Today's award goes to a clearly distracted 18-year-old driver in Germany, who entered a "ring road" (translated from the German) without noticing that a column of British Army Challenger 2 main battle tanks was already using it. The result:
Amazingly, she was able to get out and walk away unscathed (apart from writing off her car, worth 12,000 Euros [about US $13,100]). I don't think that'll buff out . . .
(A tip o' the hat to reader 'Andy The Axe' for the link.)
Peter
Yep ... that's gonna leave a mark.
ReplyDeleteHmmm...
ReplyDeleteA clear case of Right of Weight.
I would not want to explain that to either one of my parents!
ReplyDeleteI recall that much the same thing happened at Ft. Knox some years back when someone pulled in front of an M-48.
ReplyDeleteOK, now that's cool. And TGreen wins a prize for the snark there.
ReplyDeleteTGreen, in nautical terms that is known as the Law of Gross Tonnage.
ReplyDeleteJudy, to be 'contemporary' wouldn't that have to be 'either of my mothers' to be accurate......................
The tank will buff out no problem... :-0
ReplyDeleteThe BBC had this to say:
ReplyDeleteThere's a lot to remember when you're a learner driver but a pretty good rule is: don't pull out in front of tanks.
That's what happened to an 18-year-old driving this Toyota Yaris in the Lippe district of Germany on Monday.
According to local police she pulled out in front of a column of British military vehicles travelling on a ring road around the town, often used by British forces stationed nearby to transport tanks and other armoured vehicles.
The driver of the tank, a 24-year-old British serviceman, wasn't able to bring his Challenger 2 tank to a stop in time.
Inevitably, in a battle between 62-tonnes of armour and a one-tonne hatchback, there was only going to be one winner.
Luckily the driver of the car was completely unharmed in the incident, and the tank crew pulled her free.
The car, however, suffered 12,000 euros (£8,600) worth of damage.
The tank, not entirely surprisingly - was unscathed.
Germany has many foreign military bases and it's common to see armoured vehicles on public roads in the country.
A British army spokesperson told Newsbeat: "Our driving crews go through a very vigorous process before being allowed on the roads and both crews and vehicles are checked regularly.
"It is something we do take very, very seriously, especially with beasts of that size travelling on public roads."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/32973341/british-tank-crushes-learner-drivers-car-in-germany
So, do Challenger tanks travel with the main gun in trail, or was it swiveled after the collision?
ReplyDeleteThat's assuming that we are looking at the rear of the tank. That matches the story, and what I assume is spare fuel in drums carried on the rear deck.
My youngest brother was a 19-E and stationed at Elvis old Kaserne back in the 70s. During a REFORGer exercise his battalion was in column moving along a road and a German driver was zipping in and out of the column trying to get past them. Alas, he zagged instead off zigging and he met an M-60A3 up close and personal. He didn't survives the introduction.
ReplyDelete51 tons of homogeneous steel does not treat a car well at all.
Saw the same sort of type-A over aggressive driver end up burrowing his Alfasud Sedan into the back of an APC during the same exercise but ten years later. The APC driver had to be told something hit him.
ReplyDeleteDid the Alfa in, the driver and unfortunately his family as well. Is always sad when Darwinism completely erases a fool's genetic existence....