sure we weren't going to hit anything, then inch the truck forward or back with the mast extended. I once watched my chief drive a truck 500 feet down a dirt road with the mast up, trying to find the shot, then put it in reverse and back up to his original position. We've had enough people do stupid things with masted trucks that now you can't allow that practice.

But there are still plenty of trucks on the road that were built with the old attitudes in mind.

[SamG]

I have our new trucks wired so if the mast is up (we use a manual "pin" system with the pin attached to the mast) you can't put the truck in gear. However, that causes problems too... the wire attaching the pin to the mast head will break, leaving the pin at the ground, the sensor will mechanically "stick" making the truck think the mast is down, AND after a freezing rain, the pin was once frozen in place.

I don't think it's safe to assume what happened or what safety devices were installed/working. I even pointed out the truck may have been 100% functional, mast stowed, and the lights were hanging lower than normal.

And blaming MANAGEMENT for a "dog lick live"? That's a stretch. Traffic (in the right cities) can be a very visual live shot. How much more immediacy do you want? An accident, construction, failed traffic signal can all produce a major backup at rush hour.

[DoneThatToo]

The only way you can blame management is if they did not require the proper safety training before letting people drive and operate the truck. Dumb live shots aside, if it is your job to do them then that is what it is. Not operating the truck responsibly after receiving proper training is the fault of the truck operator.

[Clubbeat]

Your #1 safety device are your eyes. If you can't remember to look up and see if the mast is stowed you shouldn't be driving the truck.

Someone stating the obvious. Whether you're a first time driver/operator or worse in this case, someone with experience using this vehicle, sight checks are absolutely necessary.

My question is does the station's liability coverage pick up for carelessness?

[The Mockingbird]

I still remember the day one of the photogs smacked the extended mast into the top of the garage and bent the mast. It was kind of like being the psychic chick in True Blood, everyone was thinking "Holy crap, I'm glad I'm not that guy" at the same time.

[News Is Broken]

And blaming MANAGEMENT for a "dog lick live"? That's a stretch. Traffic (in the right cities) can be a very visual live shot. How much more immediacy do you want? An accident, construction, failed traffic signal can all produce a major backup at rush hour.

No, Sam - you misundermeant what I stood. ;)

The dog lick live isn't the problem. It's sending people to OMB in a friggin' live truck that I have an issue with. You want to send Tommy Traffic to the intersection of Lost and Found to cover a fender bender between a school bus and meter maid where such life threatening injuries as a "boo boo" and an "owie" are being treated, fine. SEND A PHOTOG WITH HIM TO RUN THE DAMN TRUCK and be an extra set of eyes and ears so that nothing stupid happens, like the mast being left up when Tommy drives away, for instance. That's where mismanagement dropped the ball IMHO.

[Spike]

I even pointed out the truck may have been 100% functional, mast stowed, and the lights were hanging lower than normal.


The article would seem to imply otherwise:

"Reid told police that the live truck is designed not to start when the tower is raised and the truck apparently malfunctioned."

[newz2me]

Your #1 safety device are your eyes. If you can't remember to look up and see if the mast is stowed you shouldn't be driving the truck.
Someone stating the obvious.

And yet it still happens huh?

[Mighty Dyckerson]

SEND A PHOTOG WITH HIM TO RUN THE DAMN TRUCK and be an extra set of eyes and ears so that nothing stupid happens...

Why? It's classic Darwinism. The idiots die off (or get canned), leaving less competition for the rest of us.

[News Is Broken]

Why? It's classic Darwinism. The idiots die off (or get canned), leaving less competition for the rest of us.

Bleh, no thanks. You can have the live truck. Just give me a scanner and a camera and I'm good.

[snoozeroom]

So, instead of arguing like you guys, I'm just LMAO'ing at the GA idiot.
Must be a dawg grad.

[The Thrill]

What if the truck's flooded?

http://content.ytmnd.com/content/f/a/b/fab2c6fac4cac1e70db8f91cd95a5d43.jpg

[sonorandesert]

What if the truck's flooded?

http://content.ytmnd.com/content/f/a/b/fab2c6fac4cac1e70db8f91cd95a5d43.jpg
The mast...er...tower was simply too low and the truck malfunctioned.