http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,26497660-952,00.html
Cruise control driver runs down his critics
THE driver stuck on cruise control at 100km/h on the Eastern Freeway and EastLink has lashed out at those casting doubt on his story.
"You weren't in the car," Chase Weir said. "If anyone can fake a 000 call and all that screaming, show me how."
Readers swamped the Herald Sun website and talkback radio to also ask why the Ford Explorer driver didn't turn off his engine or shift the gear selector into neutral.
Click here to listen to the dramatic 000 call extract
Mr Weir told police the ignition key would not move and that he could not put the car into neutral.
On trying to brake, he could not slow below 80km/h.
The 22-year-old Queenslander's ordeal began at 12.40pm on Tuesday when he was unable to slow for his Eastern Freeway exit.
It ended just over 30 minutes later on the Moorooduc Highway at Frankston, when he finally managed to stop the vehicle using the handbrake and the brake pedal - on the wrong side of the road.
Police considered radical measures to stop Mr Weir.
But it was Sgt Marnie Goldsmith who in effect rescued him, talking him through his panic after he dialled 000.
Mr Weir thanked her in person.
Sgt Goldsmith said: "He shook my hand and I said 'I can give you a hug'."
Mr Weir said it was only her calm response that allowed him to keep his head.
"She was saying, 'the car won't stop but you're still OK'. I was panicky, but she kept me calm."
She explained: "I just said 'I'll tell you when it's time to panic and we're not there yet'."
Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority operator Jay Kemp, who co-ordinated the response, said: "There is no standard procedure to stop a car stuck on cruise control. It was extraordinary."
The first police unit to reach Mr Weir thought it would all end in tragedy.
Sen-Constable Steve Warr and Constable Stephen Glenk from Doncaster kept other vehicles away from him.
"We knew the traffic would bank up and we wanted to end it prior to Frankston," said Sen-Constable Warr.
"We discussed about 50 different options, from using our van or a truck to stop him, using the guard rail, or running him into a paddock.
"By the time the last 3km came up, it was too late. I thought there were going to be fatals. I said over the air - 'It's going to be bad'."
The Explorer will now be examined by police and Ford. Mr Weir claims six Australians have contacted him on Facebook to claim similar issues with their cars.
National Motoring Editor Paul Gover writes: If you are faced with a jammed accelerator, or a stuck cruise control, do not panic. Firstly, push down very hard on the brake. If it doesn't release the accelerator, don't panic.
If it's a manual, push down on the clutch, which should disengage a cruise control, or knock the lever into neutral. Do the same for an automatic, but go gently on the shifter.
Selecting neutral will disconnect the engine from the gearbox and allow you to brake to a stop.
If you cannot get into neutral, try turning the engine off (do not lock the steering). You should be able to steer and brake to a stop.
In the absolute worst case, do as Mr Weir did to stop.
Pedestrian Street Art by Peter Gibson – [Images]
Road Art – Commercial Font Design – [Typography]
The Long Road out of Eden – Red Bubble – [Image]
Tony Lloyd – Lost Highways – [Exhbition]
Roads End – Reinfried Marass Photography – [Image]
Rivers and Tides – Andy Goldsworthy – [Featured post]
How many roads must a man travel down before he admits he is lost - Ex7mdan - Flickr – [Image]
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I know somewhere on earth it's still Tuesday so Im not late yet!
Haven't made this entry for ages!
Ok here goes * I was about to cancel my post coz I suddenly feel low coz I said "no" when my MIL asked me permission to take Laith to PD and spend the night there. coz she has been taking care of him all this while, but I cant sleep without him. I was scared that I might have hurt her feelings but thank god she said she's fine!*
So...here goes
Loves
- Kinder Bueno - I had it for breakfast! Yummy! I know I shouldnt be having chocolates for breakfast but I just can't help it. I dont think I can ever say NO to Kinder Bueno. :P Plus this one is the new one *i think* it's the white chocolate with some milk choc sprinkles on it oooooo yummmmm
- My Hair, I think the fringe looks much better today. So I've been taking lotsa photos of myself
- Lipglosses- I love the fact that I have quite a number of lipglosess and apply them everytime my lips feel dry so now my lips are always mosturized
- I love the meeting I attended coz there was so many good news, though there are some bad news too
- My new addiction towards Twitter. Yes I cant stop myself from tweeting these days. And I love the fact that I can communicate with my friends easily.
- Zahed agreed on buying me a Blythe Doll. I have suddenly fell in love with Blythe dolls, They are too cute and gorgeous and would make a great model for my photoshoots!
- Zahed!! He has been very nice and sweet lately. He has always been busy lately and eversince we had that vacation we realised
Loathes
- Scratche my side mirror while entering the car park. My window was stuck halfway when I wanted to take the parking ticket so I ended up panicking coz there was so many cars behind me. So I scratched my right side mirror
- My grandad being sick and doctor says he might have only 2,3 days. I am not that close to my father's side of family. My grandmum used to be favouritism. She favoured other granchildren and we were her least favourite coz she has issues with my mum. So going back to their place wasnt really mine or my siblings favourite holiday spot :p! but grandad was neutral towards all the grandchildren..I feel sad that he's sick
- Headache/- been having quite a number of headaches lately. Most probably due to the lack of sleep. I need to ask Zahed to let me rest for 1 whole night just once!
ok that's all I guess.
XOXO
I have 67 kg (148lbs) of photos to get back to DC which somewhat exceeds my United baggage allowance even if I leave all my clothes behind. I've had these stored in my son's garage but now that he has a wife she will be moving in with her own "stuff". It's time for me to get these so that I can scan/preserve them.
So ... research was required. First I tried Australia Post which is how I got my worldly possessions to America nearly 10 years ago. The lady told me in 3 minutes that it would cost an exorbitant.1,228.30.$$$$ - though she didn't actually use the word "exorbitant" - she had a tone that suggested I was getting such a bargain that I should race home pack them up and get back in time to catch the last post of the day.
I had actually saved up and budgeted an amount of $1,000 for this exercise but I was not really expecting to have to use it all.
I
had seen an advertisement for Fed Ex International Economy so I rang
Lawrence in India and had a nice conversation where he used my name a
lot as well as "that's a good question Emjay, I can tell you the
answer"... After 10 or 15 minutes Lawrence decided that Economy service
was not going to work for me and that actually the 25kg flat rate boxes
sent at Priority service would be cheaper (apparently the economy
service just means it takes longer to get there!).
So ... today they will start their journey to the manservant's office and the cost of getting them there in about 3 days will be less than $800.. (FYI: Oz Post could send them by sea for about $650 but I've seen those statistics on how many containers go overboard every year...).
****
The landscape got a little greener as we headed towards the Hunter Valley...
This little church was in the middle of nowhere ( I love the "outhouse"):
A few of the very small towns have these fancy big signs:
This place thinks it is in the Mediterranean - these are all olive trees:
And, now, we interrupt our pleasant country drive to bring some ugly open cut mining....
I remember a couple of years ago you could not see this from the road...
My Friend Bathes in Rattle Snake Lake
I watch the words appear
in her clean holy skin
sins writ therein
tiny crow's feet
small sparrow tracks
in tan expanse
I watch her slowly take
her second dip
in the dark lake
She bends waters to her will
The silent pines
strange witnesses
to the consummation
of opalescent fish
between her thighs
which have let forth
a boy fresh as
spring fallen snow
Lucy Simpson, Seattle, 12/2009
My Vox neighbour, Endeesea, has come up with a cracker of a post about the main impediment to much human progress. It's humans.
Famine in Uganda – Iconic Photos – [Article] Homework – Pictures from Finland – Photography by Arno Rafael Minkkinen – [Gallery]. Mary Daniel Hobson – Milagros – Series small; Series Large - A series of collages expressing people's wishes for positive change in the world. Life is an alleyway – by Henri Antoine – [Image]. Ricky Swallow: The Bricoleur - Exhibition NGV Ian Potter Centre, Melbourne - Art Blart - [Images] Art of Hands Bookends - Desktop Decor Store - [Design] A Show of Hands - [Image]
“Ricky Swallow: The exhibition’s title The Bricoleur refers to the kind of activities performed by a handyman or tinkerer, someone who makes creative use of whatever might be at hand".
" The purpose of commercial [media] is to induce mass sales. For mass sales there must be a mass norm ... By suppressing the individual, the unique, the industry ... assures itself a standard product for mass consumption.":
John Whiting, writer, commenting on the homogenization of corporate media program content
=
"One of the intentions of corporate-controlled media is to instill in people a
sense of disempowerment, of immobilization and paralysis. Its outcome is to turn
you into good consumers. It is to keep people isolated, to feel that there is no
possibility for social change.": David Barsamian, journalist
and publisher
=
The foulest damage to our political life comes not from the 'secrets' which they
hide from us, but from the little bits of half-truth and disinformation which
they do tell us. These are already pre-digested, and then are sicked up as
little gobbits of authorised spew. The columns of defence correspondents in the
establishment sheets serve as the spittoons.: E.P. Thompson,
British historian
=
The feudal barons of the Middle Ages, the economic predecessors of the
capitalists of our day, declared all wars. And their miserable serfs fought all
the battles. The poor, ignorant serfs had been taught to revere their masters;
to believe that when their masters declared war upon one another, it was their
patriotic duty to fall upon one another and to cut one another's throats for the
profit and glory of the lords and barons who held them in contempt. And that is
war in a nutshell: Eugene Debs 6 June 1918: The speech was
given to about 1,200 people and was later used against Debs to make the case
that he had violated the espionage Act. The judge sentenced Debs to ten years in
prison:
=
"[Y]our national greatness, swelling vanity; your denunciation of tyrants,
brass-fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery;
your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious
parade and solemnity, are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and
hypocrisy -- a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of
savages." : Frederick Douglass - 1818 - 1895
=
" When everyone is thinking the same, no one is thinking.": John Wooden
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