Holy Shit – Dash Cam Footage of an Electrical Worker Being Struck By a Semi-Truck While Working on a Stop Light (Don't Worry He's Fine)
The Hill – An employee with the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) was hit while working on a traffic light in Livingston Parish on Wednesday.
The utility worker was struck by an 18-wheeler while inside the bucket of a utility vehicle, the impact of semi-truck shattering the bucket itself.
The incident was captured on a dash camera and posted to social media. “We never expected to see this today while waiting for a green light,” user Bill Atkinson wrote.
The Denham Springs Police Department (DSPD) responded to the incident a little before 1:10 p.m. and confirmed that the 18-wheeler was trying to make a left turn when it collided with the bucket.
DOTD confirmed it was one of their employees in the bucket. The worker suffered minor injuries but did not require a trip to the hospital, police added.
Shoutout long-arm bucket truck. Shoutout harness. More than anything this video is a remarkable testament to their well-deserved five star safety rating. For a piece of equipment to hold an electrical worker 12-feet in the air and be blasted by a semi-truck... to have the guy come out of it almost completely unscathed. With the structural integrity of the long arm remaining fully in tact. With the harness keeping him perfectly secured inside of the bucket as he flailed upside down like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on an uncontested layup. For that man to leave the scene of the accident with nothing more than some minor scrapes and bruises is pretty impressive stuff.
I'd almost go as far as saying that was a pretty damn good day of work for the state employee who stuck by a semi. It appears to have been a beautiful Louisiana summer afternoon. I'd imagine he got to head home early after the incident. I know I've worked plenty of jobs where I'd sign up for significantly worse physical abuse than some minor scrapes and bruising for permission to cut out early. If that man has a family, he was probably treated like a king when he arrived home. If he was in the dog house for any reason, or had any ongoing fights with his wife, those beefs have now been squashed. She's just happy her husband is still alive. And after suffering such a stressful and traumatic experience, at bare minimum he needs the rest of the day to lay on the couch and decompress. He'll most definitely require some ice cold beers to help calm down after his near-death experience. Maybe in a cooler filled with ice at the foot of the couch. He can't be getting up and down to makes trips to the fridge all afternoon. Especially now that he's noticed his knee has been acting up a bit since the incident. There's truly nothing better than a valid reason to sit on your ass and do nothing for an extended period of time without having to feel bad about it. And in this case, he barely even has to suffer any physical pain to go along with it. That man hit the state employee jackpot. Now time to call a ruthless, "We only get paid if you get paid" attorney to see if it's possible for you to really capitalize on your trauma.
The only negative would be that his friend on the ground is almost certainly getting fired. That was really one of the all-time poor semi-truck halting efforts I've seen in my life. You gotta get out in the intersection, my man. Make yourself big. Make your presence known. When you leave your house in the morning in a hi-vis vest, you're taking an oath to be visible. A hi-vis vest is like steroids for seeing. Just because you let Jose Canseco stick a needle in your ass doesn't mean you'll get jacked overnight. But if you actually put in the work, you're going to be blown away by the results. You gotta step in front of that mack truck and make damn sure the semi-truck driver catches a bright shade of neon yellow out of the corner of his eye. And if the semi-driver still didn't see you, and you were lucky enough to be run over by a mack truck, then you might be on the couch with your buddy right now on the verge of a life-changing payday.
I'm very glad the man in the bucket is ok. Because otherwise I would have felt very bad about about the sharp exhale I let out of my noise upon first watching that video.