I just had to say something here because, besides presently owning and driving a 115 and a 107 (...and the old 123--gone but not forgotten), I drive an 18-wheeler for a living most of the time and have done so for over 30 years.
Foremost in my mind when I am approaching any situation on the road is the anticipation of what would be the most inappropriate (read: "stupid") thing that another driver could do and then plan what my reaction would be to it. I doubt if any of you guys on the list would believe me if I told you how often that's exactly what does happen. I'm not trying to say that truck drivers are blameless--in fact I've seen some real boneheads that should have not been allowed behind the wheel of any vehicle, let alone a truck--but some of the things I've seen 4-wheeler drivers do would simply blow you away! And I have to concede that it is probable that the sheer numbers of 4-wheelers in comparison to the numbers of trucks on the road blow what I've observed out of proportion somewhat. But still....... In my years of operating these monsters my experiences have taught me to be a defensive driver above all else and, even though I am confident enough of my own driving abilities, I know that the beast I am herding down the road is much more difficult to maneuver than is my 115, for example, so I drive with that thought in mind and try to compensate in advance for upcoming traffic situations. Unfortunately, many (most?) 4-wheeler drivers do not exhibit that concept and they drive as if these trucks were as manageable as what they are driving and that's not the way it is at all. It appears from Tom Scordato's post that he was well aware of a possible upcoming hazarous event and he acted appropriately. That action may well have saved his life. If more people would similarly try to be more aware and prepared, many injuries and lives lost might be prevented. I don't know what the truck driver in question was doing when he should have been paying attention, but he obviously was driving beyond his capacity to control his vehicle. There could have been extenuating circumstances, but he was obviously not in control and that's a bad thing. Just as in any group of people, there are those over-the-road drivers who do their jobs efficiently and exhibit a high level of expertise--and there are those at the other end of the scale as well. Unfortunately, it's the ones at the lower end of the scale that often get the attention and therefore cause some folks to generalize and form opinions based on their (re: "all Indians walk single file--at least the one that I saw did") personal experiences which are often very limited in scope. It's too bad but that's how it is. Since I'm not aware of the safety standards of the aerospace or maritime industries, I'm unable to make any informed comments, but I do know that both the federal government as well as the individual states have the Department of Transportation regulations which do much to enforce compliance with safety standards. The demise of the old Interstate Commerce Commission left a little to be desired in as far as enforcement of a multitude of confusing rules, but it was a step in the right direction and all good things seem to take some time before they mature to their fruition (is that even a word?). Unfortunately, it's not there yet, but I have observed much progress (notice I didn't say improvement-some of the new rules are absolutely assinine!) in this area over the past 30 years. But they are working on it. Anyway, I got that off my chest. I'm glad nobody was injured or killed--that's the main thing--and one more of these amazing MBz's (with a driver a cut above the average driver) continues to roll on it's way and that's a good thing. From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Wed Feb 01 18:02:04 2006 Received: from mta9.adelphia.net ([68.168.78.199]) by server5.arterytc5.net with esmtp (Exim 4.52) id 1F4MIu-0002DJ-D8 for [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Wed, 01 Feb 2006 18:02:04 +0000 Received: from your03667082de ([68.233.126.219]) by mta9.adelphia.net (InterMail vM.6.01.05.02 201-2131-123-102-20050715) with SMTP id <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> for <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; Wed, 1 Feb 2006 13:01:59 -0500 Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> From: "Tom Scordato" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Mercedes Discussion List" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> References: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]><[EMAIL PROTECTED]> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Wed, 1 Feb 2006 12:56:15 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1"; reply-type=original Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.2180 X-MIMEOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.2180 X-Antivirus-Scanner: Clean mail though you should still use an Antivirus Subject: Re: [MBZ] MB EPC Electronics Parts Catalog ON LINE X-BeenThere: [EMAIL PROTECTED] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.6 Precedence: list Reply-To: Mercedes Discussion List <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> List-Id: Mercedes Discussion List <mercedes_striplin.net.striplin.net> List-Unsubscribe: <http://striplin.net/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_striplin.net>, <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> List-Archive: <http://striplin.net/pipermail/mercedes_striplin.net> List-Post: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> List-Help: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> List-Subscribe: <http://striplin.net/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_striplin.net>, <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 01 Feb 2006 18:02:04 -0000 "Sort of: " Tom Thanks not bad, a little Russian but not bad. Much better than nothing. Regards Tom ----- Original Message ----- From: "tom savage" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Mercedes Discussion List" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, February 01, 2006 9:58 AM Subject: Re: [MBZ] MB EPC Electronics Parts Catalog ON LINE > Tom Scordato wrote: > >> I know the MB tech manuals are on line. Was wondering if the EPC was >> too. > > Sort of: http://www.detali.ru/cat/oem_mb.asp > > Tom > No working EPC for years > > _______________________________________ > http://www.striplin.net > For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/ > For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://striplin.net/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_striplin.net >