Ted Re...Looks more and more like an accident, the more I read eye witness accounts.
Why am I not surprised? Your next post will be to tell me that she deserved what she got.
You keep on refusing to believe it was an accident, however if you operated dozers you would understand how it could easily happen, and the operator wouldn't know. When you read Erics report, that she was standing in front of the dozer, and the crowd yelled at the operator to stop, you can't fathom why he didn't. Of course he didn't stop as he was approaching her, as it was a game she had played before, where she would stand in front, and then get out of the way at the last second. The question is why the operator didn't stop when she tripped or got caught under the pile. You need to know how dozers are set up to know the answer.
Part of the problem, as I looked at the pictures, was that the other demonstrators were standing on the wrong side of the dozer for the operator to see them. Let me explain it this way. Usually, you get in the cab from the left, as the blade controls are normally on the right hand, just above and off to the right of your right knee. And the shift, is usually just a forward- reverse lever, also on the right hand. Because the controls are on the right side, the operator has a better view, and more room to look on the left. And when cutting and leveling, as this guy was, I usually lean left and look down past engine, to the bottom left corner of the blade, which will tell you how much dirt you are cutting off. The demonstrators were on the operators right, assuming the rest were standing with the photographer, and he normally wouldn't have seen them waving, because the engine blocks the view.. Plus the engine is way too loud for him to hear them. When you get to the end of the run, you normally shift to reverse, and then lift the blade as you go back. The blade doesn't lift very fast either because a slower blade gives you better depth control, which is likely why the demonstrators said he backed up with the blade down. Plus, when pushing, the front of the tracks push up, and when put in reverse, the front of the tracks go down to lift weight of blade, which takes awhile. So, I have no doubt the operator didn't know. |
