shf happens on the road: Communication brake-down
July 28, 2010
by shf
Bighorn Mountain, WY (FASTLAUGH.com) — Hey there, Mr. Forty-Five Foot RV Guy with the Texas plates…
That was quite the intestine-liquefying scare you gave yourself and family while careening down from 9,430 feet on Bighorn Mountain in Wyoming, with your SUV wildly in tow… wasn’t it?
How exceptionally fortunate for you and your family – and especially for those oncoming vehicles — that your brakes failed just precisely when they did, giving you the thinnest of margins to barrel towards redemption at that last-chance, runaway truck ramp.
Surely you came to realize, as your behemoth RV was being gingerly towed down that mountainside and your precious family’s safety was at least temporarily assured, that your brakes could have just as easily failed as you sped with your family towards an encounter with that rockslide around that hairpin curve that was just a few hundred yards beyond that exceptionally fortunate last-chance, runaway truck ramp.
Cocooned and omnipotent in your massive vehicle, you were guy-certain and Texas-proud that you could pilot your way down that 10% grade with all of those sharp curves, dropping 3,600 feet in 13 miles without any regard to gravitational force!
No? Oh, that’s right. You didn’t even see that huge sign placed strategically by the highway department for your safety. It was yellow. It had words on it… even a picture!
Shortly before you blew passed that huge, yellow sign you may have noticed that there was also a sign with pleas and warnings from the highway department.
They were imploring you to stop and carefully examine the upcoming huge, yellow sign with the words and the picture on it before proceeding down the mountain.
No? You didn’t see that one either?
Too bad, because it contained actual, useful instructions for your safety and for the safety of the drivers you would be encountering.
You were asked nicely, with clearly-marked highway department signage, to study that map carefully for the location of safety areas, should you need one of them on your descent.
Is this sinking in yet, Mr. Forty-Five Foot RV Guy with the Texas plates? Do you realize what a very lucky dude you were that day?
Thanks for obliviously jeopardizing the lives and well-being of your fellow travelers in this very special Bighorn Mountain, Wyoming memory.