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I had no idea that it might be a highway guardrail. Somewhere around Williams and Flagstaff AZ, I was cruising a bit below the speed limit because there was some fluffy, light snow falling, nothing sticking. I rounded the bend and suddenly saw black, shiny pavement, which signaled to my old brain, "WARNING - ICE AHEAD" I kicked out of cruise control and tried to slow the vehicle, but I hit a bump, and that started the totally out of control phase of the trip. We swung back and forth for a bit, from one lane to another on I-40, then hit the end of a guardrail with the passenger seat door and watched it crumple. After absorbing all of the energy it could, the rail rebounded and we spun again clockwise until the car hit the edge of the roadway, which is wet dirt. That made the tires dig in, and the car rolled over onto its driver side. Happily, the rear hatch on my 2023 Nissan Rogue was still working, so we managed to crawl out the back safely.
As a Testament to the Nissan Rogue, the internal protective devices deployed perfectly, even though all their fancy drive control systems were entirely useless in icy conditions. There's really nothing any system can do with ice, so I'm not faulting them for that. I crawled out of the vehicle without a scratch, and my passenger, who was sitting in the seat where the initial impact occurred, suffered some minor bruising. I now thank God every morning for allowing me to wake up.
I bought another Rogue today, because I know that this model has the safety thing down right. I hate the company, but I love this car.
Will Rogers never met me.
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Cars have improved immeasurably since I started driving - the last big accident I had was in the 80's in a company pool car: a Ford Cortina.
To say that this car had had a hard life was an understatement - it started as a sales rep's car (and in those days the reps expected to take the client out for a boozy lunch) and became a pool car when the rep got to 75,000 miles. As a pool car, nobody gave a damn what happened to it so servicing was ... unlikely. It was probably two years old when I was handed the keys for a troubleshooting software job a couple of hundred miles away that turned out to be a hardware problem. It lurched to the right when you accelerated, and to the left when you braked. But I couldn't get my computer and data analyser on the bike, so off I went. 5 boring days* of sitting in a library waiting for an intermittent problem to happen later** and I headed for home.
It was starting to get dark by the time I joined the M1 (think first "Interstate" in the UK) and traffic was building up for rush hour. Suddenly, I saw stopped traffic ahead of me and jammed on the brakes, fighting to keep the car in a straight(ish) line and came to a stop maybe four feet from the car in front. Still holding the foot brake down I reached for the handbrake and glancing the mirror in time to see headlights moving fast.
The car behind didn't slow at all until he hit me, and then the next thing I remember was someone saying "get that guy out of there, his petrol tank has split". Did they mean me? From the smell, yes. the drivers door wouldn't open, so I kicked my way out the passenger side and got away from it. It was a write off: several feet shorter than it started, it had been rammed so hard into the car in front that it was a write off as well, and the car ahead of that was damaged. I was fine, but my back hurt where the computer equipment had slammed into the driver's seat, but that was all soft tissue and no permanent damage.
I was lucky: the fuel didn't catch fire, I wasn't trapped in there. Took me six months to a year to be comfortable sitting at traffic lights in case the guy behind didn't stop though.
Nowadays, airbags would have gone off, the fuel tank wouldn't have split, crumple zones would have taken the worst of the damage. And cars would call the emergency services for you and unlock the doors automatically. And emergency braking systems would have mitigated or prevented the accident - a couple of years ago, I was waiting to turn off the road when the driver behind wasn't paying attention; his car was and it stopped short. Bruised his ego, and the seatbelt bruised his chest - but no accident occurred and we both drove away. They make cars more complex, more expensive, but they work, and work well!
* And 5 very boozy nights in a hotel bar.
** It did: when a new member signed up they laminated a new library card for them and that sent out enough crap via the mains to disturb the hardware my software was running on.
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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That reminds me of an incident that occurred to me while I was visiting a customer in the US. I was driving a rented Lincoln Town Car (ridiculous car but it had plenty of room and impressed customers) on I94 south of Detroit. It started to snow heavily and the road surface became very slippery. A lorry jack-knifed a little distance ahead so I cruised to a stop. The woman driving the minivan behind was not paying sufficient attention and was late braking. She almost stopped but slid gently into the back of me. The impact was barely noticeable but when I opened the driver's door, the front edge was catching on the bodywork ahead. It was apparent that the whole car had been shortened by about 15mm!
I have never rented a Lincoln since.
Phil
The opinions expressed in this post are not necessarily those of the author, especially if you find them impolite, inaccurate or inflammatory.
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Wow! That sounds much like the last accident I was involved with, in 1973. Stopped at a signal, the guy behind never even braked, just crumpled my car and drove me into the car ahead of me. I have to agree, for all their expense and coim-plexity, cars today are far safer than what we were driving back then!
Will Rogers never met me.
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Yes, but I translate it into Sanscrit first to keep in practice.
Will Rogers never met me.
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Roger, thank god everyone Ok.
We have an older car that doesn't have all the newer safety devices, it have a lot of miles and we're waiting for it to take a dump before looking for a new one.
Definition of a burocrate; Delegate, Take Credit, shift blame.
PartsBin an Electronics Part Organizer - Release Version 1.3.1 JaxCoder.com
Latest Article: EventAggregator
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Glad to hear that you and your passenger are both OK.
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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I'm glad to hear you and your passenger are okay Roger. It sounds clichΓ©, but cars can be replaced. You and your friend cannot.
Cars that are designed to be destroyed during impact while preserving the lives of their occupents sound like a win all the way around.
Software Zen: delete this;
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Wordle 1,021 4/6*
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Wordle 1,021 3/6
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Today it asked me to create a login, to see my stats and streaks. Am somewhat hesitant to create a login.
Yet another login, yet another password, ... sigh.
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Happiness will never come to those who fail to appreciate what they already have. -Anon
And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music. -Frederick Nietzsche
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Luck, pure luck.
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity. - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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Ok, I have had my coffee, so you can all come out now!
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Jeremy Falcon
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The first one said "I gotta admit, I'm scared out here."
The second says "You're scared? I have to walk back alone!"
Check out my IoT graphics library here:
https://honeythecodewitch.com/gfx
And my IoT UI/User Experience library here:
https://honeythecodewitch.com/uix
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This is a killing joke!
GCS/GE d--(d) s-/+ a C+++ U+++ P-- L+@ E-- W+++ N+ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE Y+ PGP t+ 5? X R+++ tv-- b+(+++) DI+++ D++ G e++ h--- r+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
The shortest horror story: On Error Resume Next
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I've probably told this before so I'll get my coat ahead of time.
A guys hitch hiking and someone picks him up.
The hitchhiker asks the driver; "Why did you pick me up?, I could be a serial killer."
The driver answers: "What's the odds of two in the same car?"
Definition of a burocrate; Delegate, Take Credit, shift blame.
PartsBin an Electronics Part Organizer - Release Version 1.3.1 JaxCoder.com
Latest Article: EventAggregator
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Mike Hankey wrote: The hitchhiker asks the driver; "Why did you pick me up?, I could be a serial killer."
The driver answers: "What's the odds of two in the same car?"
The variation on this I heard is, "I carry my own bomb when I board a plane, I mean, what are the odds that there might be two bombs aboard?"
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Hadn't heard that version.
Definition of a burocrate; Delegate, Take Credit, shift blame.
PartsBin an Electronics Part Organizer - Release Version 1.3.1 JaxCoder.com
Latest Article: EventAggregator
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