May 19, 2004
Incompetence
A family of 3 is dead after a bridge girder fell.
An hour before the accident, someone called 911:
The caller said, "The bridge over C-470 and I-70 looks like they hung a new I-beam girder in the last couple of days, uh, it's rolled and it looks like it's structurally unsafe over the freeway."The dispatcher responded, "So there's a sign actually hanging down?"
Yeah, "I-beam girder" and "sign" sound practically identical.
Posted by Jennifer at May 19, 2004 09:22 AMI wouldn't be too quick to judge this one. Cell phone calls (I assume that's what it was) aren't always loud and clear, and dispatchers are trained to repeat what they heard to verify. The dispatcher did, but why wasn't the information repeated to correct the misunderstanding?
Sounds like this could be a few different problems all coming together to contribute to the tragedy.
Posted by: Ted at May 20, 2004 06:34 AMBeing a former Coloradan who drove under this overpass every day for 9 years, I paid special attention to the coverage of this story. On KCNC-TV News4, the cell phone call was incredibly clear and there is no way the dispatcher could've misunderstood the words "I-beam girder." Still, I agree that the caller should have reiterated his report after the dispatcher mistakenly referred to the girder as a sign. May God bless the Post and Miller families and take solace in the fact that their loved ones likely never suffered a moment of pain.
Posted by: David at May 20, 2004 10:26 PM
Jew