What's the frequency, Colorado?

[LarsMac]

Originally Posted by Stephen Maturin

GOP Rep. Scott Tipton, an ineffectual moron, apparently isn't wingnutty enough for some of the God-fearin' folk of Colorado's Congressional District 3. He now has a Republican challenger for the CD3 seat. The challenger is Lauren Boebert, a restaurateur who owns and operates Shooters Grill in Rifle, CO, where the shtick is that Ms. Boebert and the servers open-carry on the job.

Colorado Dems have taken to calling Ms. Boebert "Yosemite Samantha" and the restaurant "Glocksuckers," but Colorado CD3 is full of wingnuts with whom this special brand of crazy will resonate in a big way.

Folks in that part of the world prefer an effectual Moron?

[JoeP]

Originally Posted by LarsMac

Folks in that part of the world prefer an effectual Moron?

Whereas one state over ...

[Stephen Maturin]

Originally Posted by LarsMac

Folks in that part of the world prefer an effectual Moron?

Judging by ol' Scott's numbers in the past few congressional elections, a healthy majority of CD-3 voters are A-OK with ineffectual. Looks like he usually draws a primary opponent or two, but this one has the highest lulz potential yet.

[Stephen Maturin]

Senate Bill 20-100, introduced in the state legislature yesterday, would eliminate capital punishment for offenses charged on or after July 1, 2020. Juries and prosecutors have pretty much eliminated the death penalty on a de facto basis, but this would make it official. They got close last year, but things fell apart in the state senate at the end of the session. This time, there are three Republican sponsors in the senate (Jack Tate, Owen Hill and Kevin Priola). Absent an extraordinary meltdown, this is the year.

The repeal would not affect the death sentence of the three lolorado inmates currently on death row.

In an apparent effort to steal the thunder of crunchy, nature-loving, leftie Boulder trust fund hippie anti-vaxxers, GOP legislators Sen. Vicki Marble and Rep. Lori Saine have introduced Senate Bill 20-84, which would prohibit any and all employment discrimination based on vaccination status. The "Legislative Declarations" section reads like it was cribbed directly from the woo/huckster websites that You Know Who regularly cited in our own anti-vax thread.

[LarsMac]

I've learned to keep my mouth shut most of the time when we go over the hill to visit family. I stop talking on the way down from Vail.

[Stephen Maturin]

Smart man!

[lisarea]

Gov. Polis wades into Denver pit bull debate with puppy picture

[lisarea]

Colorado Springs mayor candidate accused of trying to steal another woman's baby

[LarsMac]

A new movement is afoot in Colorado to repeal the Amendment that allowed the legalization of Pot.

Prohibitionists want Colorado voters to recriminalize marijuana in November - Boulder Weekly

[Ari]

https://snowbrains.com/video-camera-...-runaway-ramp/

Video of a truck going about 85mph using a Runaway! Truck ramp in Colorado.

[Ensign Steve]

Wow, that is insane how high up the ramp it went!

[slimshady2357]

I've never seen one of those before and it's super cool they have them. Great job by the driver too

[lisarea]

They're all over the place here. I've seen them recently used at least a couple times back when I used to drive in and out of the mountain areas a lot.

We have these slopes coming out of the mountains into the city that are kind of deceptive for truck drivers. Once they've gotten away from the steeper declines, they think they're on flat ground, but they're not. There are a million warning signs and several ramps coming into the city, but you still see a lot of trucks coming down with their brakes smoking, thinking they can make it.

And most do, but last year, there was this horrible crash caused by a very young truck driver who didn't use them and ended up plowing into a bunch of cars stuck in traffic, killing four people.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Those are the Rocky Mountain Way for sure. Never seen one in use until now in that video, thankfully.

Another thing found in the mountains at the top of those types of hills before the descent is a brake check pullout. A wide spot on the road for truckers to check their brakes and take a piss in an outhouse rather than in their pants.

[JoeP]

Can't recall seeing one in the UK, but they have them in SA - not usually as steep as that (presumably that's a special case with the ground rising allowing it), but with sand / grit which I imagine is fairly difficult to keep up speed on.

Never saw one in action ... would probably spray sand all over the road and cars.

[JoeP]

Originally Posted by Kamilah Hauptmann

and take a piss in an outhouse rather than in their pants.

Ooh, fancy.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Rockies, Andes, Alps, Himalayas. All else are speedbumps.

[LarsMac]

Originally Posted by slimshady2357

I've never seen one of those before and it's super cool they have them. Great job by the driver too

I feel the need to point out that he must have come out of the Tunnel at a bit more than the recommended 35, and completely ignored the warnings to gear down, to have been humpin' 85mph with smoking brakes by the time he got to that ramp.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

It’s not Colorado Colorado, you’ll see.

Man drives Jeep off 6-story roof of Los Angeles-area garage - SFGate

[JoeP]

Is it any kind of Colorado? Or is this more of your cavalier disdain for thread topics, slowly undermining the very structure of one headline at a time?

* JoeP tries to be indignant
* JoeP imagines a non-existent golden age when threads stayed on topic

[JoeP]

[ceptimus]

We do have emergency escape lanes on hills in the UK, but they tend to be downhill or level rather than uphill ramps, and filled with soft sand or gravel to bring the runaway vehicle to a halt. With the uphill ones in the American mountains, I would have thought there was a danger of rolling backwards down the ramp after stopping, if the brakes have failed completely.



They're becoming less common here as car and truck brakes improve. There have also been numerous reports of idiots using the lanes as picnic sites.

Nearest one to me that I know of is on Fish Hill which descends from the Cotswold hills down to the village of Broadway.

GoPro Hero 2 Fish hill 50mph On Road bike!! -...

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

The runaway lanes here are soft gravel as well.

From what I understand here, the flat or downhill pullouts are called arrestor beds where the uphill variety is called gravity beds.

Runaway Lanes and 4 Steps to Prevent Brake Loss in Commercial Vehicles Explained | TranBC

The reasoning I suppose for gravity beds is because often in the mountains you haven’t much lateral room to work with, especially if there’s a cliff on one or both sides. So they get crammed in wherever possible because even with some rollback it’s preferable to a fiery crash or the removal of a full lane.

On a lark I looked up highest pass in UK, Cairnwell pass, 670m.
The Coquihalla a few hours from me is roughly twice that and descends to near sea level in one long go. Bring chewing gum, your ears will ring from popping.

[LarsMac]

Little mention in that of using lower gears to start down the hill, so you don't need to rely on the brakes?
You should gear down (Also disable Overdrive. ) and mind your speed before starting down the grade, and use brakes sparingly, but firmly.
And, be fucking PATIENT.

[Stephen Maturin]

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review our "faithless elector" case, and scheduled argument for April 28. That probably means we'll have a ruling by late June.