A secondary landslide on Highway 101 north of Legget, California was captured on video at the end of April. The original slide closed the highway and after Caltrans was able to clear it and reopen the highway for several hours, a stuck motorist took this video. What strikes me is how overconfident the (presumably) Caltrans employees are. If you see the slope shedding rocks like that, you better get back in a hurry! [Source: Facebook Video from Wendy K. via LostCoastOutpost.com. Image: Times-Standard]
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National Work Zone Awareness Week, April 7-11 2008
April 7-11 is National Workzone Awareness Week (NWZAW) which draws attention to the hazards roadway construction crews face from motorists not heeding safety warnings. For 2006—the last year for which data is available—more than 1,000 died in work zones. Figures for 2007 will be released by the National Work Zone Safety Information Clearinghouse later this year. Motorists are also at risk for not following work zone safety precautions. They may face damage to their vehicles, injuries, and loss of life. For 2006, 614 motorists died in work zone crashes. (Graphic by Caltrans)
Below are a few items to think about the next time you’re driving through a workzone taken from a Caltrans fact sheet. More after the break (sorry for the “Duh†ones, but I didn’t write them). As someone who occasionally works on the road and knows many more people who do, please, please remember to slow down!
- Most injuries and deaths in the Cone Zone are from rear-end collisions.
- If you slow from 65 to 55 mph for one mile, you only lose 10 seconds on your travel time.
- The first cause of death for people aged 16 to 20 is car crashes. Even if you don’t lose your life causing a car crash, it could still cost you your license or a heavy fine.
- If a car’s speed is doubled, the stopping distance is doubled twice over. For example, if a car traveling at 30 mph requires 100 feet to stop, the same car at 60 mph takes not 200 but 400 feet to stop.
- At 60 mph, you’re traveling 88 feet per second. A lot can happen in one second, so give yourself plenty of room to stop in case of an emergency.
- For the 15,000 miles of California highway Caltrans maintains, it must buy 120,000 new cones every year to replace ones run over by careless drivers.
Council to visit site of Logan, Utah canal landslide
Judge Rules City of San Diego Not Responsible for Mt. Soledad Landslide in 2007
The Mt. Soledad Landslide in a La Jolla California neighborhood destroyed 3 houses and damaged others and it also shut down Mt. Soledad Road for an entire year after it occurred in October of 2007. Residents blamed the city of San Diego, and 65 homeowners filed suit, claiming that leaking pipes caused the landslide and the City should cover damages.
Last week, a superior court judge ruled in favor of the City of San Diego. So far I have not seen anything indicating if the residents plan to appeal the ruling.
One interesting note regarding the trial, the City released an 8-minute cell phone video taken by a geotechnical engineer or drilling contractor employed by the City that showed the road cracking and buckling just prior to failure. The homeowners used the video to try to make their own case. Click through for a portion of the video and a link to the full one.
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Looks like the Facebook video gets cropped when I embedded it here. You can go watch it from either of the source links to see the entire thing.