Randy Cassingham's Blog

I spent a year in South Korea, and I was constantly amazed, impressed, and terrified by the loads that the drivers would pile on their trucks. Things would be piled twice the height of the truck, be strapped down with a few ropes and a prayer, and off they would go. The whole truck would lean when they went around corners, the load swaying backwards and forwards with every brake or acceleration.

Frankly, I was amazed that I didn't see more than two or three rollovers in the whole time I was there!

I was in Cambodia last year for some volunteer work setting up wound care education programs in hospitals. I, too, marveled at the volume of people and items that can fit onto a motorbike. I even saw a family with the mother nursing her infant on the back.

Unfortunately, there are no helmet laws (though some NGOs are working to get them passed in several Asian countries). Motor vehicle accidents are a common cause of injury, especially with traffic lights and line paintings being taken as mere suggestions. We saw many trauma patients with broken bones, head injuries, and spinal cord injuries. Then there were the ones we didn't see because they died.

But even in the west we all cut corners to save time or to get the job done. Hence, putting on your mascara, eating your breakfast, listening to the traffic report on the radio, and glancing at the morning financial news in the newspaper while talking on the cell phone with your client while driving to work.

Unfortunately, I don't have a photo, but.... When I was in the U.S. Army in Saigon in 1970, I had a 50cc Yamaha motorcycle (as far as I know, the only one legally owned and registered through USARV and the Vietnamese authorities by a US soldier).

My roommate and I decided to build a bookshelf, so we went out on the bike to buy boards and bricks. But how to get them back to the BEQ? Mike sat behind me, facing backwards, holding the stack of boards and bricks steady on the small luggage rack.

Both of us were in uniform (except for our motorcycle helmets, which were definitely not regulation). Must have been *quite* a sight!

For some reason, when I read "gas barbecue", what came to mind was a propane tank. The picture above certainly cleared up that misconception.

Your story this week really made me smile. I moved recently, and the movers I hired were from China. They could barely speak a word of English, but man, they knew how to load a truck! It seemed like they were loading everything upside down and in the most precarious possible arrangement. I thought I was going to have a heart attack! Yet there were no casualties, and it was it was the most efficient move I've ever had. Gotta love that feng shui engineering!

My husband and I had to move a kite he had built. It was a 3-masted ship -- 4 feet from bow to stern and at least 2 feet wide. He drove the bike while I sat back-to-back holding on to the kite. Several people wanted to know if the ship would float. "No", I called back. "It flies!!"

Those were funny, except the one with those seven very young looking little kids crammed on there. That one terrified me because it looked so unsafe and potentially dangerous.

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They're all dangerous, just in different ways. And some are a bit more obviously dangerous.... -rc

Something is wrong when putting 7 people on a bike is the only one that seems dangerous. Having a picture in the driver's face that completely blocks his view? Oh yeah, and he has no hands on the bike. If that doesn't seem unsafe, I'm glad I don't live close to you!

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I doubt that's the driver. I think the picture (or mirror -- I've seen both) is being held by a passenger. Still, you're correct: they're all dangerous. -rc

Good thing you said at the end of your article *not* to send you any more of those pictures. I was all ready to send you a picture from Haiti of a motorbike, two guys, and four live goats. :)

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I've had quite a few from the Premium readers, so that's why I thought of saying "no more!" I'll probably post some of the best ones on Jumbo Joke later. -rc

Reminds me of when I delivered and installed king sized waterbeds, wooden pedestals, frames and all, with my MGB roadster (an english 2 seat sportscar). I had a roll bar, and just stacked everything on the roll bar and windshield, tied it down, and away I went, even on the freeway. Needless to say, there were numerous customers that insisted that a truck had delivered everything, and did not believe that I had brought it all on my little sports car.