A Louisiana employee almost lost his life while he was fixing a traffic light at a stop. The incident was recorded by the dashcam of a car parked a few feet away from the traffic light. In the footage posted on Reddit, the victim was captured inside a utility bucket, fixing an overhead traffic light. Another worker was also on the ground, wearing a lime-green utility vest. He was likely in charge of providing ground support to his colleague and was seen attempting to control cars that drove near the utility ladder.
As the traffic light was actively being repaired, it turned red, bringing some of the cars at the intersection to a stop. However, cars coming from the opposite lane did not seem to notice the red light, but continued to drive past the traffic light. Similarly, an 18-wheeler also attempted to drive past the light.
The head of the truck successfully made the turn, and the victim in the utility bucket was seen inching away as the truck made the full turn. His colleague on the ground was captured using his hands in an attempt to slow the truck down, but the driver of the truck appeared not to see him.
The truck then rammed into the utility bucket, causing it to break apart and leave the victim dangling upside down over the highway. If he had not been strapped in, the worker would have fallen straight to the ground and possibly into incoming traffic.
Meanwhile, his colleague on the ground attempted to reach him while he was still upside down by grabbing his hands, but was unable to do so. Towards the end of the video, he was seen climbing into the utility vehicle, most likely trying to bring the victim to ground level.
As the video went viral on social media, different users had different opinions about the incident. Some blamed the semi-truck’s driver for not paying more attention to the road, others blamed the government, and the company that sent the workers to fix the light.
One user wrote, “…Who thought it was a good idea to dangle a guy over moving traffic? At minimum, that lane should’ve been closed…”
Another wrote, “There is definitely a lack of traffic control, but I’ve seen too many semis driving with the ‘f*ck you, I’m bigger’ attitude not to deal the driver a little bit of blame.” Yet, another commented, “Person in a vehicle who runs into a stationary object is nearly always responsible; it’s not like he came around a blind curve at night and hit a kid standing in the road.”
One user echoed the same thought, pointing out that the truck driver was negligent. “Is he f*cking blind? Doesn’t know the clearance of his vehicle? Bc it seems like it’s his dumbass fault.”
On the other hand, others blamed the company for its negligence. “…What is the ground guy gonna do? Jump in front of the truck? This is a failure of management from not assigning traffic control.” The user also wrote that if the company applied for traffic control but was denied by the city, then it’s the city’s fault. The user also added that in that case, the city is therefore sacrificing worker safety just to “L.”
