Is our building invisible?

[Noelegy]

And the worst part they always get, probably at their family's insistence, a nice SAFE car. The size of a river barge.

My first two cars were, at my father's insistence, nice SAFE cars the size of a river barge. My first one was a 1976 Chrysler New Yorker. The car I drove my senior year was a 1960 Cadillac Fleetwood, complete with fins:

http://ads.seriouswheels.com/photos/1535.jpg

Only mine was a champagne color. That was one cool car. And its sturdiness came in handy the day that the woman decided to try to pass me on my left when I was getting ready to change lanes and exit. I was nearly standing still, she was going 55 in a 35 and driving a mid-80s Oldsmobile.

The resulting collision caved in the entire side of her car and left a miniscule scratch over my fender.

[Andara Bledin]

Man, I've seen dozens of near wrecks due to elderly people who were unsafe to be behind the wheel.

But the most spectacular wreck I ever was there for was the house across the street.

The place belonged to a family that my brother was friends with, but that he had met elsewhere. It was a happy coincidence that they lived so close.

One night, about 2 am, I wake up and stare at the ceiling, wondering why I'm awake. A few seconds later I hear the squeal of tires on asphalt that I recognize as somebody locking their brakes. This is followed fairly quickly by a moment of silence, then a good solid crash.

It turns out that someone who lived on one of the side streets was coming home from a local bar, had dozed off or something and was doing about 80 when he realized he had just blown by his own house, and was headed straight towards the house at the T intersection.

Well, he skids a little to the right, clips the corner curb, hits the curb on the far side, misses the tree by inches (only because of the right-ward drift) and sails up through their front door, with the front bumper in the space that was normally occupied by my brother's friend and her 2month old baby. Thankfully, she hadn't been able to sleep and was at the back of the house at the time.

My brother, who had already called 911, was the first person to get to the SUV. Since the vehicle was wedged into the house, the driver and passenger couldn't get any of the doors open. The driver started to open up the back of the vehicle, but once he saw my brother glaring at him, he went back to the front and ended up kicking out the window. He didn't get far, however, before police arrived. I'd link the article, but I'd have to pay to get to the archive it's now in.

Now, this story might seem familiar to some of you. If you're a fan of the show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, this was the house for the episode first aired on Sunday May 2, 2004, the house in Long Beach, CA. I learned several things from that experience. The basics of the episode about the accident and who lived there was true, but a lot of the rest of the show was made up or lied about to make it more palatable for tv.

Can anyone explain to me why you would design an entertainment room around a projector with bulbs that don't last very long and cost hundreds of dollars to replace when the family in question is not technically inclined at all and can't afford the equipment upkeep anyway?

^-.-^

[Lehk]

Can anyone explain to me why you would design an entertainment room around a projector with bulbs that don't last very long and cost hundreds of dollars to replace when the family in question is not technically inclined at all and can't afford the equipment upkeep anyway?

^-.-^

Sponsorships from a projector bulb company.

[Andara Bledin]

Yeah. Those "dream homes" are called that 'cause they're dreaming if they think regular people want or can afford to maintain them.

^-.-^

[Bloodsoul]

This kept reminding me of an epitaph on a tombstone: "Here lies the body of Jonathan Blake, stepped on the gas instead of the brake."

[IT Grunt]

Hard to beat this:

I thought I recognized that license plate style.

We had a similar incident happen in Clarksburg. There's one street that winds down a hill. One side of the street is a fairly steep drop off, the other side a wooded hillside. Most of the houses built on the downhill side have their front doors at street level, with either no yard or a very shallow one. The sides of some of the homes line up with the street as it curves down the hill. (I bet you can guess where this is going...)

One night, a guy who had one too many took one of those curves too fast, went airborne off the side of the street and plowed into the upstairs level of one of the homes so that his car's trunk was sticking out of the side of the house. Fortunately, he hit an unoccupied bedroom so no one was hurt. That house had plywood over that hole for weeks before they could get it fixed.

[protege]

Sounds like what happened at my grandmother's farm some years ago. The road she lived on was a somewhat-twisty, 2-laned rural highway--just the thing for Darwin Award potentials. They drive like they're on crack--too fast for conditions, and it's *much* worse when its foggy.

Or so it seemed. Over the past 30 years, there have been several bad accidents on that road. Growing up, whenever someone came to the front door (most people came to the kitchen door, since that's where the parking area was), there usually had been an accident. At least 1 person has been killed near her house.

She was coming from town (heading south, towards the PA/WV border), when she apparently fell asleep at the wheel. Her car ran along the guardrail, and slammed into the telephone pole on the corner. At the time, there wasn't a guardrail opposite the house, and the pole was *right* on the corner, so she was killed instantly

Not long after that, some idiot lost control on the highway, and flipped his pickup. We have no idea what happened, but I'm sure he was going too fast, and maybe have swerved to avoid a deer. Whatever it was, he went through the neighbor's fence, lost his truck's camper shell...and rolled several times in the field.

But, the last one took the cake. This idiot came speeding down the side road, blew through the stop sign, went through the fence...and got himself airborne fora few feet...before his truck nose-dived into one of the pastures. When the police asked him what he was doing... he replied, "I was sure that road went right across there"

We've had people take out the front fence, plow into our mailbox, hit the signpost across the road, and just general stupidity. Grandma won't let me install my "ultimate" solution though--this involves moving the fence back about 10 feet, and installing large boulders in front of it.

[MadMike]

road she lived on was a somewhat-twisty, 2-laned rural highway--just the thing for Darwin Award potentials. They drive like they're on crack--too fast for conditions, and it's *much* worse when its foggy.

My ex's family used to live on a road like that, way before I ever met them. She told me it was fairly common for someone to go flying down their street and wipe out in front of their house.

At the time, it was a heavily-used road, but a few years ago they built a new road that bypassed that one, and wasn't so curvy. The old road now dead-ends just past the last house, and is pretty much used only by the people that live there anymore.

[tollbaby]

When I got my car a few months ago (and previously, when I'd learned to drive last summer), my best friend, who used to race, told me, "Driving a car is like strapping a 2,000 pound weapon to your a##. Behave accordingly."

He likes to take long car trips. He lives north of Chicago, and I live in Ottawa... he DRIVES here regularly. By himself. In one go (it's about 15 hours each way). He usually leaves on Friday afternoons AFTER WORK. In other words, he drives all night and arrives at breakfast. I have FINALLY convinced him that safe is better than fast, and he has conceded to pulling off into rest areas to have a nap when he feels himself getting too tired to drive. I've done it myself (Hell, Christmas night, I slept at my ex-husband's house because I was too tired to drive home after dropping him off).

NOTHING is so important that you need to drive until you fall asleep. NOTHING. That's how people die. If I'm too tired to drive my kids to the babysitter's in the morning (happened once when i had a migraine), I will call a cab. I'm not risking myself, my car, or most importantly, my KIDS to driving impaired by sleep or anything else.

Related to the OP's post, my in-laws have been saying for years that their dad shouldn't be allowed to drive anymore (he turns 80 this year). Man cannot get from Point A to Point B without taking a wrong turn (or missing his turn entirely) at least once. He can hardly see 10 feet in front of his face. But he's never had an accident. Ever. He's been driving for 66 years (he grew up on a farm in Saskatchewan... his dad used to have him drive the truck around when he was 14). Amazing, but his license I wouldn't take away. My mother in law (may she rest in peace) was a bloody hazard though. She'd have been 79 this year, and she was TERRIFIED of driving on major roads, couldn't use reverse, and had to be the MOST TIMID driver I've ever seen. She was dangerous. She was the type to get confused easily... the night I went into labor with my oldest, she drove us to the hospital (closest relatives and we were REALLY poor). She came to the stoplight in front of the hospital and sat there for 20 minutes... she couldn't remember WHICH SIDE had to be green in order for her to be allowed to go. *sigh*

But then my parents (56 and 62) are two of the worst driver's I've ever seen. My mother should NOT have a license. She's got some massive road rage issues LOL

[protege]

It's even worse when a *police officer* wrecks. One of the Pittsburgh city cops somehow managed to ram his cruiser into a bank. How he did that, along with jumping a curb, mowing down a stop sign, I have no idea...but he managed to close that intersection, and the building as well!

[Andara Bledin]

I was watching one of those Video Justice shows that Court TV has, and one clip was an officer taking a turn just a bit too fast and losing control. He went of the side of the road and rolled a few times. Luckily for him, it was pretty flat terrain.

Another clip from a different show was of a guy who had to be pulled from his car. The car was parked outside a bar, and the guy had his foot on the gas pedal. The car had overheated and was just catching fire. They got the guy out and we got to watch the car burn. Turns out he was on medication and it made him drowsy. Lucky thing he fell asleep before he started driving.

^-.-^

[BlackIronCrown]

That assmunch left her behind and admitted that he did not even try to help her when they police asked him about it after they recovered the car.

In GA, he would be at first charged with '1st degree homicide by vehicle', which is a felony crime and will usually get you 10-15 in the slam. That's for the reckeless driving and being drunk behind the wheel.

Now, intentionally leaving the date behind and not helping? Depending on your D.A, you might be in a world of hurt. For certain, a maximum sentence would be given, but I'd wouldn't be surprised if they found a way to up the charge so they can tack on more years.

Fucker. Hope he got the big time.

Shoot, anyone remember the sucktastic that was the crash in the Santa Monica Farmers' Market? Read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Russell_Weller if you don't remember; it was a few years ago. Talk about the elderly and driving...

Re The Pickup Truck Pictures: Wow. That was a "Hey ya'll, watch this!" moment if I ever heard one.

[myswtghst]

Reading stuff like this makes me glad we convinced my grandma to stop driving. She's 85 this year, and just quit driving. She's actually quite a good driver, just a bit slow, but we just didn't want to risk it. She was very resistant at first, but her three daughters (my mom and her two sisters) and I take turns driving her around to the doctor and to run errands, and she's been loving all the attention and quality family time. She's so cute about it too...she always acts like she didn't realize the family and her friends would be perfectly happy to driver her around.

[El Barto]

The gas station across the street from my store has been hit twice in the past year.... by the same person! At least they don't shop at my store.

[infavorofnaturalselection]

How come we haven't had any stories about boats smashing into people's houses by way of them coming loose from the tow hitch? Or anything coming loose from a tow hitch including mobile homes?