The weakest part of a Car- revisited

The weakest part of a Car / revisited

I’m on the Road Again and I am gone, gone, gone as the song goes by the Group Traffic, One of the Premier Groups of the Seventies.  Eric Clapton,  Ginger Baker and Stevie Winwood made the Group a Standout. Better yet Golden Earnings said it best, no more speed, I’m almost there, Radar Love. That’s enough of the Musical Savvy. This Blog isn’t about music, even though while covering Forty-Two hundred miles in the past month I listened to a lot of it. This Blog is about the weakest part of the Car. Not the Nut that retains the Steering Wheel, but the Nut holding the Wheel that calls himself a Driver. I have always maintained that the speed limit on our Roadways should never exceed Fifty-Five.

The reason for this is that whatever is posted, it will be exceeded. Interstate Ninety Five is posted Seventy M.P.H. No One obeys it. The average speed during rush hour is Eighty-Five, no matter how inept or inexperienced or insecure. The Bold, the late and the Suicidal, blows through a cluster of Traffic at 100. When you have a smash-up at One hundred M.P.H. There are no survivors. The most Astonishing thing that ever happened to me in over Fifty years of driving,  was a Nut passing me on the Shoulders doing Ninety Five. Now, do you understand why I will never stop writing Safe Driving Blogs? When I quit giving my opinion about this screwed-up World that we are living in, I will never stop talking about Idiots behind the wheel that thinks that Driving is big fun and is nothing but a game. The Numerous Roadside Graves that I pass Daily on my commute make me the most Astute of Drivers. When I was younger, I was one of them, reckless and daring, change is good.The reason for that is that I don’t want to die in a blazing ball of Fire mangled by Glass and Steel. My Dream Death is, sitting up in bed sipping on my finest Brandy. However, I am always amazed that just about every single day I get behind the wheel someone is trying to forfeit my Dream.

They can be as Educated as they come, when they get behind the wheel the Idiot pops out, Logic is tossed asunder, rationality is discarded and common sense becomes uncommon. So many people lose their lives each year because of stupid people who are good at nothing else in life. Yet these same losers get behind the wheel of a car and thinks that they are better than Dale Earnhardt. Dale was the best, but yes shit does happen. So why do you put wood in the fire with a Full Tank of Gas? I could be cruising at Eighty-Five yet some Idiot would run up on me doing a Hundred, not knowing if I am tired from Driving four hours straight and is tired enough to drift from my lane. Where is the logic as Spock would ask? All that Schooling and all it’s good for making money, it doesn’t make you a fluent thinker, what a waste of Brainpower. Working in Construction we had a dominant concept about craftsmanship and skills. You could be doing it for Fifty years and still don’t know what you’re doing. Meaning, if you started out doing something the wrong way, fifty years later you are still doing it wrong. Case in point, since the first Two cars hit the winding dirt roads, they traveled in close formation. No one knew back then that staggering the traffic flow is the ultimate way to drive and it minimizes catastrophe.

Over a Hundred plus years later they still don’t understand the safety mechanism of staggering. Covering Forty-Two hundred miles, just about every Hundred miles, I come upon a cluster of Twenty cars all doing the same speed averaging Eighty. A combination of lightheadedness, doing things the wrong way and the “B” attitude puts someone in the left lane that doesn’t know that you don’t hang out in the left lane, even if you are doing One hundred and Twenty. There is always someone going faster. There are a lot of Bad Rides out there willing and able to exceed Two hundred and no shortage of crash Dummies. My friends knows that one of my dreams is to write a blog with one Sentence and a Book on One Page. Without further ado, I leave you with my favorite Einstein quote” A Fool is someone who does things the same way, each time looking for different results”.

A Car’s Weakest Point

A Car’s Weakest Point

The other Day I saw a Sign that read, a Car’s Weakest Part is the Nut holding the Steering wheel. At first I thought they were talking about the Nut that holds the Steering Wheel to the Shaft that’s connected to the Rack and Pinion, the integral component of the Steering Mechanism. Then I thought to myself, that isn’t the thought that’s being conferred. They are taking about, the Nut Driving the Car, holding the Steering Wheel. When I took Sensitivity Training, it specifically told you that you should not call a Crazy Person a Nut, it only Infuriates them. Also I believe that the Human Mind is so Fragile that any of us could fall Prey to Mental Illness. My Definition of a Nut is someone who Knows right from Wrong, yet they choose the latter. Someone who choose to play the Fool is a Nut.

Nowhere else in Life that people  play the Fool more than when they get behind the Wheel. Well my Friend I have tried every method of Communication and it doesn’t work. I have always Maintained that if you speak to People Intelligently and the act the Fool, you treat them Accordingly. So there you have it I am well within my Rights calling you a Nut for all the foolish things you do when you are behind the Wheel. Yesterday Twelve Noon on what I consider to be a Rural Road, Fifteen Feet from an Intersection. Someone Driving a Brand New Camaro, waited until I was within Twenty feet of the Intersection. I was Travelling at Fifty MPH, the Nut took the turn causing a near miss.

Both Cars with a combined value of Seventy Thousand Dollars almost went to the Junk Yard. That kind of Mentality is nothing short of being a Nut. That makes him or her the weakest part of the Car. Even though Today’s Cars no matter how Expensive, with the Finest Technology incorporated, they use the most Inexpensive material that they can find to make the Body. Bumpers made of Plastic and Styrofoam, Engine and Transmission made from Aluminum and the rest of it from ridiculously cheap Steel with no Density. That makes it a Death Trap at Fifty MPH. Yet every Nut out there drives them in a mindless fashion. The other Night going Home I came upon a Strip Mall with a Life Flight Helicopter and about Fifty Emergency and Patrol Cars. When it gets like that People are Gravely injured, clinging to Life or already Dead. What gets me about situations like that is that a Thousand other Nuts drive pass a Bad accident and draws no conclusions that it’s bad Driving that causes Catastrophic Accidents.

And so they just drive by Rubbernecking with  a mindless gaze and on their way, until it’s thei’r turn to take that Helicopter ride or be carried away in a Body Bag. Another Time while Traveling the Pennsylvania Turnpike, a Road where Nuts maintain a steady Eighty and even One Hundred. It was early Afternoon, Hours before Rush Hour. I came around a Bend and the Roadway was a Parking Lot. It took Three Hours before the Traffic started inching at a Snail’s pace forward. While waiting I noticed the Helicopter hovering then landed on the Highway. When I finally made it to the Accident Scene, all those who were involved in the Two Car Devastation were already transported by the Helicopter. By the look of both Vehicles, anyone who Lived were on borrowed Time. It appears that a SUV had made an Illegal U- Turn on a Roadway where no One Obeyed the Speed limit. The Vehicle that caused the Catastrophe suffered extensive Damages to the left rear quarter panel. The rear door was battered open, on the seat was a Bloodied white Teddy Bear, it’s owner was on the Helicopter. I asked myself what kind of a Nut would use a Police speed trap to make a U Turn on a Turnpike, with his whole Family in the Car. Well there you have it in a Catastrophic Wreck, the weakest part of the Car is the Nut holding the Wheel. I will forever be quoting Einstein ” The true Definition of a Fool, is someone who do things the same way, each time looking for different results”. That makes you a Nut.

This is Rush Hour on Ulmerton Road