Unintended Consequences

 

This picture was on Facebook, and it brought back an unpleasant memory.

Local kids in the Colorado Yampa Valley (Steamboat Springs, Hayden, Craig) wanted bragging rights on how fast they could drive the 42 miles between Steamboat and Craig.

Westbound out of Steamboat three Craig kids in a 1960 Chevy convertible slid off the corner just past Hwy 129 and hit a mailbox much like the one in the picture. They hit almost exactly in line with the steering column breaking it.  With no steering control they went into the ditch and rolled several times. One passenger was killed.

The mailbox owner had grown weary of having his mailbox knocked over by careless/malicious snow plow drivers. He put out such a stout mail box it would cause a snowplow truck to pivot.

The dead passenger had recently moved to Craig from Steamboat and was one of my best friends.

His parents insisted on an open casket at his funeral and made sure all us hot shots filed by. The funeral home workers did not do any cosmetic work on the face.

Sobering.

Jowl Shaker

Car fire, Mile Marker 77 I-25 just South of Wheatland, WY. Cell phone photo - sorry for the quality.

Passed the scene around 0520. Dry road, daybreak, no wind. Skid marks indicated heavy breaking and a swerve to the right, across the breakdown lane and into the borrow pit. The car was on it's right side and totally engulfed in flame. Best guess? They were trying to avoid an animal. The other route driver and I have both hit a deer on that stretch of highway within two miles of this wreck.

My stop was at the hospital where I learned everyone got out and refused medical assistance. Good news.

People just won't condition themselves to take a hit instead of swerving and braking. Kind of like an airplane. If a crash is unavoidable, get the nose up and the wings level. You need to mentally prepare.

When I'm driving I do a lot of "what if".  What if that semi gets blown into my lane? What if that oncoming driver can't make the curve and takes his half out of the middle? You get the picture.

So WSF, you are the poster boy for safe driving? Hell no. I drive too fast most of the time, to the point even stalwarts like my sister ask me to slow down. I've had a drivers license for 57 years and I've been off the road a few times. Always, the shiny side has stayed upright. Never have bent one to the point I couldn't keep driving it.

The point here is to encourage all of you not to drive in condition "White".