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I used to believe…

My Dad told me that those Big boxes on stop-light poles(used for timers for the stop-lights)were actually refrigerators for the cops, and thats where they keep their lunch, I believed it until I was 12! I'm 13 now

I used to believe…

when i was a kid i used to believe that those "speed zone ahead" signs meant that cars were going real fast. so i would look out the window waiting for this "zone" to come up.but traffic seamed to slow down for some odd reason.

I used to believe…

When I was just over 4 years old my Parents, two younger brothers (2yrs. & 5 mos.) and myself were on the way to visit family in California from New Mexico. Somewhere in Arizona the engine began knocking and making a lot of noise. Dad pulled to the side of the highway and raised the hood with smoke boiling out from the engine compartment. I overheard him explain to my mother that the engine was about to "blow up". My youngest brother (5 mos.) was still in the car asleep. I became hysterical and started screaming "Get the baby! Get the baby! I couldn't understand why my parents were being so nonchalant about the baby beng in the car when it was about to explode.

I used to believe that cars, trucks, and vans were actually dinosaurs and the groaning of the engine was them roaring when they were upset. I was freaked out by the huge tanker trucks for this reason!

I used to believe…

One day when I was in the car with my aunt she rolled down the car windows and told me not to stick my arm out the window, or it would be cut off. So, I beleived that there were mean people sitting in front of their windows watching for little kids to stick their arms out the window and when they saw one, they would run out to the street with a huge knife and cut the kid's arm off.

I had an irrational fear when I was a child of being lost. When we were driving, if my mom was at all unsure, she and my sisters couldn't use the word lost or I would start panicking and throw a big fit. My sister's got to where they would egg this on. They would start to realize that maybe mom had taken a wrong turn and they'd say, "Mom, are we lost?" And that's when I would start crying hysterically. For some reason, I thought if you were lost, you were LOST, and you could never be found again.

I belived when a car broke down, it came completely apart. Every single piece would separate from the rest. When my mom's car broke down, I pictured her in the middle of the road, steering wheel in hand, with a pile of parts all around her. This belief was reinforced when, upon meeting my dad where he was fixing the car, I saw him screwing the knob on the shifter back on. I was amazed at how quickly he was able to put it all back together!

I used to believe…

When I was little, I used to believe that there were actually people (actually monkeys) inside the traffic lights changing from green, to yellow, to red. I think I got the idea from old Flintstone shows.

I grew up in a mountainous region of Kentucky. In many places, the road cuts through the hills and rocks will fall off of the cliffs on to the road. There are signs that read "Fallen Rock Zone." My Papaw had a story he would tell me about an Indian cheif who was looking for his missing daughter. Her name was Fallen Rock and when you went into a Fallen Rock zone, you were supposed to keep an eye out for her. I would scan the area for her every time I saw one of those signs. According to my friends, I am not the only child who was told this. Maybe it is a Kentucky thing...

I used to believe…

When i was around three, i thought the way you turned a car was by turning the blinker on, and that if you turned the blinker one way and turned the wheel the other the car would crash

I used to believe…

When I was little, my family would frequently visit friends and relatives who lived on bumpy or gravel roads. I was still too small to be able to look out the window and see the road. Shortly before we'd approach pavement, my dad would reach down beside his seat and say, "Gee, I'm tired of these bumps. I'm going to push the road smoother button." Like magic, there'd suddenly be a smoother ride. I believed this for YEARS until one day we were stuck on a bumpy road for a long time and I begged my dad to push the button. He told me that he didn't feel like it, that he was enjoying the bumps. When we got home I told him I didn't believe him anymore. He said he'd prove it, and showed me the seat-adjusting handle, explaining that it was the button. I continued to believe him for at least another year.

I used to believe…

When I was young I remember going for long drives with my friends (my family didn't have a car). Whenever the driver stopped to pay a toll, I assumed that meant we were on a special road and because we paid, we'd get some sort of special treat. What a let down - no special treat ever appeared, no matter the size of the toll!

I used to believe…

For some reason, I was not able to grasp the idea of speed. I thought that if everybody was going the same speed on the road, then they would all catch up to eachother and would eventually be driving in a straight line next to eachother. I didn't understand that as long as people started at different points, they could go the same speed without hitting eachother.

I used to believe…

When there was a regular highway with two lanes (one going one way, the other going the other way), I thought that you could drive on either lane, instead of always driving on the right-hand side. I was amazed that there were so few accidents.

I used to think that Ford Anglia cars were made by Heinz. This was because the oddly sloping rear window, when seen from the side, closely resembled the shape of the panel on a Heinz label.

To this day, if I see a Ford Anglia or a picture of one, I say "that's a Heinz Baked Beans car."

I used to believe…

When I was little, I used to belive that there were little tiny people that sat inside the traffic signals who would watch the cars in the intersection and decide when to turn the lights to red or green.

I thought that the bright headlights of cars just automatically went dim when another car was approaching. Back then, cars had the dimmer switch for the headlights on the floor, so I never saw my father using it to dim the lights.