Looks like they backed over it, laying the pole down, then drove forward, poking the pole through the undercarriage and standing it back up.
No, that bollard didn’t budge. She backed into it fast enough to shoot the SUV straight up the bollard, it clears the bumper, and BAM! — the SUV dropped down on the bollard. That bumper should have crumpled, but it was rugged and rounded enough to deflect the impact downward or, equal and opposite reaction, send the vehicle upward. Traffic bollards are still tough enough to stand up to SUVs, but not tall enough to be seen by the drivers.
but not tall enough to be seen by the drivers
They’re the height of a child and also high-vis yellow. You need More Proof someone’s not paying enough attention to pilot 2 tonnes of metal?
someone’s not paying enough attention
That’s one way of looking at it.
Another would be, its evidence of bad vehicle design & inadequate visibility from the driver’s seat.
One thing a driver should pay attention to is whether they can see their environment.
One thing to note is that if the vehicle being driven wasn’t an SUV, that bollard would have easily been seen through the rear view mirror. Looks like the bollard is ‘just’ low enough to stop below the top of the rear seats. SUVs bad.
I believe that all cars sold in the US since 2016 have been required to have back-up cameras.
Those are only situationally useful. They tend to be too dim and blurry, and if you’re wearing polarized sunglasses they can be totally black. Focusing on them long enough to make out what they’re displaying causes tunnel vision - you can’t really shift your focus from looking around out the windows and back to looking at the screen fast enough.
Back-up cameras are great for measuring the last couple inches of parking.
I don’t have that problem at all in my car.
I live on a one-lane road, and the turnaround in my driveway turns into foot-deep mud when it rains, so I back into my driveway. …About 300 yards of backing up, all in, with some fairly sharp turns and a steep drop on one side of my driveway. It’s really simple, as long as there’s any light; at night, the reverse lights aren’t really bright enough to see what I’m doing. BUT my display is about 8" wide; I’ve driven trucks and vans where it’s a 2" wide section on the rear view mirror, and those are a pain in the ass.
I’ve got $10 on Delta_V not realizing screen brightness was turned down, any takers?
I agree that SUV bad, but today’s cars pretty universally have rear view cameras and some extra sensors. She can’t drive for shit
This is the right answer. Bollards made of concrete and steel are designed to stop cars. There is no elasticity in that bollard. If she bent it, it would’ve stayed bent.
Check the bottom of the bollard, it looks visible damaged where it meets the ground, like it had bent backwards towards the camera.
I think the OP is right. It wouldn’t need elasticity; it got bent down just far enough for the back end of the car to ride up on it, then when they pulled forward it dragged the bollard upright, at which point it punched through the floor.
My guess is the metal had begun to rust where it meets the ground, and then some freeze thaw cycles crumbled the concrete, leaving it weak right where it meets the ground.
Yeah there’s not nearly enough damage to the back of the car for it to have hit so hard as to launch it into the air. Plus you can see yellow paint on the ground where the bollard was clearly laid over. OP is right.
The pole didn’t bend, the ground just opened up.
Correct answer. You can see the ground fractured around the pole.
Not just the ground, it’s also on the bumper at the point of impact. You can see the imprint it left when it was slanted at like 45 degrees.
The thing is it ended up almost perpendicular to the ground. No bend at all. To have the car pull forward and bend it back that way is a heck of an ask.
If you look closesly, it’s a concrete filled pole and the ground seems disturbed. So she didn’t bend it. She ripped it out of the ground and when driving forward it dipped back into it’s hole and puncutured the underfloor.
How fast was she supposed to be to jump up at least a meter, come to a dead stop, drop down… but have no more than a scratch on the impact zone?
First, I didn’t say it came to a dead stop before it dropped. I think the impalement killed its momentum. Second, fast probably wasn’t the right word, but she hit the gas hard enough to climb that bollard. I was thinking she just plowed into it, but she might’ve backed into it slowly, got stopped, didn’t know why, then pressed down harder on the gas. That would explain the minimal impact.
backed into it slowly, got stopped, didn’t know why, then pressed down harder on the gas
yeah, this is probably what happened
My guess is it wasn’t speed. It’s probably an all-wheel drive car and the front wheels are really close to the front.
So a stubborn driver could tap the bollard, get mad their car stopped, then after contact hit the gas hard and ride up the bollard while still keeping traction on the front wheels because they’re never pushed off the ground. The bumper would take less damage because after the first push most of the motion is upward.
How does it ride up the bollard when we assume the bollard does not budge?
Seriously, you can even see the damage on the bollard, it is clear that it got bend down.
Concrete doesn’t bend.
Where did you find the specification of this one specific bollard and where is the furnace that it is supposed to protect? If there is nothing to protect, why should it be up to the same standard?
We can see that it is damaged, there is really no need to discuss it. It did not bend concrete but the steel tube. The concrete just snaps, it can’t handle bending. It is just in there to prevent collapsing of the tube, so compression, which concrete can do really well.
There is also no other way for this to happen other than the bollard bending or a crane etc. dropping the car.
Sunken ones are the same and given such a dumb statement you clearly know you’re wrong now but won’t admit it.
The concrete is not there to prevent the tube from collapsing. You have that completely backwards.
It’s clearly not bent. Get your eyes checked.
dropped down on the bollard.
I wasn’t expecting to see another example of, ‘impaled by bollard,’ but at least it’s an inanimate object this time. 😬
Oooh, I like your answer better.
Oh good eye, I think you’re right especially from the paint on the bumper
So reversing the car should flatten the ballard again and get the car free? Or maybe the ballard only went to an acute angle and lifted the car up till the ballard poked through a weak point in the frame. Either way she’s reversed into it at a decent speed…and then completed her yoga class before calling for help.
I mean… Theoretically if she had a strong enough drive train, and the car was overall very heavy, she could absolutely back up again.
However, given the height of the bollard vs the ground clearance of the undercarriage, I believe it would pinch the bumper downward and possibly prevent the car from going anywhere. It depends on how strong the bumper materials are, and if anything from the frame is in the way.
Source: my ass, but it’s my best guess based on studying more crashes than I care to count.
Your ass is probably correct.
Also the bollard was initially pushed down by the rigid frame of the car. Now it is inside the boot. The inside of the boot will be pushing against it.
Now they’re going to call roadside rescue and going to have to explain how they need a crane rather than a tow truck.
The bollard needs to be replaced at this point. May as well just cut it off. Hiring a crane is unnecessary.
I believe you are right except I don’t think the pole moved at all. The ground seems in disturbed. And typically they are made to withstand being hit by a car. So more likely they backed up so fast that it sent the rear up on top of the pole and then just came crashing down on it.
Great point, I didn’t look closely enough, it seems.
Yup. That’s the only way this could have worked. Unless the car was jumped off a ramp first, Knight Rider style.
As @qooqie pointed out, the paint transfer on the bumper supports your theory.
Thank you for posting this. Until I read your summary, I thought it was a yoga mat that had somehow escaped from inside the trunk and was completely flummoxed.
That’s what she said!
She did the Picard maneuver I think
More like a vehicular version of the Riker maneuver.
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQHFRgl_2qfMHioWXfh6d3sSDDKpHr8wI8CSA&s
(Couldn’t find one with Riker driving, but close enough)
A reverse image search shows this picture posted on several tweets in the last month. Safe to say, this guy made up a story and probably doesn’t have a wife.
I feel like these kinds of liars are sad egotists. Not because they made up a story, but they made up a story that painted them a hero, and the other person being an absolute buffoon. Even more frequent is the “dumb wife” or “idiot girlfriend” trope.
These made up stories like this is all they have in their depressing little lives.
I believe the technical term is “deflecting blame” or “being a cowardly jackass.” They’re pretty interchangable.
ok maybe the wife part is false but someone still got into this predicament somehow?? these pics aren’t AI generated…
Looks like they backed into it from the paint rubbed off on the bumper. Probably going too fast in reverse and rode up on the pole, getting on top of it. Once on top the weight of the car forced the pole through the floor of the car.
More likely - backed over it, pushed it over, pulling it out of the ground a bit, until they got far enough over it that the top was behind the bumper, then finally noticed something was wrong and tried to pull forward again, which started pulling the post upright again… All the more impressive because they would have been doing it slowly, and giving the car gas to overcome the extra resistance…
that seems to be the case yes but… that pole is really though so that’s insane!
He just wanted a “let’s make a woman look stupid” story
Those women right guys? Always going to yoga and crashing cars!
fucking boomers
Are all the tweets about this same story?
I once had the pleasure of witnessing someone flood their engine in a perfectly dry parking lot.
They drove over a curb and fire hydrant. The curb popped them up enough to land their engine compartment firmly onto the hydrant.
It’s pretty amazing how much air you can catch from even small obstacles.
It’s pretty amazing how much air you can catch from even small obstacles
This is why games like GTA don’t have realistic physics.
True. GTA would be nothing but rollover crashes.
Remember, when you hear a crunch of your car hitting something just double down and add more throttle. Only a pussy would stop and asses the situation.
Apparently with automatic cars people can sometimes confuse the accelerator with the break? Maybe this is one of those cases…
Or confuse the break with the brake
Thankfully the only injuries were to grammar nazis
His wife had Frank pick her up cause she couldn’t resist backing up on that long, hard pole.
My ex-wife regularly damaged my truck. My favorite was when she managed to drive it onto a tree stump such that it was resting on the axle with only two wheels contacting the ground.
At least I had it better than this guy.
This is why I’m the only person who drives my truck.
Can I drive your truck?
No.
First time I’ve seen somebody need to jack off a car.
I’m going to guess she ran it over backing up and then when the car was over the pole, she drove forward and the pole went straight up and went through the trunk flooring.
Anyone have any thoughts?
barrel roll
Wild Card!
For her new car the husband suggested a vintage Pinto.
That one’s a little taller, but still; I turned while backing out into one of these concrete barriers that was impossible to see from within the car because it was only 2 or 3 ft. tall. Crushed the bumper in my case, and it was my fault, but still: fuck the people who make these difficult-to-see barriers in parking areas.
Thank god nothing else is 2 or 3 feet tall and bad to back over
Did they stutter? Fuck them kids.
It builds character!
This thing is like 4+ foot tall and bright yellow. You need to learn how to park safely and be aware of your surroundings. It’s all you.
I scuffed my bumper at the drive in cinema. They had left over mini poles from when you used to hang a speaker box on your car window. Those tiny redundant poles in the middle of the dark are hard to see and easy to forget.
I did something similar one time. I was maneuvering around a cleared lot in a work truck and I drove over a tree trunk that was hidden by tall grass. The bumper slid up over the stump and then dropped down on the other side, trapping the truck. Had a hell of a time getting the truck jacked up high enough to get it back over.
What did she do like drive up it until it pierced the car?
Assuming this isn’t AI gen or Photoshop, probably backed up, reached the bollard, kept reversing forcing the car to go up because it can’t go back, eventually got car over, bollard pierces car bottom as the car frame gets past and it’s weight forces it down.
Stupidity in short, maybe intentional. I don’t believe the story. I don’t know if I even believe the photo.
Looking at the bottom corner of the bumper, I definitely think this is the case
Either AI has gotten better, the person who photoshopped it was really dedicated, or based on the dent and paint transfer on the back the person backed up fast and rode the post up then dropped down on top of it.
A different person posted that they found this image(reverse search) attached to a number of tweets this month. So the caption is 100% fake
I’d guess they had found a pole that had its top sawed off by somebody who wanted access, and got the idea for this post, arranging it to make the apparent protrusion without photo editing.
Something yellow and pole sized has scraped the back of the car though.
deleted by creator
ah yes the simplest explanation
Probably just reverse too quickly and the hitboxes merged. I’ve had a similar experience with swing sets.
I kinda figure that the pole isn’t secure in the ground, like whoever installed it did it poorly and not deep enough into the ground. When you back up into it, it begins to tip over until you have the top under the car. When you try going forward, it rights itself. I’ve seen something similar with different kinds of poles and when they are upright, they look completely fine.
I figure that if you backed up with enough force to drive up the pole, the bumper would be more damaged.
Nope… I’m not buying it…
To me it feels fake.
Especially the description sounds like a teenager is trying to build up tension in a story. Real people don’t talk like that.
To be honest, the text somehow manages to even more forced and photoshopped than the actual photo (which probably is shopped as well.)
(Edit: I realized I have red shift enabled on my screen so I’m probably totally unfair to the photo.)
there’s yellow paint and an indent on the back of the car, in the path of the bollard, which looks quite real to me and feels like a lot of effort to go into for an internet post
edit: now that i think about it some more, and look closer, i’m gonna wager that they did really hit the bollard and maybe fucked up the car, but they then posed things to fake the bollard going through the car. It’s convenient how the first photo hides the base of the bollard and the area where it would pierce the car, and the second one could quite easily be two separate photos with the middle of the bollard erased to match the outline of the car’s rear.
That would be a lot of effort for a very high quality fake. In both pictures you can see the whole bottom of the trunk was raised up by the bollard poking through.
My bet is (if real) they backed over it so it was at like a 45° angle or something, then drove forward, but the top of the pole caught the car, straightened out, and went through the trunk.
Else; shooped.
The photo could be real. I’ve seen things like that in person. The story is dumb teenage bullshit like you say though.
Reverse and hit the bollard, bending it, the bollard goes under the car and the owner realise the fuckup and try to go forward, the bollard that stuck under the car is now hooked and then bend upward, piercing the car.
Looking at the second picture, the base of the bollard is rusted and bended and seems hollow, and the plastic part of the car is warped. There’s a bend mark on the bumper, she must’ve force it through even though the car doesn’t seems to move. Average SUV driver if you ask me.
My analysis exactly.
She thought she was on GTA6
