Hey, have you ever found yourself careening down a massively steep mountainside hill in a runaway eighteen-wheeler with the brakes cut? If so, there’s really no need to worry.
AWESOME!
Photo from: here
October 2, 2008...12:01 am
#926 The Runaway Truck Ramp
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37 Comments
October 2, 2008 at 12:27 am
You know I was disappointed with the word “ramp” by the the time I got to the top I had lost momentum and could not clear the gully on the other side….. I lost my sponsorship deal as a result…. not-so-awesome
October 2, 2008 at 12:38 am
“and could not clear”
#927: Canadians’ refusal to use contractions.
October 2, 2008 at 12:46 am
When I was a kid, I always wanted to see a trunk use one.
October 2, 2008 at 12:55 am
Must be a regional awesome thing. I live on Long Island and have never seen one of those before.
That hill looks insane.
October 2, 2008 at 8:58 am
when I was about 8 years old we drove from new York to Mexico. You would not believe the levels of awesomeness I felt when my dad explained what those were for.
October 2, 2008 at 9:24 am
Nice, but charging up the incline on the far side would be a far more thrilling way to bleed off that extra velocity.
And here’s an awesome thing I thought of: getting 2 things from a vending machine for the price of one by choosing the product that is almost hanging off the little spring. Makes me happy, at least.
October 2, 2008 at 9:49 am
Runaway trucks are kind of awesome to start with. It’s nice they get their own ramps. I like on the Wikipedia article how they’re also called “gravity escape ramps”. I think mylesfromnowhere might also find that to be disappointing, though.
October 2, 2008 at 10:01 am
Check out this link to pictures of more of these crazy things:
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=runaway+truck+ramps&gbv=2
October 2, 2008 at 10:50 am
The phrase “runaway truck” makes anything awesome
October 2, 2008 at 11:34 am
Totally agree. Runaway Truck ramps – AWESOME. When I was 6 my truck ran away, but two days later we found him congregating with a bunch of other runaway trucks at our local ramp. He was cold, and lonely, and completely ready to come home. That runaway truck ramp probably saved his life.
But I wasn’t always so lucky. When I was 11, my train ran away, and we looked everywhere but couldn’t find him. To this day, I’m still haunted by that stupid Soul Asylum song reminding me that he is “never coming back.” In fact, he’s probably already been purchased as scrap metal by the Chinese. Fuck – I miss that train. (drwizard.wordpress.com)
May 6, 2010 at 1:49 pm
This comment is awesome.
October 2, 2008 at 7:47 pm
Can i just say that with each awesome thing im more convinced that we are soulmates because you get me.
I love runaway truck ramps
October 2, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Is it more sad or awesome that I know from the terrain and the curve of the road exactly where that damn picture was taken?
October 4, 2008 at 9:00 pm
OMG the INSTANT i read this post i wanted to see one of these suckers used. did i go straight to YouTube.com? Yes I did. Was I duly rewarded? Yes we were. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q__9C4-UsE4&feature=related
October 13, 2009 at 4:13 pm
Holy Crap! That is scary! I cant imagine that happening to me. Dang. But cool video.
May 2, 2010 at 4:02 pm
Wow, happy ending.
October 6, 2008 at 6:12 am
They have arrester lanes in the Charlevoix in Quebec. I always thought they just slowed the truck down by the weight of it driving it into the gravel.
October 6, 2008 at 7:29 am
emegine saglık. super :)
October 16, 2008 at 12:41 pm
@The ranter formerly known as Dave
It’s awesome, and I say that simply because I’ve actually seen a truck use that particular ramp. Legen-Awesome-dary.
April 1, 2009 at 1:32 pm
I’ve always secretly wanted to go up one of those ramps but never did because I was afraid an actual runaway truck would come up behind me and smash me to smithereens. Haha.
September 9, 2009 at 12:09 am
That ramp is right by my house, awesome.
May 17, 2010 at 7:56 pm
It looks exactly like one I used to drive by in Wyoming all the time…?
May 17, 2010 at 8:20 pm
It also looks exactly like every runaway truck ramp I’ve ever seen.
I’m not sure what the distinguishing feature is here that you guys are picking up on. It’s the best possible “generic truck ramp” picture I could imagine. :)
June 2, 2010 at 4:46 pm
It’s on the West side of the Eisenhower Tunnel in Summit County, CO. I guess I’ve driven I-70 way too many times!
September 14, 2009 at 4:15 pm
What would be even more awesome is having two trucks with failed brakes heading towards the ramp.
November 20, 2009 at 12:35 pm
Saved my life! Going through Vermont we ended up losing our brakes in a snow storm, the runaway truck ramp made us not die. The are awesome.
November 25, 2009 at 2:41 pm
OMG! Just talked about this in Physics class. How funny
January 30, 2010 at 5:50 pm
Going up one of these ramps is definitely on my list of Things To Do Before I Die.
March 16, 2010 at 5:37 pm
a friend of mine once took his parents mini van down one of those gravel ramps on a road trip(just for fun)…tore out the whole underneath of the van!
March 31, 2010 at 6:25 pm
I grew up in staten island and never heard of these until I moved to PA, and were pretty common up in wilkes-barre. I was so tempted…
April 11, 2010 at 11:20 pm
I just found this site a while back when a friend of mine suggested it to me. I’ve been an avid reader ever since.
April 23, 2010 at 1:14 pm
We call them Truck Arrester Beds where I come from. My mate ‘accidentally’ drove his Lancer into one, and he ended up selling it because he couldn’t handle the rattling from all the little bits of pea gravel still stuck in his car haha.
April 24, 2010 at 12:30 am
and i thought i was the only one……
April 24, 2010 at 10:45 am
OMG! just heard of this site this morning..where have I been! This is awesome! So much better than the morning paper LOL!,
May 2, 2010 at 3:59 pm
I wonder how often these ramps come in handy. With how rare they are, what are the chances of having a brake failure and having the opportunity to use the runaway ramp? (Still, I’m sure they have saved a few lives.)
I’ve never seen one, but it’s a great concept. There should be one by every rest stop and weigh station on the interstate. This couldn’t cost much to implement… it’s just a short offshoot lane and some sand.
May 9, 2010 at 5:29 pm
Can a runaway car use a runaway truck ramp? And I’ve also always wondered what happens when you get to the top? Don’t you just slide down backwards (because your brakes aren’t working) and back up the slope you have just runaway on, then back up the ramp, then back up the slope… until you eventually lose momentum or oncoming traffic gets in your path.
That is assuming your gears aren’t working either.
August 16, 2010 at 7:49 pm
I once saw a family having a picnic right dab in the middle of one of those things