Weekly Safety Tip

[78F350]

Today I saw, heard, and felt a bad wreck right in front of my office. Both drivers could have prevented it. I did what I could to calm the truck driver. The Paramedic I work with did what he could to save the driver of the car. Our bodies do not tolerate lateral G-force very well.

• If you are driving and need to check your GPS/Map/Radio/Phone, do not do it just before an intersection.
• If you are at a traffic light and it turns green, pause and look for traffic before you drive into the intersection.

Today is the 23rd anniversary of a crash that changed my perspective on a lot of things. Being on the wrong side of a second or inch can change everything. As time slowed and my mind raced, the realization that there was no going back, no chance to change the outcome struck me hard. Everything had been fine a second ago and now I was locked in a crash sequence that was ruled by physics rather than my further actions. This was going to hurt.

I'm going to try to make a post once a week in this thread just to keep a little focus on safety for myself and any of my 986 friends that care to read it. Not to be preachy or gloomy, but to help fight complacency. Feel free to steal a week from me if you have a good tip to share. As sports car drivers, we all like to push the edge. Just keep an eye on that edge. The other side of it can suck.

[MARTHA]

.
.
Thanks

[Pdwight]

My daughter has been a Paramedic for 20 years....she said a week in her job and everyone would change their driving habits

[dghii]

Thank you.

[husker boxster]

Monday was the 29th anniversary of a collision with a drunk driver. I happened to be drinking Coke that night and had I not, my girl friend at the time and I would probably not be here. I was able to avoid a head-on collision but his pickup still wiped out the passenger side of my car. He hit me with so much force it pushed the entire front end of his pickup to the cab. He blew a .17 but the judge let him off with probation. My GF ended up in the hospital for 2 wks with a collapsed lung and broken rib. She suffered more than he did. It didn't seem fair.

I consider Oct 10 my '2nd birthday'. I was never one to enjoy the fall color changes, but this made me stop and look around a bit. I've enjoyed the fall colors ever since.

[ttmedical]

Reading this makes my blood boil. **** that guy and the skewed justice system. I'm so sorry for your GF; as a doc, I know that things often aren't fully healed and the journey isn't over after 2 weeks in the hospital. I hope everything worked out for her!

Originally Posted by husker boxster

Monday was the 29th anniversary of a collision with a drunk driver. I happened to be drinking Coke that night and had I not, my girl friend at the time and I would probably not be here. I was able to avoid a head-on collision but his pickup still wiped out the passenger side of my car. He hit me with so much force it pushed the entire front end of his pickup to the cab. He blew a .17 but the judge let him off with probation. My GF ended up in the hospital for 2 wks with a collapsed lung and broken rib. She suffered more than he did. It didn't seem fair.

I consider Oct 10 my '2nd birthday'. I was never one to enjoy the fall color changes, but this made me stop and look around a bit. I've enjoyed the fall colors ever since.

[itsnotanova]

90% of the wrecked boxsters I buy were wrecked by the driver. Don't get too confident in how well these cars can handle or brake

[rexcramer]

Originally Posted by itsnotanova

90% of the wrecked boxsters I buy were wrecked by the driver. Don't get too confident in how well these cars can handle or brake

That is a sobering statistic.

[thstone]

Originally Posted by itsnotanova

90% of the wrecked boxsters I buy were wrecked by the driver. Don't get too confident in how well these cars can handle or brake

Oh, the cars handle and brake extremely well and have capability well beyond the average driver.

The problem is that everyone considers themselves to be above average. Until they aren't. And even then, it will be all about the tires or the conditions or the...

Driving skills are usually the weak link. Take a training course, do a few track days, get out there and learn some performance driving skills. Learn how to drive at the tires' limit whether they are new or old; learn how to adjust for weather; learn how to skid and slide and recover like a pro; and still go fast as hell. Its not just about having big balls.

[san rensho]

Originally Posted by itsnotanova

90% of the wrecked boxsters I buy were wrecked by the driver. Don't get too confident in how well these cars can handle or brake

I resemble that comment. I was stupid. I was accelerating on a freeway entrance ramp that i take almost daily but this day it was drizzling and my rear tires were worn. As i get up to about 70 mph i hydroplane and in the blink of an eye, 360 spin into the median barrier.

What really calms me is going to the track. When i see how good these cars are and how quickly they can get away from you on the track i realise pushing the limits is not for the street.

[husker boxster]

Originally Posted by ttmedical

Reading this makes my blood boil. **** that guy and the skewed justice system. I'm so sorry for your GF; as a doc, I know that things often aren't fully healed and the journey isn't over after 2 weeks in the hospital. I hope everything worked out for her!

I appreciate your concern. She healed up nicely but there were many tough nights of no sleep due to the broken rib.

Then she broke up with me 3 mo later b/c I didn't give her a ring for Christmas.

[Porsche9]

Just read a story about someone locally that died when his car he was working on fell on him. Don't take chances as it could be you!

[Bootlegger]

As a Corporate Safety Director for a large utility I often deal with the aftermath of poor decision making. If I could give one tidbit of advice it would be to question your habits. Just because nothing has happened doesn't mean you're doing it safely. And remember, dead right and dead wrong are the same thing...

[rexcramer]

Force = mass * acceleration. Things can get out of hand quickly. Thanks for the reminder.

[Gelbster]

Hormones + alcohol = killer combo.

[rfuerst911sc]

I don't really care for the ratchet style jack stands even though I own some. I also still have the pin type jack stands which I feel are much safer. But since purchasing a scissor lift I don't use either style .

[MARTHA]

.
MaN does this ever sound/look familiar. I’ve done all this stuff too many times to count. As you say. In a hurry mostly.
The worst was when I installed a new shifter on my 56 Chevy. I was at my uncles house that had a home on a high bluff with a beautiful panoramic view. When I finished installing the shifter and let the car down off the jack stands I started into the house to wash up. But I stopped. I had better put the car into gear. But I didn’t. I had recently installed a new red leather tuck and roll interior and I didn’t wish to get grease on it. So I leaned my shoulder onto the door frame and tried to push it and being unable to push it I thought I was safe. I hurried into the house and before I returned my Chevy had rolled over the bluff.
I learned an expensive lesson that day but I still take chances. Stupid. Stupid. Really is Stupid.

[MWS]

I totally agree with rexcramer in every single point he made and no truer words have been written (as I have a guiding "morality compass") HOWEVER...

I also have a dumb gene.

Now this is what I find interesting, and quite probably true with most humans.... There is a constant battle between my morality compass and my dumb gene, but there is an additional factor that modifies the equation...age. Thirty years ago (and I am almost embarrassed to admit) my dumb gene almost eclipsed my morality compass, but now T+30 my morality compass has a much stronger pull. I would like to think that now, with age and clarity, I will always choose the best path of behavior, but in all honestly it's probably closer to 50/50 between enlightened guru and flaming jackass. Perhaps in thirty years my dumb gene will be totally suppressed and with my fully charged morality compass I may go forth unto the world and spread wisdom...from the chair on my front porch. Until that time, I try and ask myself three simple questions when I think I might be about to do something inappropriate:

1: does this need to be done?
2: does this need to be done by me?
3: does this need to be done by me now?

Anyway...street racing bad. Don't do it. Ever. Or so says my morality compass...

[78F350]

In the accident on October 14th that I opened this thread with, the driver of the truck was unhurt and I expect that the driver of the car died. The last I saw him was when they were loading him in the ambulance to bring him to the hospital 100 yards away. I did not follow up. The truck driver was in hysterical grief. She knew that she had just killed a stranger. She was not racing, or speeding. She had just looked away from the road for a few seconds. When she saw that the light had changed, she just couldn't stop in time and it likely ended one life and changed hers Forever.

I have been working in Oklahoma as an EMS helicopter pilot for over 10 years. I have waited for patients to be extracted from mangled vehicles, hearing their shrieks become moans and then silence. Returning to our base, no longer needed. Two brothers speeding on the back roads, lost control. Little brother thrown from the car, elder trapped inside and unable to get to him while he died. A pick-up goes a little too fast over a blind hill and crosses lanes just enough to kill a young couple heading the other way, their infant (now orphan) in back critically injured, but alive. On and on. Cops, EMS, and firemen know the stories.

I still do stupid things while I'm driving. I still can convince myself that with my superior skills and awesome cars, I can get away with things that 'ordinary people' can't. ...and I know that I am wrong and no better than that truck driver.
Racing on public roads? If anything, I think it shows weakness and misplaced pride. Stronger and humble is a better way to be.

[alynch]

Saw this in a recent MSN article. I found it stunning the effects of the differences between the two designs with a twenty year gap. The last part of the video where you see the crash consequences from the inside of both cars was, to me, the most sobering.

https://youtu.be/85OysZ_4lp0