Caution...it's not wise to take an oar to a potiential gun fight....

Several years ago, during a  rebuilding of the interchange of I-680 and
California 24 (a complicated T-shaped confluence of two major freeways
plus some surface-street on- and off-ramps in the eastern burbs of the
Bay Area)  someone in a Honda sedan pulled out of a turnout and into
traffic.  I don't recall whether it was an official turnout or just a
little pocket where the driver could  try and figure out the rather
chaotic temporary alignment or what.  I do seem to recall from the
news, which was how I learned about this, that it was on the left side.

For reasons that will never be known, this person pulled out
immediately  in front of a big rig moving at the speed limit for the
area.  The truck driver had essentially no time to react.  The car was
so completely obliterated by the force of the collision and the
subsequent fire that, if memory further serves, a piece of paper within
in an article of clothing found snagged on the *truck* was the first
clue police had about the identities of the victims (turned out to be a
driver and two passengers).

My recollection of the story is  that the truck driver was not cited,
having in fact done nothing wrong, and was physically unhurt, but as
one can well imagine, was just absolutely torn up about it for a while.

Some years ago I witnessed something that could've been nearly as bad.
On I-40 just east of Barstow, perhaps a mile ahead of me, a van that
had been on the right shoulder suddenly went into motion and darted
perpendicularly  across the driving lanes to pull an illegal U'ey
across the median strip.  At least one of the cars ahead of me was so
close to the van that  the car driver didn't even have time to brake.

Fortunately, the one thing the van driver did right was to accelerate
hard, and he got across in the nick of time.   Had things gone the
tiniest bit worse --  starting a split second later, hitting the gas
just a bit less, bogging down when accelerating , the oncoming cars
moving faster -- his illegal U-turn would have gotten him  T-boned by
at least one car, maybe two, that were moving at 75+ mph.  That
scenario has a dismaying chance of being a nonsurvivable meatball for
both the violator and the people who were going along minding their own
business when he showed up.

Of course, had he watched and waited for a gap in traffic -- or, heaven
forfend, looped around at the next interchange, which AFAIK is the only
legal way to do this on most freeways -- it would hardly even have been
noticed by others.    But it might have cost him minutes or even a
noticeable fraction of a gallon of gas!    

--Joe

"Scott en Aztlán" <scottenaztlan@yahoo.com> wrote in message

No replies disagreeing, so presume its not a joke?

Is it really acceptable to talk about beating up old women in Amerikee?

bucket