Human Stupidity in 5 amazing acts...

[A Horse With No Name]

A bit of a rant, but these things happened over the last few weeks and I can't get over how dumb all 5 are.

#1. My Buddy Steve runs a body shop, did the body work on my 71 Chevelle and my 55 Chevy and also has fixed my other cars, including the Safari van when it got hit by a truck.

Steve took a BMW Salvage title rebuild down to the Ohio State highway patrol to get it checked out so he could sell it. He noticed a very nice 65 Corvette Convertible (red, restored) being hauled away with the impounds to a company that crushes cars.

He asked them what they were doing with the Vette...and was told that they were crushing it for reasons they couldn't discuss.

Why in God's green earth would you crush a 65 Corvette...much less a restored one? (I know this sounds like the stuff of Urban legend, but if Camino or one of the senior members here wants to PM me, I will give them Steve's # so they can verify this).

#2. A garage in New Albany, an upscale suburb of Columbus had been around for 39 years and had a loyal customer base. Being in a neighborhood of expensive homes they lost thier "grandfather clause" and had to shut down.

#3. My neighbor decides to put in a patio, so heorders a load of gravel. When the truck gets there, he tells the driver to put it in the street out in front of the house. So the driver backs into said neighbors driveway, tagging his Volvo with the dump truck. Driver realizes his mistake and pulls forward, but not before he has started tipping the dump bed...you guessed it, he pulled the Volvo forward with the dump bed and dumped 20 Tons of Gravel right on top of the car, and right through the now broken car windows.

Actually, and amazingly, the car was still driveable once they dug it out. Damaged heavily, but driveable.

#4. Dawn, a woman I know from the library, had a very nice 15 year old son...who decided to blow his brains out with a shot gun after he broke up with his girl friend.

#5. We were setting new light poles in a parking lot when someone removed the lockout/tagout from the electrical panel feeding the parking lot lights and turned on the breakers. Never found out who did it, either. No one was hurt, but there is nothing like trying to swing a 30 foot piece of steel from a bucket truck and realizing your dealing with live electric.

Just had to rant for a second, sometimes human stupidity is just...amazing.

Chris

Edited July 8, 2008 by 66Stang

[XP715]

Bet you anything the Corvette will "fall off the truck" in some officer's driveway; happens all the time. Believe it or not, this is how one of the original 1948 Tucker Torpedoes was saved after it was found abandoned along the banks of the Mississippi River in Memphis, Tennessee. Although totally destroyed, a Memphis police officer had the car "impounded" and then eventually towed to his house. It pays to be connected. I guarantee you a local cop will be driving that car very shortly.

[Robert Hall]

The Corvette was probably seized from a habitutal DUI or other bad driver.... in Denver last year, they seized and crushed a worn-out '80s Chevy pickup from someone that had caused a ton of accidents (running red lights, running over pedestrians, etc).

[cletus8269]

isnt there a law in california or somewhere in canada where they crush your car if they catch you street racing it?

[VenSeattle]

#4 -

[daves87rs]

Wow...that is quite a bit...

[CARBIZ]

isnt there a law in california or somewhere in canada where they crush your car if they catch you street racing it?

They talked about it here. If you are 50 km/hr over the speed limit, you automatically go to jail here. That's 30 mph, to you south of the border. The car is seized.

Be careful with draconian Canadian laws. Not only can the police set up road blocks (as in Soviet Union style) for breathalysers anwhere, anytime, the police now have new powers to order up roadside blood, urine or saliva samples for drug testing. It is now a crime NOT to allow a breathlyser.

Drunk driver's suck, but I don't feel like living in a police state. I know only too well how often the cops and/or crown attorney (our version fo the District Attorney) lie, cheat and steal to get a conviction - or is it just plain incompetence? (Just ask Steven Truscott who was just issued a $6.5 million wrongful conviction check for the 9 years he spend in jail for the 1959 conviction of murder for a 14 year old girl that it turns out he never killed.)

[A Horse With No Name]

Bet you anything the Corvette will "fall off the truck" in some officer's driveway; happens all the time. Believe it or not, this is how one of the original 1948 Tucker Torpedoes was saved after it was found abandoned along the banks of the Mississippi River in Memphis, Tennessee. Although totally destroyed, a Memphis police officer had the car "impounded" and then eventually towed to his house. It pays to be connected. I guarantee you a local cop will be driving that car very shortly.

I hope so...I've known of a few "fallen off of the truck" stories myself.

Chris

Interesting note about the Tucker, BTW!

[A Horse With No Name]

#4 -

Yeah, no kidding....

chris

[Paolino]

Wow. All are terrible, but number 4 really makes you just stop and think. I can't say I don't understand suicide since I was once suicidal, but now that I'm in a different place, it just makes me upset that the person didn't get the help they needed to get through their pain.