Gee he forgot he was towing something

[Laredo]

Terrible waste of a truck and camper.
Glad the guy and his kid are ok.
That bank'd be replacing my vehicles, tout suite -- or else the building inspector and the governing entity that paid said inspector would be, depending on how hard I had to lawyer up.

[Kevin A]

Terrible waste of a truck and camper.
Glad the guy and his kid are ok.
That bank'd be replacing my vehicles, tout suite -- or else the building inspector and the governing entity that paid said inspector would be, depending on how hard I had to lawyer up.

If I found myself in that situation, I don't think I'd have the nerve to expect payment for damages from something I caused. Regardless of whatever faulty workmanship there may have been during construction of that bank.

[madjack]

Terrible waste of a truck and camper.
Glad the guy and his kid are ok.
That bank'd be replacing my vehicles, tout suite -- or else the building inspector and the governing entity that paid said inspector would be, depending on how hard I had to lawyer up.

If I found myself in that situation, I don't think I'd have the nerve to expect payment for damages from something I caused. Regardless of whatever faulty workmanship there may have been during construction of that bank.

...agreed, regardless of whether or not there was a construction or design fault, it is still the fault of the driver for that mishap...if I were the bank, I would be looking to the guys insurance for replacement of the awning...and if I were the driver, I would hope that I didn't lose may license for being STUPID!!!!!!!!!!!
madjack

[Aaron Coffee]

Wonder how sturdy the safe is?

[starleen2]

at the risk of offending someone - I used to live in Shelby County Texas right outside of Center, Tx - and I know qiute a few contrctors in the area - not surprised at all! They have all the debris cleanedup and some tape around the accident site

[Roly Nelson]

During my 45 years as a commercial construction superintendent, I have built a number of canopies, similar to the one that "fell". First, in order to even consider building such an overhang, structural engineers have to submit design and structural drawings along with calculations that allow for wind, snow and water loads, earthquake problems and other such unlikely events (like being run into by a huge 5th wheel trailer).

With approved plans from the local building department, the contractor is then expected to follow them to the letter, (that was my job) with building inspectors checking many phases of progress. If any deviations are noted, a stop-notice is filed and the job is red tagged if the violations are not corrected.

Just looking at the pictures, I see that there was a pipe column on the right side of the canopy, that was bolted down, hopefully to a concrete footing, in leiu on a thin concrete slab. (I can see no anchor bolts protruding from the base plate of the column, were there weak bolts or nuts?) The top of the column shows no visible connection to any structural members within the structure, just some black-iron framing members used to support the plastered ceiling. The masonry enclosing the steel pipe column is just gingerbread to hide the column and match the existing construction in the main building.

Someone messed up, big time on this one. A law suit is surely going to follow, and Mister Deep-Pockets, ie, the Architect, the Structural Engr., The Contractor along with his Superintendent will all probably be listed in the law suit. I could see no structural connection to the existing bank building, and I have a feeling that they are going to hang the blame on the Structural Engineer who goofed on his design. Just my 2 cents.

Roly

[Claw]

Another reason to own a Tear Drop!
How many of us have taken the TD to a drive up window?

[sledge]

I always said if I was gonna rob something it would be big enough that IF I got away with it I'd be set for life......... well, If I was gonna drive into a BANK........ I would drive throught the front door...........and out through the SAFE !

[Jason and Amanda]

While I agree that the awning was obviously not anchored very well.

Why do you forget that it's the driver that didn't check clearances and nailed the thing with his rig?

It's not like the bank awning collapsed at random while he was parked under it (which would warrant a reply such as those above that say a lawsuit would be in order)

It's definately the drivers fault no matter how you slice the pie.

[Muggnz]

My father used to be an insurance assessor, deciding who's at fault, etc.

He's always said that if you can avoid an accident & don't, then it's your fault. Regardless of wether or not you broke any laws.

david

[BPFox]

While I agree that the awning was obviously not anchored very well.

Why do you forget that it's the driver that didn't check clearances and nailed the thing with his rig?
It's not like the bank awning collapsed at random while he was parked under it (which would warrant a reply such as those above that say a lawsuit would be in order)

It's definately the drivers fault no matter how you slice the pie.

I don't think anybody is forgetting the fact that the guy pulling the trailer was at fault. However, there is no getting around the fact that what makes a video like this getting shown over and over again is the fact that the awning came down and it should not have. While many of you might think of a 5th wheel trailer as being a big trailer, the fact remains that there is no way it should win a battle in a collision with an awning such as this. That awning should have been built in such a way as the peal the lid clean off that trailer with only minimal damage to the awning. When I say minimal I'm talking about damage to the leadging edge where contact was made. The trailer on the other hand should have had it's lid peeled back like a sardine can. It's the fact that the awning came down that takes this story past just some guy hitting something with his trailer.

On a side note, I hit a bulldozer the other day with my trailer and the bulldozer won. Now if I would have knocked the bulldozer's blade off, the discussion would have turned to how baddly the bulldozer was built instead of about the knucklehead who hit it with his trailer.

Don't worry folks, the damage was minimal. In fact I used that same bulldozer, and a chain, to pull my fender back into shape. A few well placed blows with a sledge hammer and a little welding and the trailer is just fine.

[daddiozz]

lord ,have mercy....rubber necking Via Internet.....

[bobhenry]

Man Oh Man I just found this ! My 3 years with U-haul there was hardley a week go by someone didn't clip a front corner on the moving van trucks.
Sent out a brand new truck 1400 miles on it on a local move "Na we don't need your stinking insurance" They also, took down a canopy at a motel.
I told everyone as they signed up " No drive thru banking , No burger king drive thru's no McDonalds drive thru's " Guess these guys wern't listening.

[Ivar the Red]

This footage made it onto CNN the other night. I didn't see the whole story, just the preview. Did anyone see it?

[emiller]

I don't see a height limit also on the canopy, could have fallen off with the impact.