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  • 1997-09-02 (xsd:date)
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  • Was a Volkswagen Beetle and Its Passengers Crushed Between Two Trucks? (en)
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  • We collected this story from the internet in 1997: A ritual familiar to high school students in California and other states is the taking of Driver's Education (or Driver's Ed for short): A classroom-based course intended to prepare teenagers for the tasks of undertaking on-the-road driving lessons, acquiring their driver's licenses, and becoming safe and responsible motorists. Such courses have typically included a mixture of instruction in traffic laws and regulations, training with driving simulators, and the viewing of safety films such as Mechanized Death, Wheels of Tragedy, and Red Asphalt, the last of them described by the Los Angeles Times as follows: The crushed Beetle example quoted above is akin to an oral Red Asphalt tableau, with true horror apparent only in retrospect: Two 18-wheelers that collided head-on have become fused together as a result and are removed from the accident scene in that state; not until they are pulled apart at a wreckage yard days (or weeks) later does someone discover that a Volkswagen Beetle — with its dead driver and occupants still inside — had been crushed between them. In one sense, this legend might be read as merely a general warning on the potential dangers associated with driving, with the inclusion of the largest and smallest vehicles then commonly found on roadways (i.e., tractor-trailers and a VW Beetle) used to heighten the horrific effect and make the plot device of delayed discovery plausible. On the other hand, this legend might be interpreted as a commentary on our industrial society: You, dear individual commuter, in your small, cheap vehicle, are of little importance compared to the big rigs that transport the raw materials and finished goods which keep our economy running; you're just collateral damage that we have to clean up if and when we get around to finding you. In December 2008, a confluence of traffic accidents on an Ohio roadway led to an incident reminiscent of this legend: (en)
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