I heard on channel 8 news from Ann Cutler (I’d change that If I were you, too close you know…) that there was a crash @ Liberty and Sinclair necessitating “extrication.” So naturally I rushed out to get a looksee.

accident

This is the second time in a week that there has been a nasty mashup in this area. Last time it was @ Liberty and Virginia, just a stone’s roll away.

What I’m wondering is this: How does shit like this happen? At these times in the AM traffic is barely moving in that area.

I’m reading the book Deep Survival by Lawrence Gonzales. It’s about the psychology, pathology, and physics of accidents. In the chapter The Sandpile Effect he describes wilderness travel (climbing, kayaking, mountaineering…) as a critical situation in a self organizing system (complexity theory), or an iterating reaction(chaos theory) in which any seemingly insignificant detail could dramatically alter an outcome. Further, in such critical systems failures are inevitable, but not mandatory.

He says that accidents are normal and not preventable due to the dynamic nature of the system. Though large accidents don’t happen every time, we can’t stop them from happening. We can however avoid participating in them.

So when you’re out there on the road, remember that the situation is inherently unstable and can collapse, or not, at any moment and adjust your view of the world accordingly.

The word “experienced” often refers to someone who’s gotten away with doing the wrong thing more frequently than you have.”  Lawrence Gonzales, Deep Survival.

Impatience is a disease.

-M