Toyota used to build man-sized front airbags for beefy gents such as myself, but those days are over.
These days, airbags are smarter but less powerful.
Anyway, this car fully deployed its airbags on Oak yesterday – let’s hope this local is all right:
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So why did DPW use a slow, heavy street sweeper in its recent Sunday Streets blame-the-victim life-size diorama
I know not
Another death on the World’s Shortest Boulevard and another film crew to video the intersection for the evening news
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I’m not saying that the monumentally-flawed process that begat this mess is responsible for all of the traffic deaths in the area, just some of them.
So like why is it that drivers going to Hayes Valley get more time to turn left onto Octavia each signal cycle than all the peds and cyclists on Market outbound? Peds get only four seconds to proceed west each 90-second light cycle, right?
For instance.
Why not say no more left turns at this intersection – why not that?
What else can be done to fix horrible horrible Octavia Boulevard?
Yet another Tesla Model S fire brings us yet another missive from Elon Musk – it’ll come out later today, apparently.
All right, so it turns out that the quarter-inch of “armor plate” that protects the battery cells from road debris is made out of aluminum!?
WTF?
If that’s the case, why doesn’t Tesla recall its Model S cars to install a quarter-inch of, IDK, steel? Or perhaps three-quarters of an inch of aluminum? No room? Then how about Kevlar or something?
Oh, because it would cost money and it would be embarrassing and these quick cars would then become slightly less quick?
Oh, OK.
All right, well it’s YOUR company that the American taxpayers have been subsidising, so I guess it’s your call, Elon.
Now, why did Dr. Juris Shibayama buy a Tesla Model S?
Was it to satisfy a desperate need for attention?
So that’s why his recent Tesla Model S fire was a good thing for him.
Read his testimonial here:
“November 9, 2013
From a Model S owner in Tennessee
By Juris Shibayama, MD
I was driving home from work on the interstate in the right lane at approximately 70 miles per hour, following a truck. In the middle of the lane, there was a rusty three-pronged trailer hitch that was sticking up with the ball up in the air. The truck in front of me cleared the object. I did not have enough time to swerve to avoid the hitch, and it went below my car. I felt a firm “thud” as the hitch struck the bottom of the car, and it felt as though it even lifted the car up in the air. My assistant later found a gouge in the tarmac where the item scraped into the road. Somewhat shaken, I continued to drive.
About 30-45 seconds later, there was a warning on the dashboard display saying, “Car needs service. Car may not restart.” I continued to drive, hoping to get home. About one minute later, the message on the dashboard display read, “Please pull over safely. Car is shutting down.” I was able to fully control the car the entire time and safely pulled off the left shoulder on the side of the road. I got out of the car, and started to get all my belongings out. About 5-10 seconds after getting out of the car, smoke started to come from the front underbody of the car. I walked away from the vehicle to a distance of about 100 yards. More smoke started to come out of the bottom of the car, and about two minutes after I walked away, the front of the car caught on fire.
I am thankful to God that I was totally uninjured in any way from this impact. Had I not been in a Tesla, that object could have punched through the floor and caused me serious harm. From the time of impact of the object until the time the car caught fire was about five minutes. During this time, the car warned me that it was damaged and instructed me to pull over. I never felt as though I was in any imminent danger. While driving after I hit the object until I pulled over, the car performed perfectly, and it was a totally controlled situation. There was never a point at which I was anywhere even close to any flames.
The firemen arrived promptly and applied water to the flames. They were about to pry open the doors, so I pressed my key button and the handles presented and everything worked even though the front of the car was on fire. No flames ever reached the cabin, and nothing inside was damaged. I was even able to get my papers and pens out of the glove compartment.
This experience does not in any way make me think that the Tesla Model S is an unsafe car. I would buy another one in a heartbeat.
Juris Shibayama, MD”
All right. It sure would be nice hearing from independent experts on the topic of the recent Tesla Model S fires as opposed to hearing yet again from Elon Musk and his fanboys.
Just saying.
Now I’ll tell you, Boeing looked foolish earlier this year on the topic of the 787 fire incidents.
How will Elon Musk look a year from now?
We’ll see.
In any event, it was a mistake to use a quarter inch of aluminum and market it as “armor plate.”
IMO.
Here’s another opinion:
Tesla Model S Fires Might Be a Big Deal—But Not For the Reasons Some Are Saying
So I guess DPW goes to Sunday Streets to promote itself?
OK fine, but what in the Hell is this at the recent debut of the very chilly/windy Sunday Streets The Richmond District?? Is it a life-size diorama of the aftermath of an imaginary DPW street-sweeper vs. bike collision that happens to be the cyclists fault?
Click to expand – oh my Lumix camera doesn’t have safety shift turned on from the factory? News to me – I’m used to cameras what adjust exposure more better. Anyway, this shot was overexposed by about three stops, sorry.
So DPW, I know what you’re trying to do, but you’re doing it wrong.
Well, here’s what David Stevenson @DStevensonKTVU has for us on the recent death of Kevin San:
Zhu’s attorney Alfredo Vea Jr. told KTVU his client is still too distraught to explain to him what happened. “I’ve tried to speak with her three times and all she does is cry,” said Vea. “She’s holding up, [but] mention the young man and she just falls apart.”
Well, gee. You’re able to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to get out of jail in a heartbeat, but you’re just not in the mood to even tell your own attorney anything at all?
That’s not too helpful.
Of course, saying nothing is better than taking to the Internet ala Chris Bucchere, but it doesn’t help us understand what went wrong, does it?
“Chris B” ended up with a kind of felony conviction, but no jail time.
What if Jennie Zhu never says anything? Would she get jail time?
Mmmm.
One thing that’s going to have to change is the absurd 80 MPH speed estimate. It’s part of why this case got national attention. I’m sure the SFPD / SFDA can get a better estimate with video, if they can turn up some video. Bucchere’s speeding allegation held up after video analysis, but Zhu’s certainly won’t. Bucchere’s speeding had something to do with his interest in Strava, one assumes. Competition, “racing” as it was labeled. But why on Earth was Zhu going so fast?
The lights on Pine are timed, in a way. But it’s tough getting across Polk, Van Ness, Pine, Gough, Octavia, Laguna, Buchanan without hitting some reds these days. Could that be it? She was just trying to get home in a hurry? CalTrans would want to put in a freeway to get drivers to the West Bay all the way out there in the Sunset and the Richmond. Instead, we have congested, stop-and-go Pine and a MUNI system that runs slower than the private transit operators of a century ago.
And the cops just happened to be chasing her and yet her public DMV is clean?
This is quite a mystery…
“Afonso Salcedo from The Haight said via Nextdoor for iPhone:
They immediately went off-road and went through the panhandle all the way to the Fell corner with Masonic.
I immediately came to the car door, and with two other guys, we made sure the driver was safe and helped him get out. The door was stuck in, but was opened with some force.
Everyone in the bus was safe. The bus driver was in shock and the three of us picked him up and moved him outside to lay him on the ground. One of the guys with me was a random nurse who happened to be on his bike nearby, so that was great.”
Via Tara Moriarty, of KTVU-TV:
@KCBSNews reporter Holly Quan: early signs garbage truck/cyclist both on 16th St. Truck made R turn onto S Van Ness; bike went straight.
You know, before somebody, some ped gets clobbered?
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It will happen like this – a roadie traveling west, the downhill direction, will be “making time” or “flying” at 20-something MPH and s/he will clobber a pedestrian, perhaps Chris Bucchere-style.
So, I think wider would be better.
I mean, you wouldn’t want to narrow the thing, would you?
