The GMC truck tractor I used to drive had a small front bumper along with
high front fenders, leaving the tires well exposed. If a car rammed the truck
and struck a front tire from the front, a jackknife was imminent. Luckily for
me a 12" channel iron bumper the width of the truck and with a solid oak
backing was on my truck when I was pulling 8,000 gallons of fuel and got
clipped on the front left by a car coming the opposite way around a long
curve. My truck laughed it off, but debris from the car flew all over the
place.
Nowadays, I'm sure that I would get sued for having the bumper if I was in
an accident and the bumper caused excessive damage to the other vehicle.
After all, they're saying insurance on SUV's should be higher due to their
size and amount of damage they do to smaller vehicles when involved in
a collision.
I'd rather be tried by twelve than carried by six, but alas, my good old Jimmy
has been cut down (torched) and is now serving as an irrigation pump on
a sod farm :(
I hope nobody tangles with the stock bumper and winch on my 5-ton Cummins
800 Series cargo truck. Kinda be like the car being a knife in a gun fight :)
Joe Young
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Oct 08 2001 - 10:58:57 PDT