I used to think that pedestrians were a certain type of people - like people were designated as pedestrians or drivers, and that's what you were for your whole life.

Sarah

I used to believe that if you were moving at 20 miles an hour and wanted to go at 30 you had to briefly go at 40mph to fill in the gap.

i.e. 30mph - 20mph = 10 too little, if you travel at 40mph you have an extra 10 mph to spare which will fill the gap between 20 and 30 and so it would all even out at 30.

I know... I know... physics just wasn't my thing!

Lucy

While riding in the car, my dad convinced me that the button for the hazard lights, which is a triangle pointed up, was actually the passenger seat ejection button. He would then hold his finger over the button when I was annoying him. This went on for years.

Drew

When my sisters and I were all young, my parents would drive at night when we travelled, so we'd all sleep and probably make it a less stressful trip for our parents! I was the youngest and would always be in the front seat between my parents. If I'd wake up, my dad would tell me to keep an eye on "Jim Beam". Jim Beam was a little light that hid in the dashboard when another car approached. After the car passed, he'd light up again! I would be fascinated for long periods of time and would try to convince Jim Beam that another car on the road wouldn't hurt him! Later in life, my parents would crack up telling everyone the story about my fascination with "Jim Beam" (the dimmer for headlights).

Terri

I used to believe that the 'Hazard' button in cars would get you out of trouble. I imagined that if your car was stuck, for instance, it would sprout massive legs with suction cups on the end so it could walk away.

Lukas

When I was about five or six, I used to believe that the button on your seatbelt, and if you press it, the car will turn in a ice-cream van!!! Glad i do Not believe that now.

ice-cream lover

When I was about 5 my parents told me not to stick me arm out the window when travelling in the car as it might be cut off by oncoming traffic. So then I figured that if you stuck your arm out of the window a chainsaw popped out of the oncoming cars bonnet which then cut off your arm. I believed this for a few years.

Frosty

On family car trips, my sister used to hold my head down to prevent me from looking out the window and she'd tell me she could see "Cinderella" and "Sleeping Beauty" and all my favorite Disney characters, and they'd all disappear as soon as she let my head up. I think I only believed it for a year or so.

M J

Until a few years ago, I thought that when you parked where the sign said 'parking 1hr maximum, no return within 2hrs', that you were not allowed to go back to your car for 2hrs. I always felt I was breaking the law by complying with the 1hr parking time limit.

chris

At age five I used to think that unless one of the windows was rolled down, everyone in the car would suffocate within minutes. I would always keep my window open (even in winter) and think smugly about all the times I had saved my mom, dad and brothers' lives.

lucille

When I was in elementary school, my mother would sometimes leave me in the car while she went into the grocery store or the library. I would sit in the front seat and pretend to be dead, so that no one would kidnap me, or steal the car. It wasn't until I was about 10 that I realized that no one was going to buy my mother was driving around with a corpse in the car. Since I looked like I was sleeping (holding my breath, with my eyes closed, not moving) they could still easily have taken the car, but surprisingly, that never happened!

Charlie

My six year old nephew believes that children must sit in the back seat because they could be injured by 'exploding bumpers'. He seriously thinks if a car or truck's bumper touches another bumper, it will explode.

Tiff

I used to believe that petrol was a solution of some substance in water (say, like syrup). So why not just buy the petrol powder for your car, and add your own water? Easy!

Bob Peters

i remember when i was 3 or 4 i hated going into carwashes. i thought the water would flood the car and make it explode, leaving the big brushes (i thought they were alive at the time) to kill you!

reese fulla

My Uncle Ernie told me that he had an ejector seat in his car (the button for it was supposedly under the gear stick knob) and that if I mis-behaved, he'd eject me. This kind of worked against him though - I played up on purpose as getting ejected sounded like fun :)

Lee

In my moms car there were little ashtrays on the sides of the doors that had a little picture of a cigarette on it so you'd know what it was for. The picture was so tiny, that when I was little, I thought it was a picture of a boat, and that you were supposed to hold on to it if a boat was crashing into your car! Then, when I told my mom my theory, she told me that the picture was actually of a cigarette. Til I was 9 I thought that was there for blind people who couldn't tell what the ashtray was for!

Someone

When I was four I used to think that the picture and place on the side of a U-Haul truck (you know how the U-Hauls always have the name of some state and a picture relating to said state painted on the side) was where that person was moving to. I would watch the U-Hauls in my neighborhood to see where the people were moving.

I often developed an obsession with places I saw on TV or in my various learning...Egypt, the jungle, the desert...and I kept trying to convince my parents to move there. They'd been talking about moving for a long time and I had a plan that when we DID move, I would change the words on the side of the U-Haul to say "JUNGLE" or "EGYPT" instead of the place we were actually moving to, so then WE'D BE FORCED TO MOVE THERE MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

We didn't actually move until I was 11, and not even out-of-state much less out-of-country xD I still don't know if the pictures on the U-Haul mean that's where you're moving to but I don't care anymore lulz I don't wanna leave tha country anymore

KUPO!!!!

My parents used to tell us "this car won't start until everyone has their seatbelts on!" -- and I thought they meant it mechanically. So I would buckle all the belts of the empty seats so that we would be able to drive.

...When I figured out that the car *did in fact start* even when not all the seatbelts were fastened, I figured it must have some weighing mechanism under each seat that told it whether or not there was a person there, and only needed it buckled if there was.

This theory applied to all cars and vans

I used to believe that when the radio dimmed a little when driving throught a tinnel, it was so blind people who were driving didnt crash into the sides.

i think i might have been dropped as a child...

GhostWhoWalks

I used to goto the store with my mom, and sometimes waitin the car. She would notice my interest in the cigerette lighter. She told me if I pushed it in, the car would explode. The first time I pushed in the lighter, I was 10 years old, and broke out in a cold sweat.

Frank Ponch