transport

I used to believe that if a car or lorry went past you while you were stood on the dropped kerb part of the pavement you would get electricuted. I still occasionally rush to the higher pavement. I'm 25.

I learned very young that you couldn't pass a school bus on the road. However, whoever told it to me left out the part about not being able to pass a _stopped_ school bus. I always would get very nervous when my dad would pass a moving one.

I used to believe…

When I was a kid, we visited Italy once. I noticed that in every city we visited, there were signs pointing to "Senso Unico", which I surmised must be some important building each city had, like a city hall. It never dawned on me to ask my parents what it was. So at one point we were in some small city in Tuscany, and my parents decided to hang around in a cafe, so my sister and I decided to go exploring the town. We took it upon ourselves to go and find the Senso Unico. The signs showing the way to the Senso Unico seemed to lead us all over the place, and eventually we ended up where we started. We gave up.

When we got back, we told our parents about the failed quest. It was then that we learned "Senso Unico" is Italian for "One Way"!

I used to believe…

It always amazed me when my grandfather and I would go for a drive. Each time we stopped at a red light he would say "presto chango" and the light would turn green. It only changed for me occationally when I did it. I never noticed him watching for the traffic lights from the other direction to turn yellow. Being the oldest off all the grandchildren, I was finally able to trick my cousins once I caught on to it.

I never saw a school bus that was not loaded with children, so I assumed that there were children who were doomed to ride the school bus forever. We had katydids in our school playground so somehow I figured out that the kadydids would sting students in the heart and they had to ride to school bus forever.

I used to believe…

When I was small I wondered what force drove cars along.. I decided that it must be something like a jet plane or a hovercraft, so (obviously) the exhaust pipe was the driving force, with the exhaust "smoke" pushing the car along. Eventually, I realised that this wasn't the case because all the cars with one exhaust would only be able to round in circles..

I had used my awesome powers of deduction and prodigous knowledge of "science" to work it out - I seem to remember being absurdly proud of myself!

I used to believe (until very recently!), that in an airline safety demonstration when they said "the inflatable exit slides can also be used as floatation devices in the event of a water landing", that they helped keep the plane afloat!

I live near the Forth Rail Bridge which has supports that make it look like a Big Dipper roller coaster. When I was younger I used to believe the trains went up and down the humps like a roller coaster and always wondered why they never fell off. When I finally realised my misconception and told my dad, turns out he used to believe the same thing!

I used to believe…

A long time ago I was told that the big brake wheel in the cab of the train was in fact a steering wheel and thought train drivers were pretty clever at keeping their trains on the narrow rails. Then one day I saw tube trains (that still has a big brake wheel) and thought their drivers were even cleverer at being able to steer their trains in the dark!

I once asked my Dad about the blue tinting along the top edge of the windsheild in cars. He told me it happened when they were manufactured because they were dipped in a tank of blue tinting and then when they were lain down all of the tinting ran to the top edge.

I used to believe…

When I was a kid I asked my Dad about the cautionary road sign that said "Watch for Ice on Bridge". Dad told me that every so often the people form the local radio station would place a block of ice on a bridge and if you called in to the radio station and reported it before the ice melted you would win a prize.

I used to believe that traffic lights were linked by wires to a room at the nearest police station, with lots of switches that could change them from red to amber to green and so on.

I thought they were operated by a really old policeman who was too old to pound the beat any more.

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!

I used to believe…

You know how highways have turn-around lanes between opposing traffic for emergency vehicles to use? They also almost always have a sign that says "Violators will be prosecuted." Being a little kid, I thought that was the same as "Violators will be executed." It didn't help matters when I asked my dad, "They wouldn't really prosecute them, would they?" And my dad said, "You bet they would!"

I used to believe…

When i was a kid some 40 years ago, we sometimes were taken to the new Forest in Hampshire. At this time a new road had been built with a fly-over on it. Whenever i heard that we were going on the fly-over, i thought it meant there was no middle to the bridge, and we had to go fast enough up the ramp to fly over the gap in the middle. I was petrified by the prospect.

I used to believe…

when i was younger my dad used to tell me that if i stuck any body part out of an open car window as the car was moving - that the car would know, and immediately start rolling its windows up. thus, if i stuck my head out of the car, i would be instantly decapitated! he told me it happened to a little girl in japan - and told me to be careful. i was extremely scared and believe this about cars until i was NINE YEARS OLD!

I used to believe…

for a long time i thought that the only trains in the U.S. were the ones in the NYC subway line. the other trains would have been too outdated to outlast the 50s