XPost: rec.arts.sf.written, rec.arts.sf.science   
   From: john@jfeldredge.com   
      
   On Mon, 20 Jan 2014 20:20:36 -0800, Dimensional Traveler wrote:   
      
   > On 1/19/2014 9:34 PM, Your Name wrote:   
   >> In article , Robert Bannister   
   >>  wrote:   
   >>> On 19/01/2014 7:52 pm, Thomas Koenig wrote:   
   >>>> Robert Bannister  schrieb:   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>> In fact, towards the end of the 19th century the traffic situation   
   >>>>> with horse-drawn vehicles was as bad if not worse than today. There   
   >>>>> are a few photographs and drawings around of grid lock in London and   
   >>>>> elsewhere. Road accidents were also very common. No speedometers or   
   >>>>> speed limits back then.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> There were also a lot of cases of sudden acceleration (many more than   
   >>>> with today's cars).  Traffic accidents were much more frequent as a   
   >>>> result.   
   >>>   
   >>> Although car drivers are no better and often worse than carriage   
   >>> drivers, at least cars don't get spooked by trivial noises or   
   >>> movements.   
   >>   
   >> Maybe not, but a driver can be spooked and lose control of the car.   
   >> Plus a car usually weighs quite a bit more and goes faster ...   
   >> therefore causing more damage.   
   >>   
   >> Cars can also of course have unexpected problems, whether mechanically   
   >> or due to road / weather conditions (for example if the driver doesn't   
   >> know or see oil spilt on the road). Or the driver for some reason   
   >> health reason loses control (heart attack, passes out, etc.)   
   >>   
   >> There was a bus driver recently who for some "medical reason" decided   
   >> he would turn his buss full of passengers around in the middle of the   
   >> motorway and go back across the Harbour Bridge on the wrong side.   
   >>   
   >>   
   >>   
   >>> It's also quite rare these days to see a wheel come off.   
   >>   
   >> Rare, but not impossible - especially if whoever changed the tyre   
   >> didn't tighten the nuts properly. You do quite often see bits of   
   >> shreaded truck tyres along the side of the motorway too.   
   >>   
   >> My father used to work on a busy main road and one day they saw a truck   
   >> tyre coming bouncing down the driveway and hit their buidling. The   
   >> speed it was going ti had obviously come off a passing truck. Luckily   
   >> it was only a factory wall and they were in the offices on the second   
   >> floor, otherwise it would have gone straight through any window and   
   >> would have seriously hurt or killed someone.   
   >>   
   >> Only a few weeks ago, there was a tourist killed here in New Zealand   
   >> driving when something (the police still don't know what) from a   
   >> passing car went though his windscreen.   
   >>   
   >> Then there are morons, usually kids, who throw rocks at cars from   
   >> motorway over-bridges (which has killed at least one person in the   
   >> past).  X-(   
   >>   
   > I've seen the tread of a truck tire on the trailer of a tractor-trailer   
   > rig peel off on the highway.  It must have gone about 50 feet in the air   
   > before it came back down.  Caused a bit of a traffic jam as drivers   
   > tried to avoid being under it as it did so.   
      
   I have seen a truck wheel come off on the Interstate, probably because   
   the nuts had sheared or come loose.  It went bouncing across the road,   
   including the far side, going up about 15 feet into the air on each   
   bounce.  Fortunately, it didn't hit anyone.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)