Ever avoided a fatal accident
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Once in the middle of winter, in Columbus Ohio, I was late for school. I was about 12 years old. As I ran down the ice-covered sidewalk across the street in front of my home I heard a car coming toward me down the ice-covered alley I was approaching. I tried to stop, but instead fell and slid on my back over the ice-covered sidewalk into the alley, immediately in front of the front wheels of the approaching car. The car was braking and it's tires were not turning as they touched me and pushed me along on the 6" thick ice in the alley. I was screaming "STOP! STOP!", over and over. Once the car finally did stop, I stood up, freaking-out the driver -- an older woman. In a shocked voice, she asked if I was ok. I told her I was fine and ran off to school, not looking back. I've always wondered who she was and what she was thinking that day. If those wheels had been turning, I would have been run-over and crushed.
Silence is the voice of complicity. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. -- monty python Might I suggest that the universe was always the size of the cosmos. It is just that at one point the cosmos was the size of a marble. -- Colin Angus Mackay
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Rama Krishna Vavilala wrote:
Have you ever avoided an accident that close?
Not an accident as such, but does being born count? I was born with a medical condition that the first three words of its description in a medical text book says: "Incompatible with life" I guess that is just to underline the seriousness and the criticality of the situation should a doctor ever come into contact with a patient with that condition. Talking of accidents though. I was on my way home from work one evening (about a month ago) and just as I arrived into the town in which I live the traffic was backed up. On the last corner just before you enter the town two cars had collided head on. The head on collisions I've seen in the past the cars pretty much stopped within a few metres of the impact site. In this case they were about a hundred metres from each other. There was glass and plastic all over the road. As I passed one of the cars I notices that I couldn't see into it for a lot of white stuff. Just as I drove past I realised that it was deployed airbags (front and side bags) and the people standing on the pavement on the other side of the road looking a bit shellshocked were the recent occupants of the car. Seeing the state of their car and seeing them still alive considering the state of their car I am really glad my car has airbags. I have air bags that will deploy from the steeting wheel, over the side windows, in the footwell and out of the side of the chair. Rear seat passengers each have a set of air bags too. The down side is that if you have children that will not behave in the car and are out of their seat they will likely be injured by a deploying airbag because they won't be in the right place to be protected.
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Colin Angus Mackay wrote:
children that will not behave in the car and are out of their seat
That is why my daughter did that precisely once, when she was four years old. She had been fussing at me, and unbuckled her car seat. I pulled to the side, turned in the seat, and told her to get back in the seat, NOW! All-stop, full-up, maximum-volume parent command voice. She said, and I quote, "Yes sir." She got back in her seat, redid the buckle, and was quiet for the rest of the morning. Of course, it took me a while to dissipate the head of adrenalin I had going :sigh:. There is absolutely no excuse for children being loose in a vehicle. If you can't make your kids behave in the car, then put them up for adoption because you're not fit to be a parent.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
I had a close one last night. I was driving from downtown Atlanta to my home (distance of about 35 miles). It was around 1 am. I was feeling good when I left downtown and I was not drunk. The traffic was extremely light and I was driving in the right most lane in a five lane road. I don't know when but I suddenly dozed off. When I woke up I found myself about an inch from the median on the leftmost shoulder. If I was even a second late I would have hit the median wall at around 65 MPH. Thankfully, the road was empty and there were no other cars on the road otherwise I would have hit one. Of course, that made my sleep to go away completely. This was the closest I ever came to a fatal accident in my life. In fact, I never once had a ticket in my driving career of 8 years. Thanks to wide roads in Atlanta, I am safe. Have you ever avoided an accident that close?
There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult. -C. A. R. Hoare
I had a semi-trailier change lanes straight into the side of me a few years ago. Lucky the side of the road was a fairly wide gravel area and I'm a fairly good driver, otherwise I would have been hosed. I managed to avoid him by about 10cm by driving on the gravel and pulling in behind him. We were going about 100km/h. Since that day I have avoided trucks as much as possible. They are evil. A truck driver's primary job is to kill people; transport is a distant second. All trucks should be banned from all roads at all times, no exceptions. I have never seen a safe truck driver.
Ryan
"Punctuality is only a virtue for those who aren't smart enough to think of good excuses for being late" John Nichol "Point Of Impact"
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Chris Losinger wrote:
since i wasn't hurt and wasn't insterested in calling the police, she left as soon as she knew i was ok
That would be illegal in the UK. If there is a Road Traffic Accident the police must be informed, even if it is just to record that it happened.
Upcoming Scottish Developers events: * UK Security Evangelists On Tour (2nd November, Edinburgh) * Developer Day Scotland: are you interested in speaking or attending? My: Website | Blog
Colin Angus Mackay wrote:
hat would be illegal in the UK. If there is a Road Traffic Accident the police must be informed, even if it is just to record that it happened.
Yeah, here too.
Ryan
"Punctuality is only a virtue for those who aren't smart enough to think of good excuses for being late" John Nichol "Point Of Impact"
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I had a close one last night. I was driving from downtown Atlanta to my home (distance of about 35 miles). It was around 1 am. I was feeling good when I left downtown and I was not drunk. The traffic was extremely light and I was driving in the right most lane in a five lane road. I don't know when but I suddenly dozed off. When I woke up I found myself about an inch from the median on the leftmost shoulder. If I was even a second late I would have hit the median wall at around 65 MPH. Thankfully, the road was empty and there were no other cars on the road otherwise I would have hit one. Of course, that made my sleep to go away completely. This was the closest I ever came to a fatal accident in my life. In fact, I never once had a ticket in my driving career of 8 years. Thanks to wide roads in Atlanta, I am safe. Have you ever avoided an accident that close?
There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult. -C. A. R. Hoare
My wife once asked me if I liked her dress and foolishly I said no. I wasn't drunk or sleepy, so I have no idea why I had this lapse of concentration. I am still suffering the traumatic after effects now, and still can't believe it wasn't fatal.
Regards Malc *********************************************
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Colin Angus Mackay wrote:
children that will not behave in the car and are out of their seat
That is why my daughter did that precisely once, when she was four years old. She had been fussing at me, and unbuckled her car seat. I pulled to the side, turned in the seat, and told her to get back in the seat, NOW! All-stop, full-up, maximum-volume parent command voice. She said, and I quote, "Yes sir." She got back in her seat, redid the buckle, and was quiet for the rest of the morning. Of course, it took me a while to dissipate the head of adrenalin I had going :sigh:. There is absolutely no excuse for children being loose in a vehicle. If you can't make your kids behave in the car, then put them up for adoption because you're not fit to be a parent.
Software Zen:
delete this;Gary R. Wheeler wrote:
Of course, it took me a while to dissipate the head of adrenalin I had going .
I know the feeling. :~ It's one thing when they are acting up and vying for attention, it's another when they put themselves in danger. Before I had children, I didn't think I would be good at disciplining (sp?) them, but boy has that changed.. :rolleyes:
~Nitron.
ññòòïðïðB A
start -
I had a close one last night. I was driving from downtown Atlanta to my home (distance of about 35 miles). It was around 1 am. I was feeling good when I left downtown and I was not drunk. The traffic was extremely light and I was driving in the right most lane in a five lane road. I don't know when but I suddenly dozed off. When I woke up I found myself about an inch from the median on the leftmost shoulder. If I was even a second late I would have hit the median wall at around 65 MPH. Thankfully, the road was empty and there were no other cars on the road otherwise I would have hit one. Of course, that made my sleep to go away completely. This was the closest I ever came to a fatal accident in my life. In fact, I never once had a ticket in my driving career of 8 years. Thanks to wide roads in Atlanta, I am safe. Have you ever avoided an accident that close?
There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult. -C. A. R. Hoare
Meh! Happens to me everyday! I drive on Indian roads! ;) But seriously, that is *real* scary! Glad you escaped unhurt!!
---------------------------------------------- If you need a hammer get C and shut up. If you need a nail gun get C++ and shut up. If you don't need *those* things (and good design should tell you) then by all means get a factory, factory, factory. --code-frog@codeproject ---------------------------------------------- Why would you need to date, when C++ is your soul mate?! --Steve Echols@codeproject ----------------------------------------------
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Dario Solera wrote:
surpass
"overtake" in standard English. I think the Americans just say "pass"
Upcoming Scottish Developers events: * UK Security Evangelists On Tour (2nd November, Edinburgh) * Developer Day Scotland: are you interested in speaking or attending? My: Website | Blog
Colin Angus Mackay wrote:
"overtake" in standard English. I think the Americans just say "pass"
Thanks for pointing it out.
_____________________________________________ Tozzi is right: Gaia is getting rid of us. Personal Blog [ITA] - Tech Blog [ENG] Developing ScrewTurn Wiki 1.0 RC...
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I had a close one last night. I was driving from downtown Atlanta to my home (distance of about 35 miles). It was around 1 am. I was feeling good when I left downtown and I was not drunk. The traffic was extremely light and I was driving in the right most lane in a five lane road. I don't know when but I suddenly dozed off. When I woke up I found myself about an inch from the median on the leftmost shoulder. If I was even a second late I would have hit the median wall at around 65 MPH. Thankfully, the road was empty and there were no other cars on the road otherwise I would have hit one. Of course, that made my sleep to go away completely. This was the closest I ever came to a fatal accident in my life. In fact, I never once had a ticket in my driving career of 8 years. Thanks to wide roads in Atlanta, I am safe. Have you ever avoided an accident that close?
There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult. -C. A. R. Hoare
Once, as a pedestrian. Crossing the road in rainy weather, traffic was standstill, but what I didn't see was a motorbike zipping down between the cars and the pavement. As I stepped on the pavement something caught my eye and the motorbike wizzed past behind me. One or two seconds slower, and I would have been history (or at the very least several broken bones). He wasn't going that fast... but I'd guess a 15-20 kph. :omg:
"Nothing ever changes by staying the same." - David Brent (BBC's The Office)
~ ScrollingGrid: A cross-browser freeze-header control for the ASP.NET DataGrid
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Gary R. Wheeler wrote:
Of course, it took me a while to dissipate the head of adrenalin I had going .
I know the feeling. :~ It's one thing when they are acting up and vying for attention, it's another when they put themselves in danger. Before I had children, I didn't think I would be good at disciplining (sp?) them, but boy has that changed.. :rolleyes:
~Nitron.
ññòòïðïðB A
startNitron wrote:
Before I had children, I didn't think I would be good at disciplining (sp?) them, but boy has that changed.
Indeed. My mother-in-law, who I get along well with, had a bad habit of undermining my wife and I when we disciplined our daughter when she was little. I took her aside, and explained it like this: "I have a choice. I can either raise a human being, or I can raise an animal. I choose a human being." That, and an overnight visit where my daughter was a brat, helped immensely. The good news is, my daughter is now a 15 year old human being. Even though she's a teenager :rolleyes: she's still pretty easy to get along with, and a damn nice kid.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
My wife once asked me if I liked her dress and foolishly I said no. I wasn't drunk or sleepy, so I have no idea why I had this lapse of concentration. I am still suffering the traumatic after effects now, and still can't believe it wasn't fatal.
Regards Malc *********************************************
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Marc Clifton wrote:
On several occasions I have had rental cars with balding tires or poorly inflated tires.
Strange. Most rental cars are sold off after 1-2 years of usage. Poorly-inflated tires I can understand, but balding tires within 2 years is odd.
Regards, Nish
Nish’s thoughts on MFC, C++/CLI and .NET (my blog)
Currently working on C++/CLI in Action for Manning Publications. Also visit the Ultimate Toolbox blog (New)Nishant Sivakumar wrote:
Marc Clifton wrote: On several occasions I have had rental cars with balding tires or poorly inflated tires. Strange. Most rental cars are sold off after 1-2 years of usage. Poorly-inflated tires I can understand, but balding tires within 2 years is odd.
If you return a half decent rental car *with* any tread left on the tires you have not got your moneys worth :)
Objects in mirror are closer than they appear