# Never Ride In The Back Of A Pickup Truck! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 16, 2010, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-ride-in-the-back-of-a-pickup-truck/546967 "2010-07-16T22:08:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-ride-in-the-back-of-a-pickup-truck/546967/1 "2010-07-16T22:08:56Z")
This is a link to a pretty horrorific video from LiveLeak that shows what the thread title implies…an overloaded pickup truck on a road somewhere in Central America rolls over (and it looks like the driver is trying to show off and ends up causing the accident). Its not too gory but still pretty scary. I post it because I have never seen anything quite like it. Not for the squeamish though! > **[ItemFix - Social Video Factory](https://www.itemfix.com/?r=ll)** > > Social Video Factory ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-ride-in-the-back-of-a-pickup-truck/546967/2 "2010-07-16T22:55:19Z")
I’ve seen this before and wish I knew the story of the aftermath. How many people died in that? Obviously some were gravely injured and it’s hard to believe that one guy you see flopping around out the window of the car before it rolls onto him survived, but you never know. Anyone know the story? ETA: Nevermind, there’s an update on the article. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-ride-in-the-back-of-a-pickup-truck/546967/3 "2010-07-16T23:00:47Z")
> [@Idle\_Thoughts](#): > > I’ve seen this before and wish I knew the story of the aftermath. How many people died in that? Obviously some were gravely injured and it’s hard to believe that one guy you see flopping around out the window of the car before it rolls onto him survived, but you never know. > > Anyone know the story? > > ETA: Nevermind, there’s an update on the article. I find it hard to believe that only one person died. That guy in the foreground with the white shirt on slams into the ground after being tossed through the air. The rolling truck also strikes him. That person limply hanging out of the cab back window looks dead too. That article update says the driver blamed the accident on a problem with the road. I’m pretty sure you can hear these people laughing as the driver intentionally swerves back and forth across the road, causing the rollover. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-ride-in-the-back-of-a-pickup-truck/546967/4 "2010-07-16T23:57:50Z")
How did this get on video? ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-ride-in-the-back-of-a-pickup-truck/546967/5 "2010-07-17T01:58:09Z")
I know someone who went blind by falling facefirst out of the back of a pickup. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-ride-in-the-back-of-a-pickup-truck/546967/6 "2010-07-17T02:18:47Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > How did this get on video? Good question…no idea. There must have been some mundane (not pointless!) filming of whatever renovations were going on at that residential site (at least, that’s what it looks like to me, the guy getting something near the wheelbarrow, etc) and accidentally captured the…well, accident. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-ride-in-the-back-of-a-pickup-truck/546967/7 "2010-07-17T02:21:11Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > I know someone who went blind by falling facefirst out of the back of a pickup. I know a wide receiver for the Bengals that died from head injuries from falling from the bed of a truck. In spite of the video, I would say that riding in the bed of a pickup truck is generally always a bad idea, no matter how fast you’re going, where you’re going or how good the driver of the truck is. I rode in the back of a couple as a child but I would never knowingly let any of my kids ride there unsecured as they are. Anything can happen. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-ride-in-the-back-of-a-pickup-truck/546967/8 "2010-07-17T03:36:23Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Good question…no idea. There must have been some mundane (not pointless!) filming of whatever renovations were going on at that residential site (at least, that’s what it looks like to me, the guy getting something near the wheelbarrow, etc) and accidentally captured the…well, accident. I don’t think so. The filmer was clearly shooting the road and even stared zooming in before the truck was really in sight. Who knows what was going on… my guess is a stunt gone bad. ---
**Author:** ![palacheck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a88e57/32.png) [@palacheck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/palacheck)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-ride-in-the-back-of-a-pickup-truck/546967/9 "2010-07-17T03:40:55Z")
I have a friend who’s cousin died after flying out the back of a truck on the freeway. The cousin was helping a buddy move a mattress and decided to just sit on it instead of tying it down. Yeah. ---
**Author:** ![Perciful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Perciful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perciful)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-ride-in-the-back-of-a-pickup-truck/546967/10 "2010-07-17T04:06:52Z")
I got this via e-mail today. Does anyone know which one died? Watching it I thought what an idiot to do that with a truck full of people. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-ride-in-the-back-of-a-pickup-truck/546967/11 "2010-07-17T04:30:57Z")
> [@PlainJain](#): > > I don’t think so. The filmer was clearly shooting the road and even stared zooming in before the truck was really in sight. Who knows what was going on… my guess is a stunt gone bad. Agreed. ---
**Author:** ![Meyer6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@Meyer6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meyer6)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-ride-in-the-back-of-a-pickup-truck/546967/12 "2010-07-17T04:41:46Z")
When I was a kid riding in the back of a pickup was standard, and I can’t believe no one I knew was hurt doing it. Looking back, it was so incredibly dumb and dangerous. Having said that I would say in this particular accident it looks like the people in the truck bed fared better than those in the cab. It’s pretty clear that neither of them were wearing a seatbelt. So maybe the message should be never ride in the back of a pickup truck, and always wear a seatbelt. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-ride-in-the-back-of-a-pickup-truck/546967/13 "2010-07-17T05:14:16Z")
riding in the back of trucks is fine. those things almost never happen. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-ride-in-the-back-of-a-pickup-truck/546967/14 "2010-07-17T05:15:55Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > riding in the back of trucks is fine. those things almost never happen. ‘In every enterprise there is a particle of risk.’ ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-ride-in-the-back-of-a-pickup-truck/546967/15 "2010-07-17T05:16:47Z")
Is this really news? It seems kind of obvious that riding in the back of a pick up truck would be dangerous. You can’t be secured or strapped in so it would seem like a pretty clear risk. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-ride-in-the-back-of-a-pickup-truck/546967/16 "2010-07-17T05:21:31Z")
You shouldn’t ride inside either, because you could still get killed in a wreck ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-ride-in-the-back-of-a-pickup-truck/546967/17 "2010-07-17T08:24:10Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > Agreed. Agreed also. The cameraman was obviously waiting for the truck to come by. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-ride-in-the-back-of-a-pickup-truck/546967/18 "2010-07-17T21:31:59Z")
I think the driver was planning on hitting the wheelbarrow left in the road but the weight in the back threw him off. Man, that last guy falling out and laying there face up with the truck rolling over him. Imagine his view if his eyes were open. ---
**Author:** ![In\_Winnipeg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a8b319/32.png) [@In\_Winnipeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/In_Winnipeg)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-ride-in-the-back-of-a-pickup-truck/546967/19 "2010-07-17T22:09:21Z")
Well, the key is that the truck was overloaded – even the OP says so. We don’t know what condition the springs were in, either, but an overloaded box with bad springs and a driver showing off is definitely an accident looking for a place to happen. ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-ride-in-the-back-of-a-pickup-truck/546967/20 "2010-07-17T22:12:29Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > This is a link to a pretty horrorific video from LiveLeak that shows what the thread title implies…an overloaded pickup truck on a road somewhere in Central America rolls over (and it looks like the driver is trying to show off and ends up causing the accident). > > Its not too gory but still pretty scary. I post it because I have never seen anything quite like it. Not for the squeamish though! > > [ItemFix - Social Video Factory](http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=674_1274087598) Back around '94 or so there was a rural road accident in California with 8 fatalities. A pick-up with 2 drunk teens in the cab and 6 drunk teens in the bed drifted across the centerline and were broadsided by another truck. They lived. All 8 teens died. The bed of a truck is not a good place to be. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-ride-in-the-back-of-a-pickup-truck/546967.md?page=2)