Heroic Engineer Crashes Own Vehicle To Save a Life 486
scottbomb sends in this feel-good story of an engineer-hero, calling it "one of the coolest stories I've read in a long time." "A manager of Boeing's F22 fighter-jet program, Innes dodged the truck, then looked back to see that the driver was slumped over the wheel. He knew a busy intersection was just ahead, and he had to act fast. Without consulting the passengers in his minivan — 'there was no time to take a vote' — Innes kicked into engineer mode. 'Basic physics: If I could get in front of him and let him hit me, the delta difference in speed would just be a few miles an hour, and we could slow down together,' Innes explained."
Oh, snap! (Score:3, Funny)
Burnout (Score:5, Funny)
I'm still wondering why he didn't tap the "X" button to make a bigger explosion. He could have easily popped his car into the oncoming traffic and get like a 100x chain reaction bonus.
RE: Cynics unite! (Score:5, Funny)
OK... I have a BIG problem with the driver not consulting the passengers while claiming "there was no time to take a vote". That is EXACTLY how dictatorships and police states are formed. He should have handed out paper ballots ("crash" or "don't crash") and then used the minivan's "On Star" service as electioneers to authorize, count and declare the vote. Then and only then should he have been allowed to do this. Hitler didn't do it either and look how that turned out. (Godwin!)
Well that was disappointing (Score:5, Funny)
I wanted to hear how he used a F22 fighter-jet to stop a truck. But he used a minivan. Boooriiinng.
Re:Well that was disappointing (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Well that was disappointing (Score:5, Funny)
Boooooeing.
FTFY.
Re:Oh, snap! (Score:5, Funny)
Actually, if you read the article...
Hey, come on now, that's cheating!
Re: Cynics unite! (Score:4, Funny)
I think they should make this into a movie - here's some snappy dialogue that I have a feeling might achieve a timeless immortality in pop culture
Driver: We don't have time to discuss this in a committee"
Passenger: I am not a committee
Re:Lucky (Score:3, Funny)
I think you should get your brakes checked.
Re:Cynics unite! (Score:5, Funny)
It'll probably just get spun as "Decisive manager shows brilliant leadership by wrecking his car without notifying his passenger."
Re:Oh, snap! (Score:3, Funny)
Is State Farm his insurance company, or the other guy's?
Well, State Farm's website says "State Farm® is a mutual company owned by our policyholders." So neither of the two men wholly owns State Farm.
TFA happens to mention that Pace* is a policy holder, and does not mention whether Innes* is also a policyholder. So to answer your question, Pace partially owns State Farm, and in some sense, it is "his insurance company", Innes may also be a policyholder, and therefore it may be "his" as well.
(*I'll let you figure out which one is 'the other guy', perhaps by reading TFA yourself)
- RG>
Re:Hope (Score:5, Funny)
Calmly exit the building
For no reason, re-enter the building until given the OK by emergency responders
I had to re-read that like 5 times because I thought it meant I SHOULD randomly re-enter the building for the hell of it (without any reason to do so) until the Emergency Responders say it's OK. Then do whatever.
And then... (Score:5, Funny)
The driver of the truck, who had only leaned forward to scratch an itch on his ankle, was a little bit pissed about the whole affair.
Once he realized that he would have to deal with his insurance company, he faked a heart attack to get out of it. It's what we all would have done.
Re: Cynics unite! (Score:5, Funny)
... then they would wrestle, with the minivan careening crazily all over the road as they roll around and dangled off the back... pulling themselves up just in time as the pickup truck repeatedly bumped the back of the van, and then having a fistfight on the roof of the minivan, which would then plunge off a giant cliff in slow motion, with the (driver or passenger, whoever's the good guy) grabbing onto a tree on the edge of the cliff and saving himself with one hand while he snatched the unconscious pickup-truck driver to safety with other (as the pickup truck too plunged into the void). Then the pickup-truck driver would wake up and ask woozily what on earth he was doing dangling off this cliff and the hero would answer "just hanging around" (with an austrian accent).
I'd watch it...
Child stories (Score:3, Funny)
I don't have clear memories of this as I was small. When my grandmother told this story there was one remarkably funny part.
She told me when people said stuff like: "It was god who turned that wheel and avoided a tragedy!" I promptly replied: "No, it wasn't god, it was me! I did like this!" and did a swinging motion similar to turning the driving wheel.
I wish I remembered this last bit. I could then tell everyone I was an atheist even as a kid.
Re:Well that was disappointing (Score:3, Funny)
That has the potential to leave a vehicle mostly intact
Maybe at the molecular level... <_<
Re:Hope (Score:2, Funny)
Fact is, though, that if you try to stop a shooter, the chances of you ending up on the victim list is a lot higher than you ending up the hero who stopped him.
I guess that depends on whether you are one who exercises their second amendment rights and is also carrying. If everyone was like that, the one (with a gun) vs. many (w/o guns) paradigm that is currently the norm would cease to be. One (w/ a gun) vs. Many (w/ guns) is a losing proposition to start with and soon criminals and the criminally-insane would realize it and not bother. This is why I believe everyone should be trained proper firearm handling techniques in public school (every year, like health class/gym) until high school where they receive their final exam and which upon passing their government issued firearm. It would do a lot to bring all sorts of crime rates down as well as accidentally shootings since everyone will be properly educated. Not to mention, I'd like to see the country that tries to invade a country where just about every citizen is trained on how to use and required to own a firearm.
Re: Cynics unite! (Score:3, Funny)
Passenger 2: I have a bad feeling about this
Re:What about the passengers? (Score:1, Funny)
I would ball him out
Unless your family has some very intimate ideas about discipline, I think you meant to say "bawl".
Re:Burnout (Score:2, Funny)
Re:This is how it looks when it works. (Score:1, Funny)
Looks like your kids won't have to try hard to be better than you.