Pedestrian vs Refrigerator

For the past week, I've been proctoring for a training class at work. I've taken this class before, so I was tapped to be a passive party to make sure that our conference call remains loud and strong, and our screen-shared projector remains bright and clear. It requires very little of me, yet I have to arrive earlier than usual. For some people, this would mean an earlier bed time. For me, it simply means less sleep.

Just now I found something fun as I was browsing around my computer to stay awake in an attempt to finish up this week with some small amount of dignity, which would be completely lost if I were to suddenly drop my head and start snoring and drooling all over my keyboard. This was my little transcript of a story one of the nurses told me when I was working in the ICU in San Diego recently:

In Emergency Rooms, car crash victims are classified by the dynamic of their collision. Usually you see things like "Automotive vs. Cyclist" or "Pedestrian vs. Bus." Occasionally there is an exceptional case like "Cyclist vs. Curb," but even that could never prepare Nancy, my story-telling nurse, for her first and only "Pedestrian vs. Refrigerator."

Living in San Diego, you see a lot of poor families moving one way or the other across the border, to or from Tijuana, with all of their belongings packed haphazardly into a car ill suited to the purpose. This particular family was moving South, their rusty old pickup filled to the brim, the cab stuffed with children, the bed piled upon with boxes, mattresses, and the occasional appliance - including their undoubtedly almond colored, 20 year old refrigerator.

Somewhere along the way, on Interstate 5 just North of downtown, something happened that loosened the refrigerator. Maybe a bungee cord snapped or lost its grip on the steel rim of the truck bed. Maybe the car ran over one too many ridges or one too many cracks in the road and the ties that held the fridge down gradually slipped from its frame, eventually letting it loose. The refrigerator teetered briefly on the rough road, then the wind caught it fully and it flew from its place in the truck bed and onto the blacktop behind.

The driver realized what had happened almost immediately, and just as quickly moved over to the far right shoulder of the road and stopped. He then backed up to where the refrigerator was lying, flipped on the hazard lights, and stepped out of his vehicle. Luckily, the traffic was not so bad, (probably a weekend morning), and he was able to dodge his way out into the middle of the freeway with the intention of dragging his refrigerator back to the side of the road where he could refasten it.

When the accident happened, he was probably examining the appliance, attempting to find leverage so that he could do just that. Unfortunately, one car of the many on the road did not see the refrigerator or the man and did not steer away from them when it should have. The car collided with the refrigerator which then flew up, still horizontal, into the man's stomach and chest, knocking him flat on his back. His head slammed against the blacktop, whereupon his mind also went black. The car was thrown off its direct course by the impact with the refrigerator and swerved away from the man, now lying unconscious in the middle of the 5 freeway.

Now, from here I don't know where the story goes except that he eventually got picked up off the pavement and then delivered to a San Diego emergency room, where he was fixed up and eventually recovered just fine. Doesn't really matter. The important thing is that we can now all look back when we're falling asleep in a meeting or in a class and remember the man who got hit on the freeway by his own refrigerator, and lived to tell about it.