#41 In Control Of Safety
One summer day when I was 16 years old, my dad brought myself and my two brothers along with him to go collect decorative rocks from someone not too far away. Their house was on a steep hill. At one point, we had loaded enough rocks into our truck, so my dad took my brothers drove home to make the first drop-off.
He had me sit on the loader to keep watch, telling me they’d be back in about 20 minutes or so. While hanging out on the loader, I decided to note where all the different controls of the loader were, particularly the E-brake. My dad and brothers come back about 30 minutes later and we continued loading another set of rocks.
Somehow, at one point when my dad got off the loader to get some water, the loader started rolling backward even though he had put it in park. When it was INCHES away from absolutely decimating a tiny Porsche that wouldn’t have stood a chance against the loader, I managed to jump on and, having noted the E-brake location earlier, yanked it as hard as I could. I saved my dad that day.
Credit: jacetone