MSU Red Cedar Message Board

My buddies and I loved to dress up as Bridge Authority workers and drive the nervous Nellies across the bridge. The whole way across I would stare directly at the passengers without looking out the windshield and tell them stories of all the folks that had gone over the rails.

Man those were good times.

Took a trip out west 20 years ago on a motorcycle with some friends...decided to ride US-2 West..so we headed north and planned to pick up 2 in the UP...got to the bridge and started to cross...at the time work was being done on the right hand lanes...only the middle lanes were open..well to make a short story long...you haven't crossed Big Mac until you've done it on a motorcycle riding over the grates

I've sailed under the bridge more than I have drove over it.

I was like 13 when the Yugo went off the bridge and it was a pretty fascinating story among my fellow 13 year olds in SE Michigan. Some aspects of that story got embellished over the years (they never found the car, the car was blown off the bridge without touching a thing, or the car was hanging off the side of the bridge and fell before the woman could get out, etc), but reading through those reports, the way I remember it is surprisingly close to what actually happened.

Not sure what is up with the in this thread though.

I remember her. She was a waitress at Foxy's in Troy. My family ate there all the time. My dad used to make fun of her Yugo. I was only 12 but I remember she was cute and very nice.

Can I get a "cool story bro?"

Where did you get the waiver paperwork (which the vehicle owner signs, stating that the vehicle is insured and not stolen) that all Bridge Authority drivers must turn in?

When this license plate style came out several people called it the "oil slick plate" in homage to the little Yugo that went over the edge.

I don't either. The momentum of the car HAD to be a contributing factor to the car making it over the rail.

but that shouldn't be construed automatically as she was speeding like many have said. If I had to guess the speeding thing likely started as a defense of the bridge design by the state so that their little gem of a bridge wouldn't be thought of as unsafe. In other words they maybe were trying to paint the picture that the driver was being unsafe so that the regular person wouldn't be scared.

It really could be either way but to me both scenarios are plausible. Unless there is some really damning evidence but i find it hard to believe that it exists since no one knows exactly how strong a wind gust hit her car.

speeding and driving too fast for the conditions are too different things. by saying that excessive speed was a contributing factor doesn't mean she was going 70. it could mean that she was going 35, but on that night, in that car, under those conditions, 35 may have been too fast to control that car.

Interesting link about how much wind is required to blow a car over:

does "gust" mean randum?

+1.....you are a good sport VV

I believe that article is about the force needed to flip a car that is sitting still. It takes a lot less to flip a car that is moving, and even less if you're driving over a grate that allows the wind to come full speed up from underneath the car(even beyond full speed as some of it is funneled through the grate).

Besides I always had the impression that the car was blown sideways (but still upright) until hit the railing, and the momentum carried it over.