January 6, 2005
I remember seeing my first dead body
...though it was across an overpass and in Europe.
The autobahn is known for it's supposed "no speed limits". Well, it does have speed limits when you go through cities. If my memory serves me right... it was about 80 km/hour... roughly 50 mph.
On some of the overpasses, there would be a stairway like feature that would go from the ground to the top of the bridge.
One of these such overpasses was close to the base my father was stationed at. The stairs ended with a concrete slab that wasn't big enough for a volkswagen beetle.
A friend and myself were walking to town from the base and walked by the scene of a car accident. Of course we stopped to check out the action.
This particular individual had been forced off the autobahn and ended flying right up to the overpass.
His car stopped when he hit the guardrail. He sat on the concrete slab and the car was reduced to half its size.
Rescue had just opened the top of the car like a sardine can and began to pull the person out.
Well, half of em anyway.
They had been crushed, burned, and cut in half all in just an instant.
When they pulled out the person, the head just rolled back completely.
I was shocked, sickened, slightly frightened, and I remember hoping that they didn't feel anything.
and as I think of this... I can not even fathom what those people affected by the earthquake and tsumani are having deal with.
Comments
Holy cow!
Reminds me of a nasty one I saw a few years back.
Good lord!
I always knew that my fear of our Autobahn is without any reason. :-/
It's got to be absolutely horrible over there and I can't even begin to fathom it.
I'm liking the facelift here, by the way.