Mike Raiford <"m[raiford]!at"@gmail.com> wrote:
> Stephen wrote:
>
> > Once when I was trying to teach my wife to drive (failed) I was sitting in the

> > snapped the gear stick off at the base then had to drive home in second. Last

>
> Ouch... I didn't think that was possible, unless the gear selector was
> either rusted through or made of cheap plastic....
>

It was an old car (a Hillman Imp IIRC) and it was the last drive it ever took.
The sheared end looked like cast aluminium, again IIRC. It did come as a
surprise to me when it broke a good job we were not on a public road.

Stephen

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Invisible wrote:
> Every time Benny drives us round Switzerland, each time we arrive at a 
> roundabout I'm like "WTF are you doing OMG WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!! Oh, 
> wait... nevermind, carry on..."

I was like that in Africa. I called shotgun once, and then after that I said 
"fk'it, I'll sit in back, thanks."

-- 
   Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   Insanity is a small city on the western
   border of the State of Mind.

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Chambers <bdc### [at] yahoocom> wrote:
> Warp <war### [at] tagpovrayorg> wrote:
> > Chambers <bdc### [at] yahoocom> wrote:
> > > and the lady took off without leaving her contact information.
> >
> >   Isn't that exactly what license plates are for?

> They are, if you manage to write them down.  Unfortunately, in this case I
> didn't.

  Did you *see* the license the plate?

  I hate to sound like a jerk here, but if I had been in the situation and
seen the license plate, I would have used whatever means I could ever imagine
to memorize it.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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>> > Once when I was trying to teach my wife to drive (failed) I was sitting 
>> > in the
>> > passenger's seat and tried to change gear for her. Using my right hand 
>> > I
>> > snapped the gear stick off at the base then had to drive home in 
>> > second. Last
>> > time I'll do it, last time she'd let me.
>>
>> Ouch... I didn't think that was possible, unless the gear selector was
>> either rusted through or made of cheap plastic....
>>
>
> It was an old car (a Hillman Imp IIRC) and it was the last drive it ever 
> took.
> The sheared end looked like cast aluminium, again IIRC. It did come as a
> surprise to me when it broke a good job we were not on a public road.

When I was young my parents had a Hillman, the lug bolts holding
the wheels on tended to snap off in a similar manner. I think it was
low quality pot-metal iron instead of steel. I bet the shifter was the
same pot-metal.

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Warp <war### [at] tagpovrayorg> wrote:
>   I hate to sound like a jerk here, but if I had been in the situation and
> seen the license plate, I would have used whatever means I could ever imagine
> to memorize it.

I (think I) know you well enough to know that you really do hate sounding like a
jerk :)

Anyway, if you had been in the situation, you would probably be as shook up as I
was at the time.

Here's a more detailed account of what happened:
I was riding on the left-hand shoulder of a busy two-lane road.  I know, you're
supposed to ride on the right, and I do most of the time.  This is one of the
times I didn't, mostly because I was going to turn left soon and, this being a
busy road, I had crossed when a good opportunity presented itself.  If you put
off crossing until you have to, then you tend to wait quite a while.

I approached the intersection, and saw that I had a green light, with cars
stopped at the intersecting road waiting for their light to turn green.

I started across the intersection, and the woman who was stopped tried to take a
"free" right turn without checking if anyone was coming from my direction.  She
was watching oncoming traffic, which came from the left.  Even so, she should
have checked if anyone was crossing from the other side before she hit the gas.

She looked up in time to see me thrown from my bike, and hit the brakes.  I
picked myself up almost immediately, cursing at her, and pacing back and forth
because my legs hurt like a b*tch.

She asked if I was OK, and I said I thought I was just bruised.  I apologized
for cursing, saying it was just because my legs hurt.  She started babbling
about being sorry, and how she was late for work, etc.  I picked up my bike,
and carried it out of the street.  When I looked back at the street, the lady
was gone - she must have taken off when I was carrying my bike out of the road.

Since my legs hurt, I pulled up my pant legs, and noticed that I hard a large
gash in one leg.  It looked  bad enough for stitches, so I called emergency.  A
fire truck and a police car showed up.  The firemen wrapped my leg, and told me
to get it stitched (though it wasn't urgent enough to go to a hospital if I
didn't want to).  Since my bike was busted, I chained it to a lightpole, and
the cop gave me a ride to my physician's office, where I got 7 stitches (2
internal, 5 external).

All in all, it's not how I would have preferred to start my Monday.

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Chambers <bdc### [at] yahoocom> wrote:
> All in all, it's not how I would have preferred to start my Monday.

  Now I understand why many people hate Mondays...

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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>> My mum snapped the brake lever off one time... She we at the front of 
>> a line of traffic, and when the lights turned green, the ripped the 
>> brake lever off. The bus in front started honking at her, until she 
>> got out of the *cough* Ford Anglia still holding the brake lever in 
>> her hand.
> 
> Wow, you should compile a list of whacky things you mom has done 
> accidentally, :) This, and nailing your hand to a board should be at the 
> top of the list.

Correction: It was actually the gear stick.

And it was a Ford Cortina.

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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On Mon, 22 Jun 2009 22:11:19 -0400, Chambers wrote:

> Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:
>> On Mon, 22 Jun 2009 17:40:51 -0400, Chambers wrote:
>>
>> > In all honesty, it hurt, but I'm glad that nothing worse happened.
>>
>> Same here.  Drivers on the roads act stupidly a lot - it sounds like
>> you're a sensible rider, too.  There are lots of cyclists here in Salt
>> Lake City that seem to think they don't have to obey the rules of the
>> road - I've seen them blow stop signs/lights, ride on the wrong side of
>> the road (or the sidewalks, which is against the law here I
>> understand).
> 
> In all honesty, I know that I do a lot of stupid things when walking or
> riding. Even so, I try not to do them in a stupid way.  For instance, I
> often jaywalk instead of heading for the nearest crosswalk... but I'm
> always careful about checking for traffic before I do so.  Things like
> that.
> 
> With all that, however, I think that since people in cars are capable of
> causing so much more damage, then it's up to drivers to take extra
> caution.  Traffic in my direction had a green light, and her car was
> stopped... so naturally, I assumed it would be safe to cross in front of
> her.  Boy, was I wrong.

It's unfortunate that so many drivers drive with their attention 
elsewhere.  In a way, I understand why there are laws in some locales 
(including here in Utah now) prohibiting texting while driving, talking 
on a cell phone while driving, etc.  It's because idiots don't pay 
attention to driving.  I sometimes talk on my phone while driving, or 
very very occasionally send my stepson a quick text while in the driver's 
seat (at a stoplight, for example, or on a road with no traffic or risk 
of accident), but I always remember that my first priority is to ensuring 
that the operation of a ton of metal and plastic is done safely.  First 
priority of my focus is on what's going on around me - and I'm extra 
careful to not get distracted by a conversation if I'm moving.  Right 
hand lane on the freeway (and not in rush hour traffic) in general.

I see that as acting responsibly while driving.  Only ever been in two 
minor accidents, and only with other cars - and ironically not on the 
phone.  Distracted by a police car once, and the second time it was the 
other driver's fault for not paying attention (but somehow I ended up the 
'at fault' driver, go figure).

>> ISTR there was a recent story in the local paper about someone on a
>> bike who ran into a *parked* car and the owner of the car was found to
>> be at fault, even though the car was properly parked.
> 
> Now THAT is crazy.

Yeah, it certainly is....

Jim

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Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:
> In a way, I understand why there are laws in some locales
> (including here in Utah now) prohibiting texting while driving, talking
> on a cell phone while driving, etc.

I always thought those laws were unnecessary and redundent, but IANAL.

If someone got in a wreck because they were texting, why can't they just be
charged with reckless driving?  Why do we need a separate law to say that not
paying attention is reckless?

....Chambers

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On Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:48:42 -0400, Chambers wrote:

> Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:
>> In a way, I understand why there are laws in some locales (including
>> here in Utah now) prohibiting texting while driving, talking on a cell
>> phone while driving, etc.
> 
> I always thought those laws were unnecessary and redundent, but IANAL.

IANAL either, but I agree.  Though I understand that the reason isn't so 
much because you're going to get pulled over for it, but if you're in an 
accident and they find out that you were texting at the time of the 
accident, they can increase the fine and the severity of the offense 
you're charged with.

> If someone got in a wreck because they were texting, why can't they just
> be charged with reckless driving?  Why do we need a separate law to say
> that not paying attention is reckless?

Yeah, that's my issue as well.  If they legislate "texting is illegal 
while driving", then they have to do "eating a cheeseburger is illegal", 
"shaving is illegal", etc.  A case of creating laws that are too specific 
rather than something that's a bit more generic.  Of course, lawyers 
don't like "generic" because it lacks specificity.

Jim

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