My buddy has a name for this kind of thing: "Think. Do. Think."
He says, "First you think about doing something. Then you do it. Then you think: "I shouldn't have done that."
The following is from Glenview Announcements and Pioneer Press Online:
Downed power lines spark fires, snarl downtown traffic
After loading Saturn vehicles into an auto transport truck last Thursday evening at Saturn of Glenview, 630 Waukegan Road, the truck's driver couldn't get the vehicle's hydraulic roof to lower properly. He decided to head north on Waukegan Road anyway.
That turned out to be a bad idea, Acting Fire Chief Wayne Globerger said Tuesday.
The auto hauler's raised roof snagged on power lines that crossed Waukegan Road near Harmony Lane, bringing down a street light and snapping two utility poles about 6:20 p.m. The poles' live wires were pulled onto the road, the hauler itself and a passing Mustang. Trees and brush east of the road burst into flames.
The driver of the Mustang exited that car, but the truck driver waited for fire crews to tell him how to exit his cab safely, Globerger said. He was out of the vehicle within 20 minutes, Globerger said.
A section of Waukegan Road was closed off and traffic diverted until ComEd crews could shut off power and make repairs.
While power was restored to about 2,000 area residents within an hour, the street wasn't reopened to traffic until 6:30 Friday morning, police said.
The driver, Emitt Evans of Clarksville, Tenn., was ticketed for operating a vehicle over height limits, Glenview police said.
A court hearing is scheduled Jan. 31.
(Sorry, Emitt, but this is newsworthy. Plus it's funny when it isn't me messing up.)