I have pulled the reciprocal action of driving in the left lane of a two lane road for awhile until an oncoming car shocks me into the realization of what I’m doing. On many freeways the left lane is much smoother because it gets used less frequently, so often times in lonely stretches of road I will cruise in the left lane. Then when I get onto a two lane road, habit takes over and I find myself driving on the wrong side.
Only happened a couple times.
So why does he have access to a vehicle, if the family knows he’s impaired? Not cool.
No it doesn’t. @knoxblox talking about speed, they are talking about the force of the impact.
Edit; missed @knoxblox’s post where that was already clarified
One time really late at night someone was driving the wrong way on I-70. I was like WTF? and pulled all the way over the far opposite lane. Guessing they were drunk since it was so late. Luckily the highway was pretty empty.
I’ve been pushing back against my university authorities, who have been making it clear that faculty and staff can’t be “mask police”, that I guess I can start smoking again in classrooms?
That’s very interesting, but … umm … intended for another thread?
Lots of reasons. First it’s not like a family member just gets to say “I think mom’s demented” and then take over. It’s a whole miserable process that can be full of denial and family infighting. Family often bickers over this crap until something like this happens. A spouse or child could still be driving the car so the keys are around. Who is going to quit their job and provide full time babysitting day and night for the next five to ten years until they die etc? After that who is going to financially support the one with no career anymore? Is there even anyone capable of affording or providing such specialized care? What happens if the caretaker gets sick for a day or sleeps in one morning? Dementia sucks. It runs in my family and my back up plan is suicide at the first signs if/when they happen. Personally I feel sorry for anyone who is dealing.
But somehow BB makes it a “metaphor” for people who don’t…wear…masks…?
The Dutch word for somebody driving the wrong way on a highway is spookrijder- literally ''ghost driver".
Driving the wrong way, making irrational statements, … lots of troubling signs that it’s time to have the talk about home care.
Same here: Geisterfahrer.
(Their heads aren’t flaming skulls, and they don’t look like Nicolas Cage, but as they say, Geisterfahrer sind sehr entgegenkommend.)
“I say, you American chaps appear to be motoring the wrong way.”
Indeed, crashing into an oncoming vehicle of the same mass and speed IS equivalent to crashing into a wall, at least from the point of view of the kinetic energy transferred to the vehicle. In this case I was terrified that he was going to have a head on at speed when cresting a hill because the opposing driver would not have a chance to swerve before seeing him.
I know, my father has Alzheimer’s disease. He is not supposed to drive, but he has tantrums if his car is missing. We are disabling the car now in order to stop him from driving on the few occasions that my mother isn’t with him at home. It’s been a difficult and scary process, and we’re very fortunate that my mom can stay with him most of the time.
I feel for families with fewer resources, and if my mom passes before he does, it may get much more difficult for us as well.
well, at least we know theres a 95% chance the driver was white… i diddnt read anything about gunshots. all im sayin.
It’s really hard to tell a fiercely independent woman who loves to drive that she can’t do it (“yes, just because you ran into the back of one car!”). It becomes especially hard to keep her from behind the wheel when she’s clever and tricksy and her son hides the keys when she’s in the next room.
Did anyone else become slightly aroused reading this? I can’t be the only one…
And “Slippery Roundabout” would make an excellent band name.
Bravo!
My dad gets very agitated when his car is not in his driveway, but fortunately he seems content to let my mom drive when they’re together. It just seems like he gets a stray neuron flash about every three months, and when my mom is out he’ll drive off. She gets home to find him and the car gone, and of course his cell phone is on the table. So far we’ve been lucky to have him come home shortly after with no apparent injury to either him or the car.
I’m very lucky to have a mechanic SO that my dad just loves. Seriously, he respects Mr. Deepeyes more than anyone, so we can use that to help dispel ornery moments. We disabled his car in a subtle way, so that when he tries to drive, he won’t be able to get out of the driveway. My mom can tell him that Mr. D will fix it, which will calm him in the moment. We re-able the car, show him that it runs, then re-disable it. Lying to dementia patients can be fun!
It’s been hard for my mom to understand that she doesn’t have to confront him about things that don’t matter. He often tells people that he’s done things that she knows he hasn’t, and it drives her up the wall! I’ve had to learn and model letting go of that kind of thing, as well as “therapeutic fibbing”. I think at this point in the disease, my role is mostly about letting my mom vent about all the parts of this that scare and infuriate her. She and I laugh a lot.
Sorry for the therapy session, guess I needed to vent a little too.
Well, the headline is about masks and such, so it’s on topic for what the video is supposedly a metaphor for.
It felt like a bit of a reach, but hey, I got a cool butt-clenching car crash video out of it, so who am I to complain.
Years ago we had a priest in the city and he had some visitors in his car from a foreign church… anyways, dude pulls an illegal left-hand turn at a notorious intersection, got t-boned and I think two of his passengers died. Well, lets not let a minor thing like that keep him from being behind the wheel.
2 or 3 years later he somehow went driving on the wrong side of a divided highway and crashed into a station wagon… Killed himself and the family of 4 that were coming back from the beach.
