SilverFox
Flashaholic
I was driving down a two lane road last night. The weather was terrible, wind and driving rain. There are puddles of standing water on the road and some local flooding.
I look ahead and see what looks like a fire fly… No, it is "almost" a light.
I slow down and realize that someone was quartered off the road, but had stopped before getting completely off. The back end of the car was sticking out in my lane. There were no lights on the car at all. No flashers, no parking lights, no marker lights, no headlights. Just this teenager standing there with the most pathetic 2 AA Mini Mag beam I have ever seen trying to get someone's attention.
I was unable to flash my bright lights because of on coming traffic. Fortunately the road was wide enough that I could "ease up to" the centerline and get safely around them. A truck or motor home would run a good chance of hitting them.
I went around them and stopped. Turned my emergency flashers on and went to see if I could help.
"Turn your lights on!" I yelled at the boy. "I can't, everything is dead in the car."
By this time, a couple of cars had gone by nearly hitting the car. I realized that I needed a way to warn the traffic in that lane of the problem. Traffic was light, but steady.
I called 911 to get help coming.
I just happened to have a Pelican Bid D in my truck (doesn't everyone /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif ). I grabbed it and set it on the flashing mode, pointed at the rear end of the car. Traffic immediately slowed down. I guess the 500 lumens of flashing light got their attention.
Come to find out, the mother and sister were still in the car. I got them out and into my truck. The boy was too "jazzed up" to down and was trying to figure out what happened. The dad had walked up the road to get help.
I told the boy to put his Mini Mag away and handed him my L4. I, of course, grabbed my LionHeart /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif and we continued to signal traffic to slow down.
Soon we had a Law Enforcement Officer at the scene with lights flashing.
The dad had returned after seeing my warning lights and was grateful for the assistance.
The boy handed me back my L4 and commented that "It really puts out a lot of light and it seems to be getting warm." I smiled and said that was the way it works. The Sheriff was using an Ultra Stinger and commented that my LionHeart was one powerful light. Of course, the Big D just blasted everything away with the shear amount of light it puts out. A wider beam would have been handy in this situation, but all in all, I am quite pleased with it's performance.
The dad said he was driving down the road, went through a small puddle of standing water, heard a bit of a noise and everything went dead. We "popped" the hood and the battery had "rapidly ventilated." There was acid everywhere. No, it was NOT a LiIon battery…
What a night…
The interesting thing to me was that I was the only person to stop and help. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif
Tom
I look ahead and see what looks like a fire fly… No, it is "almost" a light.
I slow down and realize that someone was quartered off the road, but had stopped before getting completely off. The back end of the car was sticking out in my lane. There were no lights on the car at all. No flashers, no parking lights, no marker lights, no headlights. Just this teenager standing there with the most pathetic 2 AA Mini Mag beam I have ever seen trying to get someone's attention.
I was unable to flash my bright lights because of on coming traffic. Fortunately the road was wide enough that I could "ease up to" the centerline and get safely around them. A truck or motor home would run a good chance of hitting them.
I went around them and stopped. Turned my emergency flashers on and went to see if I could help.
"Turn your lights on!" I yelled at the boy. "I can't, everything is dead in the car."
By this time, a couple of cars had gone by nearly hitting the car. I realized that I needed a way to warn the traffic in that lane of the problem. Traffic was light, but steady.
I called 911 to get help coming.
I just happened to have a Pelican Bid D in my truck (doesn't everyone /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif ). I grabbed it and set it on the flashing mode, pointed at the rear end of the car. Traffic immediately slowed down. I guess the 500 lumens of flashing light got their attention.
Come to find out, the mother and sister were still in the car. I got them out and into my truck. The boy was too "jazzed up" to down and was trying to figure out what happened. The dad had walked up the road to get help.
I told the boy to put his Mini Mag away and handed him my L4. I, of course, grabbed my LionHeart /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif and we continued to signal traffic to slow down.
Soon we had a Law Enforcement Officer at the scene with lights flashing.
The dad had returned after seeing my warning lights and was grateful for the assistance.
The boy handed me back my L4 and commented that "It really puts out a lot of light and it seems to be getting warm." I smiled and said that was the way it works. The Sheriff was using an Ultra Stinger and commented that my LionHeart was one powerful light. Of course, the Big D just blasted everything away with the shear amount of light it puts out. A wider beam would have been handy in this situation, but all in all, I am quite pleased with it's performance.
The dad said he was driving down the road, went through a small puddle of standing water, heard a bit of a noise and everything went dead. We "popped" the hood and the battery had "rapidly ventilated." There was acid everywhere. No, it was NOT a LiIon battery…
What a night…
The interesting thing to me was that I was the only person to stop and help. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif
Tom
