Suicide by 18-wheeler

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

This happened years ago, when I was still an awkward high-schooler. I was with my high school Upward Bound group, and we were traveling to a play in a nearby city.

On the interstate we ran into a ginormous traffic jam. We hardly moved for a while. Eventually we reached the next exit and took a detour. We arrived at the play after it had already started.

Obviously, there had to be some kind of accident. This stretch of interstate does not jam up like that unless there's a fairly serious wreck.

Coming back from the play, we discovered the reason for the traffic jam. Illuminated in the lights of the many emergency vehicles on the scene, we found a car in the ditch, smoldering and flattened like a pancake, and a semi with the fromt end fairly bashed in.

I later found out the guy in the car decided he didn't want to go on living anymore, so he decided to drive the wrong way on the interstate, full speed, until he hit the semi head-on and the car blew up. It was so bad they had a hard time identifying him I guess.

What a way to go.

[Cats]

Reminds me of a similar story many years ago; my friend and I were comming home from an outing and we got stuck in bumper to bumper traffic going slower than a snail's pace backed upf ro several miles.

Turns out, someone commited suicide by jumping OUT of their car into an oncomming truck. Not sure if it was an 18 wheeler or not, we managed to pull off an exit far before the accident, and since it's been several years I can't remember what the news report said about it.

But still, that had to be one messy scene.

[Salted Grump]

Also somewhat on-topic, I Had a great aunt some years ago (officially, I met her when I was around 1-2 years old, but hell if I can remember), who, for lack of a better descriptor, was approximately as wide as she was tall, And happened to A: have her mailbox on the opposite side of the road from her house, and B: Happened to live so said house was just over the crest of a hill.

Needless to say, Fate caught up with her in the form of a BC logging truck going around 70 miles per hour in Early evening. According to my dad, the impact left a grease mark on the road for about 300 metres.

Yeah; we have a wierd sense of humour regarding death.