> The result was that they didn't do enough good; those few, special people
> went right on up the wrong way anyway.
Very similar, if not identical situation to when a VFR pilot enters
IFR conditions for the first time. Suddenly his artificial horizon has
failed. It really didn't fail, but his seat was telling him one thing
and the instrument panel was telling him another. He's convinced that
his seat is right even though the wings are peeling off. (and it isn't
just VFR pilots that can't figure it out. The Air France Flight 447
crash is a good illustration of how a highly trained and skilled crew
could stall out an aircraft and keep holding the stinking thing in the
stall all the way down to the water. (actually, the fly-by-wire
controls were part of the problem because the copilot had his stick
all the way back overriding the pilot's control inputs).
There was one time in my life where I went up the off ramp. The "Do
Not Enter" and "Wrong Way" signs were clearly visible, but did not fit
what my mind was telling me. I wasn't convinced that they were "wrong"
but I was sincerely puzzled by them. It wasn't until I saw the
oncoming headlights that I figured out that something was wrong and I
needed to pull over to assess the situation. As I pulled over, I
thought the shoulder seemed very narrow. That's when I realized that I
was in the wrong lanes.
After I got turned around, I went back to see what happened and why I
got confused. I spent the next 15 minutes driving back and forth
around that interchange until I figured it out. Turns out that it was
just slightly non-standard and the way the lighting was, I was
confused. The fact that I was a little tired didn't help matters, but
that's no excuse because a lot of drivers are tired. It was a driving
lesson for me and ever since that time, I've been very careful about
double-checking my on-ramps.
There actually was a second time. It was one of those divided highways
with stop sign equipped crossings. I was turning left from the side
road and ended up in the wrong direction. It took only seconds for me
to realize the error of my way because of the line color (yellow vs.
white) and the narrow shoulder on my right. I went back and looked at
it again. The median was slightly wider than normal and the street
light was just on my side of the road. The signage was actually
excellent, but the lighting and grade crossing was optically
confusing. I'm not the only person to have had troubles there. Dozens
have been killed in wrong-way collisions on that stretch of road. The
signage and lighting has improved, but the collisions still occur. I
don't think there has been a year that has gone by since I've lived in
Iowa that somebody hasn't died in that stretch of highway from a
head-on.
--
Ken Norton
ken@xxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.zone-10.com
--
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