- A trucker hit an electrical worker in a bucket high above most traffic on Wednesday.
- The worker in the truck had a harness on and avoided major injury despite the incident.
- Authorities and community members are still sorting out how this happened.
Sometimes danger comes from the wires, sometimes from gravity, and sometimes, unexpectedly, from 40 tons of poorly judged truck turns.
Electricians have a dangerous job, but one thing they likely never expect is that they’ll get hit by a vehicle while high in the air. Nevertheless, that’s exactly what happened to one in Denham Springs, Louisiana, on Wednesday.
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Dashcam video from a motorist at the same intersection shows the entire accident unfold. Luckily, everything we see ends up being little more than a very close call.
Based on the dashcam data, it appears as though this happens in the middle of the day, all while conditions outside are crystal clear. The video shows electrical workers parked on the shoulder of the road with their bucket extended high in the air. A worker inside the bucket is attending to a traffic light at the intersection of Range Avenue and the entrance to I-12.
As the dashcam owner is sitting idle at the red light, we see the 18-wheeler come from the camera’s left through the intersection. The electrical worker on the ground appears to step forward and gesture toward the driver. Despite that effort, the 18-wheeler clips the bucket with the trailer and sends the worker in it flying. While he ends up upside down, his harness holds on tightly and keeps him from falling.
“I don’t know how that truck could have made that turn without hitting one pole on one side without hitting the truck,” East Baton Rouge Parish Director of Transportation Fred Raiford told WBRZ. Regardless of why the truck driver thought he could make the turn, the harness likely saved the worker from significant injuries.
“That is a mandate we have when you’re in that bucket truck, you’ll have that harness on,” Raiford said. “Anytime there’s people working in the roadways, there’s signage that’s required or there’s barricades saying this part of the lane will be closed. Safety is always the number one priority for us.”
Authorities are still investigating the situation. It’s unclear at this point why the electric team didn’t have cones or other traffic control devices on the roadway. Ultimately, the important thing is that the worker in the bucket didn’t even need to go to the hospital.
Credit: Bill Atkinson
