Dumbest (most unsafe) thing you've ever done?

[Henro]

Dumbest (most unsafe) thing you\'ve ever done?

For some reason stupid things I've done in my life started popping into my head recently...

I think probably because the price of gas and a 30-mile one-way commute brough visions of motorcycles dancing in my head.

Anyway, I remember when I was young and immortal...being on my bike...on a two lane highway...one tractor trailer passing another...me in a hurry...enough room between them to run up the middle...zoom...sure glad they did not decide to squeeze me as I was flying between them!

More than once no less...

So I've concluded I can't trust myself on a bike. Have to bite the bullet and stay with four wheels now...age brings wisdom I suppose... /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

How about you? Been crazy in the past safety wise?

 

[zeuspaul]

Re: Dumbest (most unsafe) thing you\'ve ever done?

Speaking of two wheelers. Early in my twenties I left Calif at dinner time on a trip to Boston as I wanted to get a good start. About three AM I clearly saw a huge loader on the side of the road dropping a bolder in front of me. I slowed down to a stop and it vanished into thin air! The next rest stop was about ten miles up the road. I pulled off as it was time for a cup of coffee.

Zeuspaul

 

[rdln]

Re: Dumbest (most unsafe) thing you\'ve ever done?

I dont reveal my lifes errors often but for you Henro why not.

The first thing that came to mind was pullin out onto a highway just at dusk while pulling my tractor with my old jeep pickup. b4 I was into my intended lane I knew I had to get onto the shoulder cause the 18 wheeler was either gonna hit me or someone else while trying to avoid me. no wonder those guys are always complaining about us 4 wheelers.

A close second might be testing my homebuilt hand held post driver in the dark without wearing a hardhat.....a few stitches and a lot of repeated story telling was my reward.

Oh and I rolled a couple of jeeps over.

 

[Alan L.]

Re: Dumbest (most unsafe) thing you\'ve ever done?

About 6 years ago the movers backed the bobtail truck off the side of my curvy 800 foot driveway into the mud. I put a piece of plywood under the the dual rear wheels nearest the driveway. My son pulled the truck from the front with my 4 by 4 Suburban while I pushed with the loader from behind on my little bitty B2710. The mover put the truck in gear and gunned it.

The ply wood came flying out from under the rear tires about 90 mph, headed right for my face. Fortunately the loader of the tractor deflected it. Whew! Scared me half to death.

We got it out, believe it or not.

 

[Egon]

Re: Dumbest (most unsafe) thing you\'ve ever done?

The most life threatening action I have ever taken was getting a drivers licence and vehicle! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Egon /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Mrwurm]

Re: Dumbest (most unsafe) thing you\'ve ever done?

How about this: When I was 16, my friend and I tested the limits of my first car. We took a 1971 chevy impala up to 115 mph. This car had marginal brakes, bald tires, and a front end shimmy /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

 

[Mrwurm]

Re: Dumbest (most unsafe) thing you\'ve ever done?

And another: My wacky friends and I acquired two things from my parents yard: My mothers clothes line rope, and my dads leather work gloves. We slung the rope over the end of a bridge that was under construction and used my dads gloves to keep from burning our hands as we slid down the rope. I believe this was around 6th grade. Its a good thing none of us weighed more than a 100 lbs.

Now that I think of it, I can't believe we were smart enough to bring the gloves.

 

[JDgreen227]

Re: Dumbest (most unsafe) thing you\'ve ever done?

Not tractor related but really stupid....when I was 18 I had a Honda 305 Scrambler, I wanted to impress this girl who lived on a lake lot, there was this large gravel pit next to their property. I rode my cycle up to the top of the pit, then waved and honked to attract the attention of her and her friend, then decided to ride down (FAST of course) to show off my bike handling skills, of course there was this huge rut halfway down that caught the front wheel and flipped me over the bars to land on my rear end and slide down another 100 feet.

New jeans: $15
New front wheel: $45
New forks: $255

Impression I made on the girl and her friend:
PRICELESS

Needless to say, they were REALLY impressed at how stupid I was, so I got up, semi-straightened the bent forks, and headed home.
Every since that 1968 incident, whenever I think about doing something reckless, I recall that afternoon and give thanks I didn't break my neck, or worse.

Do something unsafe? NEVER AGAIN. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[JazzDad]

Re: Dumbest (most unsafe) thing you\'ve ever done?

There are too many to tell. But probably the dumbest thing was jumping out of a perfectly good airplane. I lost 1 inch on my height in that bad landing. If ever faced with the prospect of jumping out a plane that is going to crash, I might choose to go down with the aircraft.

 

[Bird]

Re: Dumbest (most unsafe) thing you\'ve ever done?

I think I've probably done more than my share of dumb, unsafe, and sometimes just stupid things in my lifetime. Getting a reputation in high school as the school stunt driver wasn't too bright. But I only crashed once; on my 18th birthday. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

But I still guess the dumbest was when I was 12 or 13 and we had the little 1940 John Deere L and I decided to pull down a really BIG old dead oak tree. We did have a really good, heavy chain. When I tried to pull that tree down, it wouldn't budge, just spun the tires. So I backed up to the tree, and got a good running start, full throttle in low gear, ready with my foot over the clutch to keep from killing the engine when I hit the end of the chain (always hated to kill the engine and have to get off and go around in front to crank it again). It worked. And when that tree came down right by the left tires was when I realized my chain was about half as long as the tree was tall. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif Only pure dumb luck kept it from killing me and destroying the tractor. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif