Berms - Truck Safety Device (Supposedly)

	The top photo shows a 250 tonne yellow Komatsu at work. The piles of dirt and rock on the side of the road (known locally as rickrack) are called berms. In winter, if a truck hits ice or loses its brakes, the frozen berms will hopefully stop a fully loaded 250 tonne truck from going off the road. These berms are the only safety precaution to stop a haulage truck from falling over the face of a mine pit.
	Most times these berms do the job they are intended to do, but once in a while they fail to stop a truck. At these times most drivers decide it is better to jump the 22 feet (6ž m) from the truck cab to the ground then to stay with the truck and, in the case of Humphrey Mine, a one mile (1˝ km) drop to the bottom. This has happened numerous times, but in one instance a driver stayed with the truck to try and get it back under control; unfortunately, the truck went over the edge and the driver was killed.
In summer of 2001, an acquaintance had the unfortunate experience of loosing control of his haulage truck. In the particular area that the accident occurred there were three lines of berms. Before he managed to stop the truck the front of the vehicle had went beyond the third berm and the passenger side wheel was out over the face of the pit. In this case, the only damage was to the truck, to the tune of $250,000.