World

Michelle Obama Escapes Injury In Car Accident

by PEP | October 9, 2007 at 08:57 pm

917 views | 10 Recommendations | 3 comments

Michelle Obama, wife of Sen. Barack Obama, escaped injury Tuesday in Iowa when a motorcyclist hit the campaign vehicle. On the road for Obama's presidential campaign, Mrs. Obama managed finally was able to greet well-wishers, but campaign activities were cancelled.

The motorcyclist, who did not have a helmet, was taken to the hospital.

A campaign van carrying the wife of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) collided with a motorcycle on a two-lane country road in central Iowa on Tuesday, sending the motorcyclist to the hospital.

No one in Michelle Obama's Chevrolet Uplander was hurt, despite the fact that the van was not drivable. The campaign suspended its final event of the day.

1 See all footage | View Slideshow

Share: email story | add to any | Digg | facebook | stumbleupon

recommend This comment thread is now closed

BigT

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 21:45 on October 9th, 2007

PEP, good stuff.

This situation begs the question: how hard would it be to pack a motorcycle with a bomb and do that same thing? Scary stuff.

PEP

at 05:41 on October 10th, 2007

BigT, I'd never thought of that. Excellent observation!

jordan

at 06:09 on October 10th, 2007

It actually wouldn't be that easy to pack a motorcycle with a bomb... They shake quite a bit once they get going (even 1000cc), and the rider is much closer to (very) hot engine parts than in the comfort of an SUV. Planning a suicide or vehicular-bomb attack would be unneccesarily complicated: road conditions, heat, other drivers... no, thanks... the commute would be just as likely to kill the attacker as anything else.

Also, the psychological aspect: rider tension->weight on handlebars->crash. (Bombers tend to be described as "acting nervous" before they blow something up; try executing a turn on a bike with stiff arms... and say hi to the tarmac for me!)

No, the main concern with motorcyclists would be those who ride like idiots, of which there is no shortage. The guy who trained me refers to those who opt not to wear helmets/ballistics as "human crayons"...