Of all the animals of prey, man is the only sociable one.
Every one of us preys upon his neighbour, and yet we herd together.
The Beggar's Opera: John Gay

Wednesday, 16 July 2014

That sinking feeling (again)

Another day, another car. The search and rescue team at Brean Beach must be getting sick of having to dig out the stranded motors of people who think the laws of physics don't apply to them.

The driver of the latest unintentionally amphibious vehicle had taken it half a mile down the beach heedless of warnings to the public not to approach the water's edge at low tide because of soft sand and mud.
"I'd just been driving along the beach with my daughter enjoying the sunshine and didn't think I could get stuck."
This is, presumably, the same mindset that causes school run parents in 4x4s to pull out across two lanes of traffic without looking; the hubristic sense that your vehicle makes you somehow indestructible.

Fortunately for the driver and his daughter, they didn't get the opportunity to qualify for a multiple Darwin Award by discovering that quicksand is more than just a handy plot device in adventure films.

Connoisseurs of Schadenfreude can find photos and some highly satisfying video footage at the Burnham news site.

2 comments:

  1. On most of the beaches I know, various barriers - or the mere absence of nearby roads - make it impossible to drive onto the sand.

    Do the authorities in this case eschew such methods merely for the entertainment value?

    ReplyDelete
  2. WY, not so much the entertainment value as the £4 per car they charge large numbers of visitors to park on the beach at low tide.

    The entertainment is simply an added bonus.

    ReplyDelete

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