I've told this story a lot, and only recently realised this person is (or was) a serious Darwin Award contender.

In 1988 I was crossing the Sydney Harbour Bridge. On the way into town the road is divided, with two lanes on the left, a low concrete separator and three lanes on the inside. The toll at the time was a buck fifty. Myself I used to throw two coins (thirty cents) at the machine that were vaguely reminicent of the correct money and just keep going. A finely tuned system I thought. I did this for a couple of years.

Our Darwin contender was a little more proactive. The toll booths for the left lanes are at the North end of the bridge, while the center lanes are collected at the other end. Our driver realised it was possible to avoid both gates by skipping across the low concrete divider mentioned earlier. Commendable plan with one fatal flaw... They chose a Mini Moke for the operation. Ground clearance of about 10cm and a canvas roof.

My first view of the car as I travelled in the same direction, it was skating on the divider, first a front wheel, then a back. After a second or so, it jumped in the intended direction, but out of control. It flipped into oncoming traffic, and I saw a car drive into the canvas roof. ooohhh...

ooohhh...

Submitted on 01/08/2006

Submitted by: Adam Hodson
Reference: Actual event. Eyewitness.

Copyright © 2006 DarwinAwards.com

Greg said:
Neutral: Personal Account
Ouch! Possible PA, but I'm not sure you can be certain the person was doing what you suspect they were doing (dodging the toll) - they could've simply lost control of their vehicle.

James said:
Neutral: Personal Account
Living in New York City, I am inclined to believe this story (as I've seen many "entitled" people cross dividers to avoid traffic, &c). Though Greg has a valid point, I think that if the car were really out of control, it would have either slammed into the divider wholesale and flipped over, gotten stranded straddling the divider, or bounced off the divider and lost control back in its original lane. It sounds like he was methodically trying to cross one wheel at a time, testing the waters.

Jack said:
Neutral: Personal Account

Jorge said:
Definitely Keep: Personal Account

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