Date:         Mon, 20 Feb 1995 15:53:34 -0500
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         michael.heron@utoronto.ca (Michael Heron)
Subject:      Re: Re:Life in the Breakdown lane (was: R.I.P. 79(80) Bug Convertible)

from all of the messages that have been posted about the breakdown lane it
seems like it is a very dangerous place to park your vehicle! I wish i
could utter some profound suggestions as to avoid these calamities, but
none spring to mind. If i am so unfortunate as to have to leave my old
beast at the side of the road, you can bet i won't be sitting in it! I
think tonight i am going to purchase some of those reflective trianlge
things tonight that warn would be boozeheads that my vehicle is broken down
in front of them. I know it won't stop a vehicle at 65MPH, but perhaps it
would at leat get them to slow down!

Actaully what i think i need to purchase or make a couple of plastic mats
w/ sharp metal things (i.e. nails) poking up and lay them a few hundred
feet behind my car. That way the *&^&%@!! drive over them in their drunken
bliss they would hopefully flatten their tires and come to a halt before
crashing into the bus!

michael


>On Mon, 20 Feb 1995, Thom Fitzpatrick wrote:
>
>All I can do is offer my condolences, Ric, and repeat what everyone else
>has said: be thankful your wife wasn't in the car.
>
>A couple of years ago, I was driving to my folks for Thanksgiving: then
>my driveline dropped out of my car. (It was about 50 feet from the clunk-
>clunk-clunk to the actual falling out of the car-A 1976 Dodge Charger, BTW.
>A real TANK.) I pulled a good distance off the road, (about 4 feet off the
>shoulder) and made my first mistake: I jacked the car up on a bumper jack,
>crawled under, and removed the driveline. Nothing was sheared, I could go
>get new u-joints and be merrily on my way. I went to the NSFLAPS, had to
>buy tools (I never leave home without them anymore.), came back, put the
>new u-joints in, and was ready to get back into my car, when WHAM!!!
>some drunken B#$%CH hit me going about 55-60. I was luckily(?) sitting
>in the passenger seat, (without a seat belt!), but was not thrown through
>the windshield, since my forehead had struck the very nice, large padded
>sunvisor. Anyway, she was in a saab (completely totalled.), and this guy
>in a volvo (probably totalled.) My car was also totalled. She had struck
>about the center of the rear wheel, and there was now about a 1 1/2 foot
>impression all along the side. (My poor Dodge was shaped like a "U"!)
>At least I wasn't driving my bus!! <g>
>
>Eric Oster (ekoman@u.washington.edu)
>
>> >Perhaps there is something to be said for not sitting in your car in the
>> >breakdown lane. A few months ago a couple of people up here died in an
>> >accident which involved having the back of their car crashed into while
>> >parked in the breakdown lane. Maybe there is something that can be learned
>> >from this most unfortunate accident!
>>
>> When I was with the fire department in the east bay, we had a Semi
>> (articulated lorry) carrying tomatoes that had broken down and was in
>> the breakdown lane.  Another articulated lorry hit him in the back at about
>> 65-70 miles an hour.  Needless to say, nobody on the crew was hungry for
>> tomato sauce for a while...