[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]

tales of overreaction...

 I have been reading the thread on Blair's unfortunate experience, and I will 
stick in my .02 cents, only because I think I might provide one extreme on this.
 I used to be quite the mountain climber.  Then I dealt with one friend lasting 
1.5 hours after he fell, and another friend lasting 2 weeks on life support.  I 
have had a head on collision with a school bus, and had all the experts tell me 
that I shouldn't be alive.  I have been in 3 rollover accidents, never being 
the driver myself.  This was all in Alaska.  We didn't drive all that fast 
there.  I owned a motorcycle until I got knocked off at 65 on a 4 lane 
highway.  All I got was scraped up on one thigh.
 Then I moved to DC here and started driving the beltway.  I guess by sheer 
number of cars, you see some pretty amazing accidents.  5 people killed, 4 
people killed, no survivors, etc.  I started doing little correlations and 
drawing together in my head whats happening.  Since the mountain climbing I got 
my EMT1 cert. and I stop when I think I can be of help.
 Now I can't get out of the safety freak mode.
 The problem is that I can envision my wife in one of these accidents, and one 
day when I have children, I will be scared s**tless that they too could become 
one of these people I see.  So I do EVERYTHING possible to prevent it that I 
think I can.
 The 1994 Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) said that the Audi 100 was the 2nd 
safest car in existence.  I couldn't handle the #1 mercedes S-class long 
wheelbase sedan, so we bought an Audi S4 (100 with a fun engine).  If I 
couldn't have afforded the Audi, I would have bought a 2 year old suburban 3/4 
ton.  I saw an accident where a suburban 3/4 ton was involved.  It won.  
Period.  I can live with whatever lack of reliability exists if I know that my 
kids/wife/etc. are alot less vulnerable to the aggressive drivers around here.  
Did you all hear of the 2 guys that started scrapping it out on the 
G.Washington Parkway and ended up killing 2 families?
 I refuse to ever look back and realize that there was something I could have 
done to prevent the loss of permanent harm to any of my family.
 I do, however, fell that owning a BMW for pleasure on a track is exceptionally 
safe, and I do own a 2002 for precisely that reason.  I also race 250 cc road 
motorcycle because I can't see any danger there on the track.
 I may over do it, but it's something to think about.
 Have fun time to time in your M3 or whatever, but drive a suburban on the 
beltway... I think your wife/husband would rather not cash in on your life 
insurance.

chris