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The first big snow of the season in New England is always so magical
By adamg on Sat, 01/21/2012 - 10:18am
Stiofan forwards this photo of the result of a car-vs.-bollard incident in Harvard Square this morning. Lots of other smashups reported across the area as we magically lose the ability to drive in snow.
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Comments
Thank you, Universal Hub
For introducing me to a new word. Now I know what a bollard is. It's a good Saturday already!
Bollards
See them at the entrances to many pedestrian walkways and bike paths, as well as places that need a little something to keep cars from flying across a sidewalk or into a building. I've even seen some nifty ones that retract for authorized vehicles.
Looks like these did their job here.
Never mind the Bollards
Here's the Massholes.
Elderly driver in bad conditions?
Gets in an accident and must be a Masshole?
And this judgement is based on a post-accident photo?
Keep up the good work Adam.
Sorry, not a reflection on the driver
I don't have a clue what really happened. I do, however, have the title of an early British punk album stuck in my head. I was riffing off that and the word "bollards," is all.
I got the joke
In fact, I was going to make the same one, but couldn't come up with a good finish. "Massholes" was awesome right there.
Love the album
And the allusion. Meant to give you props on it.
Guess I just find the term Masshole pretty tiresome.
Too fast for good conditions
That stretch of Mass Ave is pretty much limited to 10 to 20 mph ON A GOOD DAY due to high pedestrian traffic and generally heavy traffic. There is always a backup at Church St. where people cross the street and inhibit right turning traffic. There are lights ahead of this too.
The car hit the light pole between bollards, in front of the bench on the right - note unsignaled crosswalk on Mass Ave and on Church St.
Given the dramatic damage, they were more than likely going way too fast for good conditions, let alone icy ones.
Elderly people who shouldn't be driving or can't drive in poor conditions, yet go out and drive anyway qualify as massholes too. MA is very bad at weeding out the bad drivers - even the cops couldn't get our old neighbor off the road. His mechanic finally lied to him about a busted wheel not being repairable after he jumped a curb to get him off the road! (of course, nobody would sell him a new car ...)
Pure speculation
On almost all counts. Let's leave the arm chair accident reconstruction out of it.
More physics
Sorry, but I have enough science background to understand that you don't wipe out a light pole, jump curbs and bollards at 5 or 10 mph. You aren't even likely to do it at 20 mph if you have to veer from the road (not head straight in), given the width of the road prohibits such a heading.
Pretty basic things about force and direction, these. If you like, I could draw you a diagram with estimates of the weight of the vehicle and assumptions based on standards for ornamental light poles.
It isn't speculation if I don't share your ignorance of forces and vectors. Don't assume that everybody does.
Again, pure speculation.
You have no idea how or when the bollards and lightpoles were installed.
They could have been damaged in a previous accident, installed incorrectly, or their connection to their bases could have weakened over time.
So, you're just speculating because you don't have all the necessary info.
There's a reason why cops take their time and take measurement at the seen of accidents and actually gather information before releasing their findings.
But enjoy being expert of the day on yet another matter. It's charming.
Physics
So, I'm trying to determine the physics of this situation here. It looks like he plowed one bollard over into the street (really? just knocked it right over? What was it attached to the ground with? A couple of 1-inch bolts??).
Then it looks like he took out a light pole of some kind.
Then it looks like he high-centered himself on a second bollard. The engine was then heavy enough to cantilever the entire back end about 6 feet into the air.
So, how did he get the entire front end of the car over the top and past the second bollard? What kind of speed would you need to do that? Why didn't the second bollard give way like the first? Why did the first bollard give way at all?
Did he somehow ride up the light pole like a skateboarder on a rail in order to get his front end up and past the second bollard so that the weight of the engine could then lift the back end of the car up like a fat kid on a see saw?
The whole thing is just pretty incredible.
Light Pole
Looks like the light pole got hit first, followed by the forward bollard. Note that the pole is helping weigh down the front of the car.
The rear bollard may have been removed after the accident so they could get the car out of there - the car may not have hit it.
Forget the physics. He's one
Forget the physics. He's one of the very few to find a parking spot in Harvard Sqare.
The engine was then heavy
Kaz, I love ya, and I know you're a wicked smart scientist, but if you think that an Acura is so poorly weight distributed that the weight of its engine can lift its back end up like that, you know almost nothing about modern cars.
Specs for a 2012
Weight distribution: 61% front/39% rear.
Why not?
Even if the car is weighted 50/50 (which Acuras generally aren't), if the bollard is under the dead center of the car, then any little push on the front is going to tip it forward. That's how a see-saw/balance works. So, if the bollard is near the mid-point of the car and the WD ratio is 51/49 even, then the engine is going to lift the back end up.
That's also if the doors are closed (in this case they aren't so that weight is wider and more forward than the WD ratio calculates) and usually calculated without driver (which puts a bit more weight forward).
Besides, the more impressive feat isn't getting the back end in the air...it's getting the front end up and over the bollard in the first place.
bollards in a crash
I would have assumed that there are strength standards for bollards. But I've seen a bunch of these granite bollards around Cambridge that have sheared off near the ground.
What are they supposed to do when they're hit?
speak for yoself
Must be a Cambridge thing... Massholes are driving just fine in my Boston hood.
You must not be in JP
Where people are apparently going "la la la, snow, what snow?" shortly before careening into each other.
A-WTF-Drive
Driving to and from the Haymarket is heavy snow this morning, my wonderment was at the 4WD and AWD behemoths apparently handled by the super-slow version of Masshole. Because a vehicle is capable of dealing with wet and slick does not mean the driver is.
These clowns were doing 15 or so, waddling from their favored left lane into the next lane, cutting off cars freely, running reds five seconds after the change, and in general terrorizing everyone else on the road — at OJ-chase speed.
Looks like they need to get driving lessons with these monsters, or they need to only go out in dry, sunny conditions.
It's amazing, isn't it?
So many drivers fail to use their heads when they drive in the snow, especially in the wake of the first snowfall of the season.