Peter Cheney
- d - what an awesome story about the garage door. I have a buddy
whose entire garage collapsed on his car when snow built up on the roof.
Fortunately it was a Lada. Cosmic justice.
12:16
[Comment From From Walter via e-mail] Interesting
story and reminds me of a potential tragedy in our family.
Friend of ours borrowed our SUV and returned it to our driveway. The
vehicle had a standard transmission and he left it "in gear" as that was
how he was taught.
I was taught to never leave it in gear but to depress the clutch just in
case.
My wife started the SUV (she was used to us never leaving it in gear but
in
neutral) and it lurched forward hitting the car ahead of it.
Fortunately no young children were there between the cars.
Did you leave the Porsche in gear? If so, you might owe your son an
apology or shoulder some of the blame on this one.
I am a firm believer that all standards should not be left in gear when
parked (no matter what the "experts" say)
12:17
[Comment From Rose] My
father's reaction surprised me. He asked if I was okay, and then sent
for a tow truck. After the jeep was pulled out, I found my way into my
dad's car because I thought my driving days were over. 'Not so fast,
young lady' my dad said. 'Hop back in the jeep and drive it home'. I am
always grateful for my dad's reaction. Had he reacted differently,
perhaps I would have abandoned driving for life. Mom's car was wrecked
and I paid for the repairs from the wages from my summer job.
12:18
Peter Cheney
- Rose - I cringed reading your story. You fell for the old tall grass
trick. Me too. Back in the late 70's, I landed a hang glider in a field
in the Fraser Valley, and decided to cut across a ditch with two inches
of water and a green, reed-covered bottom. Turned out the reeds were
about four or five feet long, Went in over my head, with a glider on top
of me. Genius.
12:20
Peter Cheney
- Rose - as to the second part of rour story - your dad sounds pretty
smart. Got you right back on the horse. How you respond in crisis
defines you as a parent, and as a person,
12:22
Peter Cheney
- Walter - I disagree. Putting the car in gear and using the parking
brake provides redundant stopping mechanisms. The chances of the brake
failing, or slipping, is far greater than the chance of a freak accident
like my son's,
12:23
[Comment From From Mike via e-mail] Thanks
for the great article. I’ve always wondered about that with all the
cars being test driven by automotive journalists, some of them must have
been in accidents and what was the outcome. I’m sure the fact that your
son had the key and did the damage and not you was not too cool.
I’m sure you’re getting lots of anecdotes and here’s mine.
Summer of 1986, 18 yrs old, working for UPS, one month on the job. It
was my job to wash the delivery vans and park them into a warehouse.
Some of the vans are quite big, more like a UHaul and they get backed in
and parked side by side so tightly that you go out the back door to get
in/out. I was backing up into the garage, creeping so slowly, looked in
my left mirror, looked in my right mirror and BANG!!!. The back corner
hit the side of the big garage door, took down the garage door and the
whole side of the cinder block warehouse. I mean 10ft on either side of
the garage was left completely in rubble. The garage door was just like
yours except this one probably weighed 500 pounds. I had to call the
manager, he had to call a security company, and I had to tell my parents
that I had lost my summer job.
Good luck to your son in university and I hope he enjoys your article
because he will be hearing it at his wedding. After UPS I went to
University of Guelph and I am still best friends with my residence
roommates.
12:24
[Comment From Rose] Peter,
it sure does. Always grateful he did that. I am sure your son will
write about the way you reacted to the 'porsche event' someday.
12:26
Danielle Boudreau, Globe and Mail - From what I'm reading here today, it seems that garage door repair might be a good business to get into!
