so i was looking for some drifting images

[thgear]

this one was dubbed

"dallas drift"

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y164/7thGear/dallasdrift.jpg

[gatherer]

I wasn't sure those cables could hold that much weight

[Guillermo]

I guess that's what happens when they don't cover the cables with yellow plastic :p

[Not4you]

but what got it there? I don't think it is just poor driving, especially when it looks as though a body was thrown clear that the paramedics are all tending to ...

[John Powell]

Wait a minute now guys ... one cable (slack) goes up from the anchor in the ground, and the other (tight) only comes down to the front bumper, and looks to be attached there. I think there's something funny going on here. ;)

[thgear]

Wait a minute now guys ... one cable (slack) goes up from the anchor in the ground, and the other (tight) only comes down to the front bumper, and looks to be attached there. I think there's something funny going on here. ;)

actualy if you look VERY closely you can see that the cable that seems to be attached to the bumper actualy goes the entire length of the car into the ground.

[feds]

Wait a minute now guys ... one cable (slack) goes up from the anchor in the ground, and the other (tight) only comes down to the front bumper, and looks to be attached there. I think there's something funny going on here. ;)


Whether or not this is a fake, I have seen one of those cables support a first-generation Chrysler minivan in much the same position. So yes, they ARE that strong.

[John Powell]

Whether or not this is a fake, I have seen one of those cables support a first-generation Chrysler minivan in much the same position. So yes, they ARE that strong.

Having had some experience with utility poles, yes, the cables are strong enough to suspend a passenger vehicle ... it's usually the pole that breaks.

And Serge, here's what makes me a little suspicious:
First, at the speed required to get the car that far up the guy wire, it would have hit the curb, bounced up, and then come down before travelling up the wire. There are no tire marks on the pavement or in the grass, and no signs of damage to the curb or front tires/rims, which there should have been if the car hit at high speed.
Second, I did see the line on the underside of the car, which could be the second guy wire, but it isn't usual to have two guy wires on the same side of a utility pole, and if this one did have two, the anchor for the second one would be under the rear axle, which would put it either right at the curve in the curb or just out in the pavement. Again, highly unlikely.
Third, on first contact with the wire there would have been enough force to make the pole whip to and fro a few times, putting strain on both anchors (if there were two), and the anchor that's visible shows no sign of being disturbed.
And finally, if you look at where the second wire meets the bumper, you'll see what to me looks suspiciously like a hook.

Of course, I could be wrong. ;)

[Tashko]

Well, I'm bored, so here's my Columbo (hmm, new verb):

Car lost control, drove over the shrubs in the background (see trail of greenery) and got hung-up on the bottom section of the wire (see bend in wire). The second wire is looped around the bumper beam to remove it off the wire. Also, note the greenery under the front fascia which would only be there if the car, indeed, traversed some shrubs. We must find this shrubbery, if it's not the one in the image. Then, when we have found the shrubbery, we must place it here beside this shrubbery, only slightly higher so you get the two-level effect with a little path running down the middle.
:p

[msix]

Having had some experience with utility poles, yes, the cables are strong enough to suspend a passenger vehicle ... it's usually the pole that breaks.

And Serge, here's what makes me a little suspicious:
First, at the speed required to get the car that far up the guy wire, it would have hit the curb, bounced up, and then come down before travelling up the wire. There are no tire marks on the pavement or in the grass, and no signs of damage to the curb or front tires/rims, which there should have been if the car hit at high speed.
Second, I did see the line on the underside of the car, which could be the second guy wire, but it isn't usual to have two guy wires on the same side of a utility pole, and if this one did have two, the anchor for the second one would be under the rear axle, which would put it either right at the curve in the curb or just out in the pavement. Again, highly unlikely.
Third, on first contact with the wire there would have been enough force to make the pole whip to and fro a few times, putting strain on both anchors (if there were two), and the anchor that's visible shows no sign of being disturbed.
And finally, if you look at where the second wire meets the bumper, you'll see what to me looks suspiciously like a hook.

Of course, I could be wrong. ;)


It looks real to me .....

First of all, there are lots of times TWO guy-wires attached to poles, specially when it is an end-of-the-line-pole or a bigger line branching off.
It also looks to me that the anker of the upper guy wire would be well within the curbing if you follow the line under the rear tires.

Second, if you look at the lower guy wire it is a little slack, because the weight of the car on the upper guy wire pulls the pole down on that side.

The cables at the top of the pole usually have quite a bit of sag and if the pole is pulled back by a over-tightened guy wire it will NOT snap a hydro pole, just reduce the sag of the cables a bit. You could easily pull back a pole more than 5 feet out of vertical to stretch a bunch of cables crossing a longer span.

How the car now got up in that position is a little strange though.

I would guess that the car was traveling somehow across the road from those bushes (because of that greenery trail) and because there is no curbing on that side of the road, there is no damage to the wheels. Once the bumper and the under carriage caught the guy wire it could have pulled the car around and even with only little momentum the car was slidding up the guy wire. There is broken plastic on the ground and also hanging off the underside.

The weight of the car was pulling down the guy wire and then the snap-return of the pole could have pulled the car up higher so that even the rear wheels are off the ground.

kw

[feds]

on my second perusal, that "hook" is the front license plate.

I'm back in the "real" camp.

[Tashko]

Oops, I was wrong.

Just loaded it up in a paint program, zoomed in, lightened it up, and you can clearly see:

- second guy-wire extending the length of the car (it's not a loop at the front like I thought)
- damaged exhaust pipe (look down from the b-pillar)
- damaged front fascia, bit hanging down, shrubs
- paramedics in the background working on a bad driver lying on the ground

[John Powell]

Oops, I was wrong.

Just loaded it up in a paint program, zoomed in, lightened it up, and you can clearly see:

- second guy-wire extending the length of the car (it's not a loop at the front like I thought)
- damaged exhaust pipe (look down from the b-pillar)
- damaged front fascia, bit hanging down, shrubs
- paramedics in the background working on a bad driver lying on the ground
OK, I bow to your superior ability to download a photo and re-touch it. :) I looked at the stuff in the shadows but couldn't make anything out either on the car and in the background. Also, in my own defence ;) I looked at the trail of shrubbery but couldn't see any tracks across the grass on the other side so I ruled that out, although if the ground is really dry they wouldn't be overly obvious. As for the anchors, I've never seen an end-of-run pole which uses two guy wires in a straight line, but I recall now seeing a few which have two laid out at an angle. Also, the anchor for the top wire would still be very close to the curve of the curbing for the driveway on the left, but I guess if this is Dallas, Texas, I guess they don't have to worry too much about snowplows taking out stuff close to the paved surface. :rolleyes: So, I concede that this isn't another staged stunt, but it was an interesting excercise in deduction. :D

[Tashko]

I really need to get a life...

It happened on Reagan St. just off of Maple Avenue:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=dallas+observer&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=52.550571,82.265625&ie=UTF8&om=1&z=19&ll=32.805436,-96.815689&spn=0.00172,0.002511&t=h

Sorry, I can't pin-point the time...:)

[gatherer]

the article:

http://www.dallasobserver.com/blogs/?p=821

the picture was taken by the dallas observer

[thgear]

ROFLAMO

thats hilarious!! omg :D

[Tashko]

the article:

http://www.dallasobserver.com/blogs/?p=821

the picture was taken by the dallas observer

Yeah, I saw the Observer building in the background and googled mapped it.

I guess this ones been beaten to death. Next!

[thgear]

http://cars.acemmedia.com/data/media/21/SUV_crash_strange.jpg

[msix]

Woman driver :)

[John Powell]

I really need to get a life...

It happened on Reagan St. just off of Maple Avenue:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=dallas+observer&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=52.550571,82.265625&ie=UTF8&om=1&z=19&ll=32.805436,-96.815689&spn=0.00172,0.002511&t=h

Sorry, I can't pin-point the time...:)
Just a few more coments. I downloaded the map (on dial-up :( ) and noticed that in Dallas they use the "daylight" easement on corner lots to set the curb back and open up the corner a bit for right-hand turns off main roads... now that's a great idea. :) And Reagan St. ... how appropriate! :rolleyes: , but they got something right too "Shelby Ave." for you Mustang fans. ;)

Now to the new one. Is that the woman in Germany who drove off the second floor of a parking garage?