Some of us recall an entire ad campaign based on that. Where did that all go?
Ah, classic PSAs. (I’m still out here searching for the answer to this question)
As a motorcyclist, I have always assumed that all other drivers are crazy and stupid, but only about 1 in 10 of them are actively trying to kill me.
I always had this image of some milktoast suburbanite standing over my corpse saying, “Honest officer, I didn’t see him.” While inside themselves they’re giggling madly thinking, “I got to kill someone today, and the law can’t touch me.”
Today at breakfast the waitresses were discussing a crash that happened last night near here that they both separately saw the aftermath of. I looked it up online when I got home. Not pretty. Putting the stories together …
Two boulevards crossing. 3 lanes in each of the 4 directions, plus left & right turn lanes in each of the 4 directions. Speed limits 45, most people drive 55 to 60. Harley coming one way. Pickup truck coming opposite direction makes a legal u-turn from the inner left turn lane. Harley ends up embedded up to the forward cylinder head in the front quarter panel of the pickup aft of the truck’s front wheel. The rider did not go over the pickup’s hood. He went face first into the side of it. Dead in an instant.
It’s unclear from the reports whether the Harley was riding calmly or speeding madly. We see both kinds. Also unclear if the pickup driver was drunk or sober, careful or oblivious or distracted or just goofed. No clue what the phasing of the traffic light was versus the accident. Lotta folks blow through intersections well past the yellow and into the red lights. Even motorcycles do this.
Regardless of details, one more guy is now most sincerely dead.
That;s how my dad died. A guy in a truck took his eyes off of the road to put in a CD, He slammed into my dad and pushed my dad, on the motorcycle, up against anothe truck. Dad died less than an hour later. I’ll never know why the cops didn’t charge the killer with something at least. I hope the music was worth the life of my father. I would have pursued a civil suit but mom said she couldn’t handle it, so I backed off.
An acquaintance of mine* died in a manner that was almost identical around 20 years ago.
She had just driven home, and stopped her vehicle (a Nissan Xterra, as I recall) at the end of her driveway to get the mail from her curbside mailbox. However, she failed to put her vehicle in “Park” before exiting the vehicle. After a moment, she realized her vehicle had started moving. She was trying to re-enter the vehicle to stop it but before she could get in it went past a tree and closed the door on her body while she was halfway in. She died at the scene.
*She was a waitress at a restaurant we went to frequently, and she also owned a dress shop – in fact she hand-made a wedding dress for my stepdaughter.
My aunt’s ex husband (she was married three or four times and my father’s other sister was married eight or nine times, and I never met any of them so I don’t consider them uncles) was riding in an army bus when a pine log came off the truck in front of them.
Apparently a couple of soldiers (a few? several?) were impaled and at least the ex-husband died.
Even through they were divorced, he hadn’t changed his survivor’s benefits so she got whatever insurance there was.
That kind of “random” thing happens. E.g., you are driving down the street just when some underground transformer explodes and it’s curtains.
Way back when the Oakland Bay bridge had 6 lanes of two way traffic, I was headed home from SF driving in the west-east left lane. A car in the opposite left lane was approaching above the speed limit and began making a lot of noise. When our driver windows were side by side I realized his the front left tire had blown out and was disintegrating. I glanced in my rear view mirror and saw the car leap the median to skid broadside down my lane. I could see anything of it for only a couple of seconds.
With the ignorant arrogance of a male teen I saw it as an interesting story to tell rather than a Trump/ear like survival experience. I didn’t even report it at the toll booth. But, recalling it now, I shudder.
I thought the “grain silos” thing was going to be similar to what happened to one of my wife’s cousins. A lot of her extended family are farmers. I guess there is some kind of corkscrew or auger in the bottom of the silo that helps keep the grain flowing? The auger got stuck and he went down inside to try to free it up and got caught in it when it started moving again. I guess his son, who is mentally challenged, was supposed to make sure the switch was off and either didn’t, or turned it back on when he wasn’t supposed to.
As far as wheels coming off of vehicles, I’ve seen it happen twice and it nearly happened to me once. When I pulled off the highway to see what was going on with the wheel, I found it was only being held on by one lug nut, all the others had sheared off!
I have a Toyota D4D double cab truck. I had just loaded up with a ton (metric) of wine donated to my Afrika Burn camp (local offshoot of Burning Man.)
I was not used to driving with that heavy load, so taking it easy.
Spotted a guy wandering in the road in an unusual manner, so slowed down. Thank god I did, because he bent over and ran straight at my truck. I managed to dodge him, mostly, he hit the front right fender and somehow I rode over his leg.
He was not badly injured physically. I am sure he has some psychological issues.
I certainly do. I was.a cautious driver, now I am an ultra-cautious driver.
I can’t imagine how I would feel if this random guy who I have never met had succeeded in his suicide attempt. He was suicidal because he just got fired for going on a three day bender instead of work, and for a low-income farm worker here in RSA, getting fired means losing your accomodation as well as your job.
I really feel bad for the guy. I was cryimg on the police station, and I am tearing up now.
This was a friend of mine miraculously he wasn’t injured. If he was in any other vehicle he would probably be dead. He was driving a Jeep that was made to do real Jeep things. The solid steel front bumper is what saved him.
@Loach wow. Some of those aftermarket bumpers are truly beefy and strong. They can be pricey, but your friend’s bumper was worth every penny.
Yup, not uncommon at mountain homes. Step outside, slam the house door and wammo. I’m very, very cautious. Thing is, it’s best not to look up at falling icicles.
There was a case, I think in Aspen, where a person was buried under an avalanch and died. The avalanche was from the roof of their house.
This is very similar to how a celebrity died. Fans of Star Trek (TOS) will likely remember Ensign Pavel Chekov, and in the movie Star Trek (2009) actor Anton Yelchin portrayed a young Pavel Chekov. That actor, Anton Yelchin, had a 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee and the design of its transmission lever left gear choices somewhat ambiguous to the driver. Yelchin thought his Jeep was in Park when it wasn’t, and he was crushed to death in 2016 when it rolled and pinned him against a pillar in his own driveway.
Jeep forced a safety redesign mandatory installation, and my 2014 Jeep was required to have it installed. I want a fan of the new design. I liked the original, but I’m a motorcyclist and am used to transmission levers that don’t tell you what gear you are in. The original design used a little less space in the car.
➜ Anton Yelchin - Wikipedia ■
➜ Jeep that killed 'Star Trek' actor Anton Yelchin was flagged for safety problems ■
A second cousin of mine (someone I didn’t know, my paternal grandmother had LOTS of siblings) was living in a trailer in a very rural area with his wife and infant son when a stray bullet from a hunting rifle pierced the wall of the trailer and went through the head of the infant.
But this is not a story that fits the subject line, the child miraculously survived without permanent injury.
I’m not sure what, if any, penalties the hunters faced, but they were hunting legally and they came forward and accepted responsibility even though they probably could’ve easily evaded it,
My car goes to extraordinary lengths to prevent those kinds of screw-ups.
If the engine is running and the car is in D or R and you open either door, the transmission shifts itself to Park, the parking brake self-sets, and there’s nothing you can do about that except close the door(s).
If you’re in Park with the engine running then open a door, the trans will not shift to D or R no matter what you do with the shifter.
etc. That car ain’t moving with a door open and you can’t make it.
Which can occasionally be vexing when trying to park very carefully by reference to the stripe or curb alongside you that you can’t see unless you open the door & look down through the opening. The parking cams are very helpful, but sometimes you really want to see exactly where you are as you finish the maneuver.
Nope. You can look, or you can move. But you cannot do both at once. Period.
Wow those are pretty severe controls. But I think that’s the direction we’re all headed.
Just last week as I was driving on a local divided main road, along the middle dividing curb I passed what looked to me like a yellow and black DeWalt power tool. I was doing about 40 and only got a brief glance at it, but I figured it might be of some value so I flipped a U-ee . As I approached I slowed to 2-3 and opened my door and picked it up on the fly.
There’s no way I could’ve done that in your car.
It was a large Stanley rechargeable spot light in working condition! Definitely a little beat up, but it works. Free flashlight!
Being a long time Jeep owner (until last year), I’ve known of that Anton Yelchin tragedy since it happened almost 9 years ago. And I’m learning in this thread that there have been other similar tragedies. I’m not surprised.