I had somebody try this on me in real life once, a couple of decades ago, on a back country road in the middle of the night. I managed to dodge him. The mother and daughter in the minivan a half a mile down the road behind me were not so lucky, as I witnessed after I pulled a quick handbrake turn to track this guy down with the intention of determining exactly what his major malfunction was.
He swerved straight into their minivan probably doing about 60 MPH. I saw it happen, both vehicles rising off the pavement in what felt like slow motion. I remember the headlights shattering and throwing sparks up in the air. The minivan wound up in the ditch. Buddy’s car ended up facing the opposite direction in the middle of the road.
The woman driving was trapped, crushed in between the seat and the dash and firewall which had been pushed into her legs. She must have had both shins broken. I wasn’t aware at first that there was anyone else in the car until I was able to make sense of her screaming. She thought her daughter was dead.
I found her daughter in the back seat, barely conscious. Apparently she’d started off on the front seat but was not seat belted in and wound up there after bouncing off of either the dash or the windshield. Or both.
I was duty bound to check on the perpetrator as well. A bit bleary, probably drunk, and very belligerent. He was in what was for the time a late model Audi or something. It was black. Two doors. Fancy airbags. So he was fine, more or less. When I mentioned that he’d just about killed two people his response was, basically, “Fuck you and fuck them, too.”
I imagine the cops thought he wound up with that broken nose from the wreck. Nobody ever asked me about it.
I sure hope buddy remembers. I hope he remembers real good, but he probably doesn’t because there’s no fucking justice in the world. I do. It was June 22nd, 2007. A Friday.
I remember mom wailing from the front seat that her baby girl was dead. I remember the blood running down her daughter’s face from the gash on top of her head which I was desperately trying to staunch with a shirt in the longest 15 minutes in history until the ambulances and firemen showed up. I remember wanting to carry her to where her mother could see and show her that she was still breathing, but she was too heavy to get out of the car by myself and I had a hazy notion that you shouldn’t try to move people in that situation anyway, but you don’t think about that in the moment. My then-girlfriend was with me and she was telling the mother over and over again that we had her daughter, she was alive, we were keeping her alive, and help was coming.
I don’t know what happened to any of those people afterwards. As far as I know both the mother and daughter survived. It would have been in the papers if either of them died, I’m sure. I talked to the cops briefly but then we got the hell out of there. They told me that gathered somehow that the guy was trying to kill himself. Obviously he’d been drinking. Probably told himself it was to steady his nerves. The asshole could have thought to find a bridge abutment or a good solid tree or something instead.
Nobody ever called me up as a witness afterwards, and it seemed nobody wanted more of a statement. I never heard anything more about it. I don’t even know their names.
Shit, that story was intense! Thanks for sharing.
This reads like something out of Stephen King novel. Thanks for sharing.
What are the odds that someone who enjoys reading & writing as a hobby (forums like Lemmy attract such people), also has the perfect anecdote to accompany OP’s comic 🤔 Well-written & detailed & several details seem highly unlikely.
I sense creative fiction here.
When we consider how many people there are who are seeing a large number of posts over time, then it becomes inevitable that there will be occasional coincidences like this. I know that I have personally experienced a few instances where a post presented the perfect opportunity to regale people with a story of something incredibly improbable that happened to me.
There are also a few of those instances where I have had practice writing about them, because that kind of thing can help with trauma processing.
Ultimately, we can’t know, but for harmless things like this, I tend to prefer to give people the benefit of the doubt
Should have given the guy what he wanted.
Sir, this is a Wendy’s.
The call of the void is perfectly natural and almost everyone does it.
Brain: “hey, don’t do this scenario, it’ll kill you.”
Me: "yeah, no shit brain.
I have small kids. Believe me, this is the voice of your parents echoing back at you.
Child’s brain: “do it, it’ll be super rad!”
Parent: “oh lawd!”
But is it normal if it meows and steal my shrimps?
Very
Is it supposed to happen every time I see a thick enough tree by the roadside and every bridge stanchion though?
Probably more common than you think. I know someone who worked in the transport industry. They had one advice they gave everyone: “when you’re driving while tired or stressed, hyperfocus on the two lines on the road in front of you. NEVER look at any tree or pole on the side of the road.”
That advice has a different reason.
We automatically steer where our eyes are looking at. If you are awake and focused, that doesn’t matter cause you adjust for that subconsciously. But if you are preoccupied with something and are driving on autopilot, then that one tree you were staring at for a second too long is the place you are going to end up.
That’s also the reason why people tend to hit the only upright thing on an otherwise empty 5km stretch of road.
I’ve heard the same from bikers that narrowly dodged accidents by hyperfocusing on the gap between the cars, Jako302 in the thread explains it well
This only happened to me when i was in a mentally very bad state. It’s not healthy behavior.
I had a coworker that started to hate his job and feel trapped. We all did, but he was more vocal about it to his friends. He said:
“I think sometimes, what if I didn’t take that turn on the highway and just kept going?”.
Well one day he didn’t come in. Emailed the boss he quit later. I like to think he just kept driving on to a better future.
We had a guy and the pizza shop I worked show up and ask for a job. He had just driven from New Jersey to South Florida to set up a new life. He wanted full time, a privilege that was rarely awarded. But he gave full availability and showed clear dedication to the job. He got the job. He was our best and most energetic employee for over a year.
Then one day he said “alright guys it’s been real, but I want to move to California now.” And he did, the next week. I feel like that guy will do well no matter where he goes.
I envy that kind of freedom. But I understand having the curse of itchy feet. Some people can’t stay still.
I hear some say the road that he walked on is paved in gold…
Where is he going without even knowing the way?
yeah its always summer and he never gets cold.
Sure, fuck up some innocent trucker’s day, and possibly take his life too.
Oh hey, did you know that being involved in an accident while holding a commercial driver’s license is one of the few times that a US Citizen has no presumption of innocence in the criminal justice system?
The bar that must be cleared is not “are you at fault” but instead “could you have done anything to prevent this”
So you say another driver crossed the median and plowed into you, head on? Well, if you happen to be driving a car and were in your own lane, you’re completely in the clear.
If you were driving a truck, WELL!
Does anybody think you maybe had enough time to see it coming and swerve to avoid it?
Hm, did you really spend enough time inspecting your truck that morning? If you had taken 20 minutes instead of 15 to kick your tires and check your fluids and lights, you know you wouldn’t have been there when that car lost control…
In fact, let’s pull up your entire logbook history and see if we can find any indication that you’ve never once in your life made a single mistake. Shows a tendency toward carelessness, that does.
Yeah, we think you could have done better. Enjoy your civil and criminal penalties for something you had absolutely no control over.
Think about that when you see those giant “INJURED BY A TRUCK? CALL OUR LAW FIRM!” Billboards all over every metro area.
Oh you think that’s bullshit?
I was legally parked along the curb in front of a warehouse, waiting in line to check in. A guy riding a motorcycle at well over twice the speed limit came around the curve, lost control and hit the back of my trailer.
He sued ME. His lawyer argued that I should have known better than to park on that part of the curb where sight would be limited by the curve for other traffic on the road.
Rather than fight it in court, my insurance just settled with him.
I think the point of the comic was either a commentary on intrusive thoughts, or the character realizing they’re depressed, based on that last panel. Don’t really believe it warrants this kind of aggressive response. It’s not like it’s advocating for people to drive head on into trucks.
Literacy 6/5
This seems like a big reaction to a nearly wordless comic. You good?
I think the comic might not try to actually promote driving into trucks 😄
Though I’m glad you have that struggle behind you
The last thing someone in this state of mind needs is a reminder that this is an easy possibility. A family member drove truck until someone did this to him. He had to go on comp because the PTSD prevented him from driving ever again and to add insult he got addicted to painkillers from his back injury.
This comic is in bad taste for both making light of the subject of suicide and painting the ill person in such an unsympathetic way. If anyone out there is having dark thoughts at least have the decency not to ruin someone else’s life in the process. Ideally, get help, but don’t do this.
There’s not really any way to suicide that won’t fuck up someone else. You never know what straw makes someone take that final step or influence their plan. Acting as if there are eggshells everywhere is also harmful as then nothing can be talked about. Are parents supposed to hide their kids from couples with a dead child or history of miscarriage? Should saving private Ryan have skipped the d-day scene?
The comic simply notes a common thought “the call of the void” and the unfun realization of hearing said call. What someone takes away from a piece of art is theirs not the artists.
I uh, don’t think this comic was meaning it seriously.
Like that makes it better.
There’s a good chance his medical or vehicle insurance forced him to sue (or rather, allow them to sue on his behalf) if he wanted it to be covered. It sucks ass when it’s like, someone got hurt at their aunt’s house, or grandma hit the gas instead of the brake and rammed a relative’s car, because then you have to decide if you want your bills paid more than you want to not rock the boat with family.
Ok
Sorry for adding possible context I guess?
Glad a hothead like you is on the road so much. His insurance did what they’re supposed to do and your insurance did what it’s supposed to do.
Sounds like you should have pushed them for some therapy, because you’re right that the motorcyclist’s completely at fault. But his lawyer’s BS really shouldn’t be sticking with you like this.
Do you seriously think lawyers don’t pull that kind of shit in every possible case? I’ve got a relative who’s a public defender. Compared to some of what he can tell, that’s absolute beginner level stuff. Of course they’re going to reach for every bit they can, including your logs, fair or unfair. That’s their fucking job, and why most people hate lawyers. Prosecution’s purpose is to arrange every possible shred of anything they can grasp at that might convince the jury you have even a grain of culpability.
ok
Reverse (bottom to top) rolling shutter
And she was already driving on the wrong side of the road
Note the right hand steering wheel.
I saw. That’s on the wrong side as well.
Then again, it is a conventional truck rather than a cab over, which traditionally are rare in Europe.
deleted by creator
If this is serious, it’s a very centric view of the world there, right and wrong side is localized to where you live. If it was a joke… It wasn’t the most obvious
Edit: when I commented this the person had something like a -4 score and I was trying to explain why for them. It appears that now that people understand it was a joke (because it was explained), now they are downvotimg me for explaining why they were downvoted in the first place. Internet man, freaking internet. No good deed goes unpunished
Obvious jokes are boring. But anyone who doesn’t drive on the right side is just wrong.
I also have those invasive thoughts about abandoning everything and becoming a truck driver
Don’t, it fucking sucks and I want the hell out of this industry. I’m either bored out of my mind or stressed out of my mind, there’s almost no such thing as a good day
Every morning on my way to work I imagine if I didn’t turn at the bend in the road and just launched myself into a ditch. I doubt it would kill me, but I wouldn’t have to go to work.
