Tank transporter vs. motorway noise barrier

[Guest]

The A12 motorway near Reeuwijk in the Netherlands this afternoon:

The tank is a Leopard 2A4(NL) from the collection of the Dutch Army’s Cavalry Museum, and is in working order. Apparently, it was being moved to a workshop for maintenance when the transporter carrying it went through the crash barrier and then through the noise barrier as well before the whole combination came to a halt. A passenger in the cab was lightly injured, but nobody else was hurt. Except for the motorists on not just the A12 but several other motorways who ended up in traffic jams of an hour or more, that is.

[Jack L]

He's not living that one down in a hurry.

[Jim R]

Fightening. Glad no one was killed or seriously injured. There's a few thousand pounds worth of damage in that lot.

[Mark1]

The driver was breathalysed by police and found to be tanked up! :tongue-out3:

[adt70hk]

He made a bit of a hash of that didn't he!!!

[Graeme C.]

They were lucky the tank didn't go through the cab.....

[Guest]

It appears to have slid forwards and ended up almost on the rear of the tractor. I suppose the upward angle at the front of the trailer stopped it.

I did see some speculation that the tank moving is what prevented the accident being worse, because if it had been tied to the trailer more firmly, its mass would likely have pulled the whole combination much further along through the barriers.

The cause of the accident, BTW, appears to have been a tyre blow-out, I would guess (but am not sure) on the tractor.

[Guest]

Now if that was in the UK the whole motorway would have been closed down in both directions.

[Guest]

If there had been serious injuries it probably would have been here too, but with only one minor injury I guess they felt they could open a lane again soon after to ease the traffic jam somewhat: this is on the motorway between Rotterdam and Utrecht, on a stretch where there are regular traffic jams every morning and evening.

[Guest]

Whats that tank weigh 50 tons ? that's quite a lot of weight, I would have thought that the holding chains had been fixed properly, remember the chain tightening system is only as strong as the weakest link.

[Guest]

55 or so. Wait, let me reach for the manual that should be on a shelf somewhere behind me … Empty weight 52 tonnes, says the temporary manual for the initial version of the Leopard 2(NL); I doubt this 2A4 was notably heavier.

[Guest]

What a surprise that you have a manual :smiling3: Nice one ! Considering the weight I'm not surprised it shot forward. Should have thought the recovery took a lot longer and resulted in a closure for a brief time.

[Guest]

What a surprise that you have a manual :smiling3:

The things you (used to) find in second-hand book shops …

Should have thought the recovery took a lot longer and resulted in a closure for a brief time.

On another forum, someone who used to work at DAF commented that, “Those Tropcos* are just about indestructible. Put on a new tyre and a new trailer and drive on”

* Trekker-oplegger-combinatie, “tractor-trailer combination”, the common name for these tank transporters in the Dutch military.