Oct. 17, 2007 - Dukes of Hazard
Most of you oldsters will remember that great TV show called The Dukes of Hazard. The highlight of the show each and every week was watching the car go airborn in a "just in the nick of time to escape from the bad guys" sort of moment.
That sort of thing never works out in real life, as this poor fellow found out. Photo #1 shows what happens when you go straight at a high rate of speed when you should be turning right at a safe rate of speed.
The arrow points to the spot where his car clipped the top (that's right, the TOP) of the eucalyptus tree. The tree is an estimated forty feet tall, and an estimated seventy five feet from the launch point.
Things get worse very quickly. What you see here in photo #2 is the boys from Five Truck using the Hurst tool (a.k.a. the Jaws of Life) to remove our intrepid and lifeless driver from his crumpled and useless car.
Photo #3 shows how we get a person down from the side of a steep hill.
The yellow rope is called a Friction Line. That's Bruce kneeling by the tree. He is playing out the line, which twists its way through a device called a Friction Lock. Bruce is able to support the weight of six large Firefighters and their patient all by himself. The Friction Line will control their descent down to the bottom of the hill, where the Deputy Coroner awaits.
Moral of the story: Kids, your parents aren't making stuff up when they stress the importance of safe driving. Our friend here never touched the brake; everything was fine until the instant that things went completely wrong. The only warning you get comes from your own common sense and forethought, of which our friend seemed to have little or none.
Kevin: Sorry for the lack of fuzzy bunnies on this one. I won't venture into such dark territory very often.
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