My tractor has an alarm if you open the door without it being in neutral and parking brake on. It had a seat sensor that would kill the engine if you got out of the seat while it was in gear but my wife was too light for it so we disabled it. Either would have been a good idea on the snowcat (and a new one would have some sort).
I wonder why you would make such a distinction. Would you feel any better if untrained military personnel were operating such a machine?
I never thought to ask, but I assume not. In part because snowblowing and lawnmowing seasons in Minnesota don’t really overlap.
Still, I would think that losing one part of your body to a piece of machinery would instill a healthy sense of caution that would stick with you for a while.
The professionals are typically trained civilians.
I’m also not sure that Jeremy Renner is “untrained”. He runs a house renovation business. Acting is not his full-time job; he also builds houses for a living. And I don’t mean he hires builders and points at a house, he builds them himself, sometimes sleeping in the undeveloped house overnight to save time.
Possibly, his experience could have been his downfall. If he works around heavy machinery all the time, he might not have been as cautious as someone inexperienced and skittish around such things.
Or, it’s a freak accident that no amount of training or expertise could prevent. I don’t know that we have an answer to that.
Looks like Mr. Renner has returned home. I expect he still have quite a bit of recovery ahead of him.
Pedantic much?
Latest from CNN suggests that, yes, he got out of the cab in a hurry and forgot to set the parking brake:
After towing the truck into the street, the snowplow began “sliding sideways,” then “it began to roll down the hill,” Renner said. At that point, Renner jumped out of the snowcat, he told investigators.
“Once he was off the Pistenbully, he realized it was heading directly toward (his nephew),” the report reads. “He feared the Pistenbully was going to hit (his nephew), so he decided to attempt to stop or divert the Pistenbully.”
To enter the snowplow’s cab, Renner had to climb onto its moving track and was “immediately pulled under the left side track,” the report notes.
When they say “roll”, I presume they don’t mean the vehicle was tumbling sideways - rather, that it was rolling forward on its track belts.
He did the right thing in the situation and is lucky to have survived.
Mr. Renner was interviewed by Diane Sawyer, along with other people such as those who rushed to help him as he lay in on the ground and some of the medical people. This was broadcast on ABC last Thursday, but at work today I caught it on their streaming site if anyone is interested and looking for a way to view it for free.
It is also on Hulu and Disney+ if you already have those services
I really liked the turn of phrase that he’s lost flesh and blood but had been filled up again by love and titanium. “Love and Titanium” sounds like the title to a movie or graphic novel.
While the man is recovering he is clearly still very emotional about the accident, dealing with mental trauma as well as physical.
The recordings of the 911 calls are harrowing, you can hear Renner in the background, conscious but in agony. Even worse when you realize it took more than 20 minutes for trained medics to get to him. Towards the end the did a video call so Renner could personally thank the people who called for help and gave first aid, and I think it helped them, too, because they could see the person they thought was dying is recovering.
It was an interesting interview for a number of reasons, if you’re interested in Renner you probably want to see it.
COWABUNGA! Good for Hawkeye!