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British tank crushes German teenage learner's car – Telegraph

A learner driver in Germany had a narrow escape on Monday when her car was crushed by a British tank. The 18-year-old driver made the mistake of turning into a column of British tanks that were travelling through the small town of Augustdorf. The British soldier at the controls of the tank behind her had…

A learner driver in Germany had a narrow escape on Monday when her car was crushed by a British tank.

The 18-year-old driver made the mistake of turning into a column of British tanks that were travelling through the small town of Augustdorf.

The British soldier at the controls of the tank behind her had no time to stop, but managed to turn so that he crushed the engine of the car, just avoiding the driver.

via British tank crushes German teenage learner’s car – Telegraph.

Americans see the local reserve unit Humvee in a parking lot and go nuts screaming #JadeHelm. But in Germany, armored vehicles on the road are fairly common. I’ve done a couple of (fairly short) road marches myself.

Here’s the thing. The laws of physics are at work. A body in motion tends to stay in motion. That Challenger II tank weighs about 65 tons. It stops in a lot shorter space than you might think, but it still takes a bit of time and space.

If you do find yourself sharing the road with a military convoy, do please do your best to not interrupt it or weave in and out. Most convoys move at a slower pace than regular traffic. They generally also mark the first and last vehicles in the column. Move to the passing lane, pass the entire convoy, and then get back to the right hand lane.

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  1. LC Aggie Sith

    I really hope she gets no points taken off her license.

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Mike

    A valuable lessen for this new driver regarding ‘right of way’.

    Like

  3. xbradtc

    And “Right of Weight.”

    Liked by 1 person

  4. scottthebadger

    Nothing has brakes like freight trains, though. A 7500 ton, mile long train, doing 60 mph, can stop in it’s own length. That is EXTREMELY impressive, when you think about it.

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  5. Tarl

    I actually had no idea the British still had tanks in Germany.

    And hey, be careful with those German jungvolk… there aren’t a lot of ’em these days.

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  6. LT Rusty

    Law of Gross Tonnage.

    Sure, your sailboat (or subcompact car) might technically have the right of way over the carrier (or AFV), but do you really want to press your luck?

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  7. captainned

    When the name of the road is “Panzerringstraße” one would think drivers had been alerted to the potential of MBTs rolling down the road.

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  8. Quartermaster

    Just don’t jump the signals at a grade crossing. You will lose that contest.

    One thing that often happens in such fast stops is the tires throw hot steel. More than one fire has been started by trains having to brake hard. A brush fire was started on a friends property which was next to L&N line north of Gallatin, TN in the late 80s.

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  9. Quartermaster

    My youngest brother was a tanker stationed at Elvis’ old Kaserne. They were out on a field exercise during a REFORGer and a german was flitting in and out of his column. He zigged when he should have zagged and paid the ultimate price for his impatience. That VW pick-em-up didn’t stand much of a chance against 51 tons of homogeneous steel. My brother said it was pretty gruesome.

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  10. scottthebadger

    I helped look for parts of a kid on a bike who tried to beat the EMPIRE BUILDER to the crossing. We found parts of him over a mile from the impact point.

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  11. Esli

    Ray Barracks. I spent 4.5 years there, but no Elvis in sight (except the impersonator the BDE CDR hired one time).

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