ypsi~dixit

I'm glad that everyone is still alive, but the comment that they survived because a higher power was on their side bothers me. Doesn't this insinuate that the people who don't survive car accidents don't have a deity on their side?

If it's what you believe, it's what you believe. I consider myself fairly religious, but I don't think that God, or any higher power, gets too involved in choosing who survives road accidents and who doesn't. (Especially on weekends, when he/she is extremely busy answering or ignoring sports-realted prayers.)

I wasn't there, but a couple of years of biking on Parker and Pleasant Lake Rds in Lodi Township leads to this assumption: the gravel hauler was probably hauling ass. I stopped biking in that part of the county because the gravel trucks are zipping back and forth, there are rolling hills that limit visibility, and there are no shoulders on the roads.

It's amazing and terrific that no one was killed, but I'll bet absolutely nothing comes of this.

(Especially on weekends, when he/she is extremely busy answering or ignoring sports-related prayers.)

cute. :)

"His eye is on the sparrow" is an opposing viewpoint I suppose.

The (to me, theoretical) question of the degree of God's agency in everyday life is actually an extremely interesting one.

Was anyone else a little taken aback by this quote from a sheriff's deputy on the scene?

"DeZwann said the two female drivers were amazingly calm at the scene considering what had just happened."

Am I reading more sexism into that comment than there really was? Maybe the article neglected to describe just how hysterical all of the male drivers were. After all, one truck driver had to be restrained after regaining conciousness.

Um, yes, now that you mention it. Wonder how I missed that. Why single out by gender, especially when scientists have found women have a higher pain threshold than men?

When I had a very very bad accident a few years ago that totaled my Geo Metro (sniff), I was really calm and actually pleasant to the guy. Reason? 'Cause I was so shocked. I was in a zone of calm there for awhile. At the moment of impact, though, when glass was flying & my spectacles vanished, I screamed.

I was hit by a drunk parapalegic driver who crossed three lanes of Michigan Avenue and a red light at noon. I blacked the moment of impact out completely, although I was not hurt. At the time, my husband made a big deal out of my inability to remember the moment of impact and said it would leave some kind of emotional scar.

Some months or years later, my husband died a few hours after his car was hit by a guy who had an asthma attack and was fumbling for his inhaler. My comfort was that he also might have blacked it all out.

I am so sorry to hear that about your husband.

I take it the paraplegic was driving a specially modified car. It would be hugely scary to see a car careening across three lanes of traffic towards one's own (shudder).

A big Cadillac, as I remember it. I must have been in some shock because the cop kept saying he was a parapalegic, and I thought that the accident had caused his condition. I wondered, how did they know the extent of his injuries already? But, like you, I was very calm.

A big Caddy--yikes! About the biggest projectile possible.

Perhaps the calmness and the blackout is some automatic survival mechanism that kicks in in extremely stressful situations.

I didn't see any sexism in describing the women as remarkably calm -- but maybe 'cause I'm a guy. I'd think it newsworthy that drivers involved in such a wreck would be calm, and I saw "female" as being descriptive. I'd like to think if the reporter was describing two remarkablly calm male drivers, he'd use their gender. Or, find another way to describe them.

That seems reasonable. Perhaps I overreacted.

Just occurred to me: um, how did they right the tipped-over gravel hauler? And, if it was undrivable--how do you tow a gravel hauler to the shop?

Another interesting usage: his initial identifying words for the people driving each vehicle were gender-related for the women and non-gender related for the men. I admit that a female gravel truck driver might be unusual, but...

Hmm, that is true. I guess he's just a bit old-school.

I've been in two accidents, and I don't remember either one very well. I can reason what happened in both cases -- in one case I was rear-ended at a stoplight, in another, I was in the way of a drunk driver who was trying to get into the parking lot of Mullane's Mug on my left, from the lane on my right. I was not calm in either case -- I screamed. I guess I'm high-strung.

MY UNCLE WAS KILLED MONDAY ON HALLOWEEN BECAUSE A PARAPALEGIC MADE AN ILLEGAL U-TURN IN FRONT OF CONSTRUCTION SITE AND LOST CONTROL OF HIS VAN RUNNING THROUGH MY UNCLE AND THROWING HIM INTO A CEMENT WALL HANGING FROM A CRANE WHICH ALSO FELL ON HIM....THERE IS ALSO A SECOND VICTIM...THE GUY RUNNING THE CRANE IS STILL IN THE HOSPITAL WITH A BROKEN NECK.....I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW IF ANYONE OUT THERE KNOWS THE NUMBERS ON HOW MANY ACCIDENTS THEY CAUSE A YEAR,HOW MANY LIVES THEY'VE HURT OR TAKEN AWAY....HOW MUCH TRAINING THEY GET TO DRIVE THESE VEHICLES....HOW OFTEN THEY HAVE TO RENEW THER LICENSES ..HOW OFTEN THEIR VEHICLES SPECIAL EQUIPMENT GETS CHECKED......FROM SEEING SOME OF THESE STORIES HERE...IS OBVIOUS THERE IS A PROBLEM WITH THESE DRIVERS AND IT'S TIME SOMETHING SHOULD BE ADDRESSED.....AN HELP FROM ANYONE WOULD BE APPRECIATED....BTW MY UNCLE WOULD HAVE BEEN 33 YEARS OLD ON NOV 19TH.......

JRZ, I do not see how your uncle's case, as tragic as it is, has anything to do with the driver's being paraplegic. People with the use of all of their limbs make illegal turns and hit people all the time. I'm sorry for your loss, but I would not turn it into a crusade against paraplegics.

jrz, please don't scream at us. We're sorry for your loss. But please....lay off the caps lock key. And, what Anna said.