> << I was flipping through the channels last night and happened upon a
program
> about accidents involving race photographers. Some brutal stuff. One guy
was
> standing in the middle of the road photographing something on the side
> during an evening rain storm. A driver, peripherally blinded by the water
> and bad light, didn't see the photographer and hit him. That victim was
> being extremely stupid. Several others were hit by cars losing control and
> flying way off course. Most of these were road race and rally type events
> where there is little crowd control. I'm sure it's tempting to want to be
> where one should not be. It's certainly not a place to be careless. Have
you
> or Mike had any close calls? >>
>
> I saw that show too. While it was a bit sobering and scary, I also noticed
that most (if not all) of the incidents were in South America at venues
which apparently had pretty loose security. > Happy New Year All!!!!!
>
> Mike Veglia
I remember watching street races once, in 2000, in the narrow streets of
Sucre, Bolivia. The cars were spaced out somewhat, so they must have been
timed races. The people would gradually crowd out onto the narrow street,
trying to get a view of the next one coming. The problem was, by the time
you heard or seen one coming, it was too late to clear the street. So they
had people with whistles stationed at street corners, and they would relay
signals ahead by blowing their whistles, which meant to clear the street.
The cars would speed by at very high speed, with both sides of the street
lined with kids and adults. There were no barriers of any kind. The
sidewalks were only about 3 feet wide on either side of the street, and the
streets were not much more than one lane. Very scary, but typical Latin
America for lack of safety concerns. I stood so that I was behind the corner
of a stone building, and watched a while, but couldn't really take it too
long as I suspected to see a bunch of people wiped out.
OM content, I did manage to grab a few shots, but am not able to lay my hand
on them just now.
Wayne
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