Monday, October 06, 2008
new levels of fear; new thoughts on caution
on saturday, around 1pm on a gorgeous calm warm day in san francisco, a friend and i encountered the results of a three-car accident that completely blew my mind. the vehicles involved in the accident were placed roughly in the center of the intersection of 16th and folsom. top speeds in that intersection rarely exceed 40 mph, and even 35 mph is probably pretty rare. but somehow, these three cars were arranged such that one car was upside-down and partly on top of another car, with the trunk of the upside-down car resting on top of the hood of the right-side-up car. both of these cars' noses were pointing the same way, and they were both pointing straight down folsom streen in line with the lanes. the third car was positioned mostly perpendicular to the other cars, slighly askew, with the front right side smashed in where it seemed to have encountered one of the other two cars. sadly, and even more oddly, the upside-down car looked like it was full of camping gear or such, with gear packed onto a bike rack coming off the trunk.
queries
a) if you are good at this sort of thing, and can try to explain to me how the upside-down car ended up in its position, let me know. i crave this knowledge with a serious thirst.
b) what steps do i personally need to do to make sure my car doesn't end up upside-down on a low-speed city street?? since i had previously considered the possibility of this sort of consequence to be roughly, oh, 0, i'm kind of wondering if i'm unaware of certain types of reckless driving that are practiced by a small percentage of our population, and that i may fall privy to on beautiful autumn days when i'm quietly setting off for a weekend's camping retreat.
c) i've been nervous to cross all streets, both in a vehicle and on foot, for the last three days. one of the images that is flashing before my eyes when i deal with such terrifying adventures is a slo-mo of a car falling roof first from the sky. i think it's coming off the top of a building. what, precisely, is the likelihood that i will get smashed by upside-down falling cars while crossing a street in san francisco? (pleeze give answers for scenarios both with and without godzilla-type monsters in the near vicinity. and remember, we have earthquakes AND multi-level parking garages!!)
queries
a) if you are good at this sort of thing, and can try to explain to me how the upside-down car ended up in its position, let me know. i crave this knowledge with a serious thirst.
b) what steps do i personally need to do to make sure my car doesn't end up upside-down on a low-speed city street?? since i had previously considered the possibility of this sort of consequence to be roughly, oh, 0, i'm kind of wondering if i'm unaware of certain types of reckless driving that are practiced by a small percentage of our population, and that i may fall privy to on beautiful autumn days when i'm quietly setting off for a weekend's camping retreat.
c) i've been nervous to cross all streets, both in a vehicle and on foot, for the last three days. one of the images that is flashing before my eyes when i deal with such terrifying adventures is a slo-mo of a car falling roof first from the sky. i think it's coming off the top of a building. what, precisely, is the likelihood that i will get smashed by upside-down falling cars while crossing a street in san francisco? (pleeze give answers for scenarios both with and without godzilla-type monsters in the near vicinity. and remember, we have earthquakes AND multi-level parking garages!!)
# posted by orange @ 4:18 PM 
