I believe that you have understated the possibility of tragedy because most overhead residential primary distribution conductors that do posess some insulation, well...it's not really any real voltage rated level of insulation. I added this link to another post that ended up in the Photo gallery section of this forum, but you might like it as well
http://www.themeterguy.com/photogallery/BoomTruckinPowerLines.wmv It's of a crane that had just contacted an overheas primary with it's winch line; pretty dramatic!
I remeber working on a trouble call one winter day, and was going from pole to pole. I was working alone, [ tat was stupid, but the contractor was a jerk, shoulda known better], Crawled into the bucket, raised up about 30', and started to swing to the side. In all the moving of the truck, I forgot to re-set the outriggers that stop. The truck leaned but didn't tip. God!! was I lucky. I quickly twisted grip back and lowered the boom. Then set the outriggers. I probably should have gone home at that point.
