World's Most Expensive Car Crash in Japan

What was the most expensive car crash in history? Well I know that the car crash scene in the Blues Brothers movie was the most expensive car crash scene in the history of Hollywood movies, but sometimes real life is more amazing than fiction.

Original Blues Brothers: The biggest movie car crash in history

There was a mightily expensive car accident in Japan, a car crash that happened over the weekend, is being said to be the most expensive in history (of course that doesn't include professional car racing!). This accident had 14 vehicles.


Refreshing News has the story: 

Police said three Mercedes Benz cars and a Lamborghini Diablo were also involved in the massive crash at the weekend on the Chugoku Expressway, in the country’s south-west.

Witnesses reported hearing a “tremendous noise” just a few moments before the accident on the Yamaguchi prefecture highway amid terrible driving conditions.

Bwa! Ha! Ha! Ha!

While the majority of the 14 vehicles – which also included a Japanese supercar Nissan GT-R Skyline and a Toyota Prius – were travelling along the Osaka Prefecture-bound bended lane at least one Mercedes CL600 was driving in the opposite direction.

Television footage showed the cars - either wrecked or destroyed - spread across the highway, in a trail of crumpled metal and broken glass. Several of the vehicles were wedged up against the metal barriers.

Miraculously, none of drivers – the majority of whom are reported to be foreign car enthusiasts – were seriously hurt in the wreckage but the bill is still bound to be painful nonetheless.

You just know that these adult children were hot rodding their cars... And, yep, the news report below confirms it! They were doing between 140 ~ 160 kpm (about 100 miles per hour) on an 80 kpm road (about 50 miles per hour). Doesn't sound that fast but it is awful fast on Japan's narrow roads... Morons.


Japan News of the accident:

I wonder what the odds are of 14 idiots in their hot cars all converging on the exact same place in the universe at the exact same time is? Answer: 68,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 to 1. 

Read the rest at Refreshing News 

Benzene in Cars! This Will Kill More People Than Fukushima Will

Sorry, again, for the sensationalist title but it is true and you do need to know this. Especially if you have children. This is scary.

Have you ever read your car users manual? Most people don't. When I read this story, I actually went out to the car and read my manual for the first time. Sure enough, it says plainly, "In a hot car, do not turn on your air conditioner without opening the car windows fully to circulate fresh air into the car." It doesn't say why.


Here's why: Modern car interiors are put together with all sorts of plastics and polymers and sealed together with chemicals. When these items get heated up for an extended period of time, they emit gas. That gas contains a know cancer causing agent called Benzene. Benzene is notorious for causing bone marrow cancer and Leukemia. See Wikipedia about health effects of Benzene here. 


Snopes.com reports about Benzene in cars:


Do not turn on A/C immediately as soon as you enter the car! Please open the windows after you enter your car and do not turn on the air-conditioning immediately.


According to research done, the car dashboard, sofa, air freshener emits Benzene, a cancer causing toxin (carcinogen - take note of the heated plastic smell in your car). In addition to causing cancer, it poisons your bones, causes anemia, and reduces white blood cells. Prolonged exposure will cause Leukemia, increasing the risk of cancer. may also cause miscarriage.


Acceptable Benzene levels indoors is 50 mg per sq. ft.. A car parked with windows closed will contain 400 - 800 mg of Benzene. If parked outdoors, under the sun, at temperature above 60 degrees F (15.5 C), the Benzene level goes up to 2000 - 4000 mg, 40 times the acceptable level... And the people inside the car will inevitably inhale an excess amount of the toxins.


It is recommended that you open the windows and doors to give time for the interior to air out before you enter. Benzene is a toxin that affects your kidney and liver, and it is very difficult for your body to expel this toxic stuff.


Folks, especially those of you with small children, spread the word. Like I said, this is probably much more responsible for deaths and cancers than a hundred Fukushima's could ever be.


How many cars are there in the world?


Make sure that your car is one that is aired our before you or your loved ones enter. Spread the word.