Car Trouble? Just Play Dead.
An Australian man, apparently trying to enter the running for the Darwin Awards, decided to try a new and novel way to get some help when his car broke down.
He laid down in the middle of the highway and played dead.
A woman who was driving with her two children spotted the man and had to swerve to avoid hitting him, said Doug Backhouse, a detective with the Western Australia state police.
"She drove around the body — which didn't move at all — and got to the nearest phone," Backhouse said.
Local police arrived with an ambulance and found the man alive and well, but with car troubles.
"The best way he thought to get a vehicle to stop was to lay down in the middle of the road and pretend to be dead," Backhouse said, adding that the man didn't think anyone would stop if he were standing up.
Police did not charge him, but did tell him his plan was quite stupid. Fortunately for the genius, my brother wasn't driving around in Australia at that moment. (The family affectionately refers to my brother as 'Mad Dog'). Knowing him as I do, I suspect his thought process would be, "He's Dead, why swerve?"
Dumb Stuff, World news | Gaius Wednesday, 19 July , 2006
By Lars Walker, Wednesday, 19 July , 2006 @ 12:19 pm
Speaking as a representative of all passive-aggressives, I want to salute this man for being a role model to us all.
By Gaius, Wednesday, 19 July , 2006 @ 12:21 pm
Heh. Just don’t meet Mad Dog! He’s aggressive-aggressive!