Two held after frozen canal drive
Two held after frozen canal drive | |
![car in canal [Pic by Morag Kinniburgh]](http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/47095000/jpg/_47095539_canalcar466.jpg) The Peugeot 406 remains in the Union Canal, near Winchburgh in West Lothian | |
photo by Morag Kinniburgh
From the BBC News website:
Two men have been charged with reckless conduct after a car which was being driven on a frozen canal plunged through the ice.
The men, aged 24 and 22, are accused of driving a Peugeot 406 on the Union Canal, near Winchburgh in West Lothian, on Monday afternoon.
The ice gave way but the occupants managed to escape from the car, which was found by the emergency services.
The two men are expected to appear in court at a later date.
A police spokesman said: "While it goes without saying that the vast majority of people have the good sense not to take their vehicles on to frozen waterways, this incident serves as an example of the type of stupidity that the emergency services occasionally have to deal with."
He added: "The ice is now starting to thin, and there is always going to be the danger that it will give way, with potentially fatal consequences."
The "road" is, of course, what working boaters called the canal route. The men here seem to have taken that a little too literally.
6 comments:
I just read this. Moronic, really, and you wonder whether they should have been stuck in the car...
As that didn't happen, let's hope the judge sorts them out.
And do you suppose that it was their own car or one they stole earlier..........
Oh, Halfie - The Ridgeare revisited series starts tomorrow.
Andy
Carl, let's hope it was a sufficiently sobering experience.
Andy, mmmmm!
Hmm yes I did try to comment on Granny's blog but his system would not let me. A quick google tells me that ice is not safe to walk on till it is 4" to 6" thick. I suspect that the comparable figure for a car is not that far off - cars are actually lighter than a mass of people. Just because boats are not moving does not mean that the ice is thick!
As far the car crowd, I wonder if BW are asking about licences and breaking washes ... :-)
Richard
Richard, I suspect that the critical factor is the pressure on the ice. A car touches the ice at four points, each one of which is approximately the size of a footprint. So two people standing on the ice have about the same contact area as a car. Therefore, for a car with two people inside, assuming even weight distribution, it's as if each person were carrying half a car while standing on the ice.
I think the car is more likely to break through!
Yes you are right - googled a bit more eg here http://www.wikihow.com/Know-When-Ice-is-Safe General advice is 4"-6" for "foot travel in single lines", 8" for one car or a group of people though some sites quote 10"-16" for small cars!
Richard
Post a Comment