49 year old female chipper operator struck and killed by car, Armstrong Co. PA

[serial killer]

Watch yourselves out there. We have so much danger of our own to worry about that I think sometimes we forget that the general public can be just as unpredictable and dangerous, or more.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09121/966858-54.stm

Woman killed in multi-vehicle crash in Armstrong County
Friday, May 01, 2009
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A woman working as part of a roadside tree removal crew was killed yesterday in a multi-vehicle crash on Route 422 in Armstrong County, state police said.

Lauri A. Woodrow, 49, was loading tree branches into a wood chipper on the closed right lane of westbound 422 when a car slid into her and she was thrown under the wood chipper.

The crash happened about 2:30 p.m. when a car driven by Shawn L. Bachman, 31, of Cabot, was stopped and waiting to turn left on Mushroom Farm Road, police said. A sport utility vehicle driven by Michael S. Johnson, 20, of Grove City, stopped behind the Nissan.

A truck driven by Christopher Peters, 31, of Saegertown, hit the SUV, which was propelled into Ms. Woodrow, who was pronounced dead of blunt force trauma, according to Armstrong County Coroner Robert Bower.

Mr. Johnson and his passenger, Edward T. Zalewski, 19, of Downingtown, were injured; so was Mr. Bachman. The crash remains under investigation.

 

[TreEmergencyB]

o no kinda close to home thats less than a half hour away

 

[outofmytree]

Ow.

I always push my crew to have the signs at least 30 metres from the truck/chipper and have cones start 15 metres away. You cannot stop every accident but you can stop some.

 

[Dude5285]

yea truly sad. we've all had a close call with distracted drivers that are just to busy either talking on there cell phone, or maybe just sun glare. Our policy is 1 cone behind the chipper, 4 cones placed 17 steps apart. then 2 cones for a buffer 17 steps. They dont care if there isnt a single car on the road at all that day that is the rule. Its just a pain in the butt when your doing bucket work lol but hey were payed by the hour :-D i don't know how many accidents it may have prevented but hey its extra safety.

 

[Bigus Termitius]

I'm almost to the point now where I'm willing to set up concrete barriers if on a two lane highway of any kind. Or set up a second loaded truck with one of those impact absorbers that the state boys use.

A couple of signs stating camera enforced work zone wouldn't hurt, complete with the cameras. I'd love to turn in tape at the end of a day on the big roads.

 

[Bigus Termitius]

Prayers for the family and coworkers going up.