A World Upside Down

Stay Right side Up. The view is better

The past week I was driving along a straight and level road with two lanes in the same direction, when I came upon a car in the left lane that flipped and lay on its roof.  An ambulance was there, several police cars, and a tow truck. There was loads of glass in the road, but the driver and his passengers, if any were nowhere to be seen. The emergency personnel all seemed to be scratching their heads in trying to figure out how he managed to flip his car on an uncluttered street.

My question would be: "Why?"  Why did he flip his car? Many years ago while driving over in the vicinity of Torreviejo I came across a bridge and found a car that was flipped on its side with driver and passenger still inside and buckled in. I was the first person on the scene.  My first action was to  release them from their seat harness, which was very tricky, and to haul them out of the car.

I asked the driver what happened, and he said he didn't know. That he had been talking to his girlfriend and the next he knew was that the car was on its side. Since then I have conducted a little experiment with flipped vehicles. Most contained one or more passengers, and very few had only the drivers. My theory is that a failure to take due care and attention to the job at hand is the cause because of the distraction of talking to the person beside you.

Here's an experiment that you can conduct for yourself; preferably it should be off-road and in a field. While staring straight ahead turn your head to the right and focus on what happens to the hand that holds the steering wheel. The tendency is for the hand to follow the head, so that the driver who turns to look at his front seat passenger automatically drives the car into the ditch if he is not careful.

A driver alone who lights a cigarette experiences the same motion and ends up driving into trouble. Remember, your car will do what you tell it to, so be careful!

However, having said all that does not explain what happened in the story at the top of the page, because the car was on its roof in the left hand lane, with no suggestion that it was ever in the right side. So, how the hell do you flip your car when there is nothing around to trip you up?  I compare that to walking along and stumbling, but when you look around to see what tripped you up, there is nothing.  Very strange !!!

Copyright (c)  2012  Eugene  Carmichael