Can your lungs collapse if you crank up the bass on your car stereo? Did the wife of singer James Brown really try to get out of a traffic citation by claiming she had diplomatic immunity because her husband had been given the honorary title "Ambassador of Soul?" Can putting a banana in a vehicle's tailpipe cause it to stall?
These are just a few of the titillating urban driving legends that have been repeated so many times and appear to be so outrageous that you can't help but wonder whether or not they're true.
Question: Can your lungs collapse if you crank up the bass on your car stereo?
Answer: If breathing is high on your priority list, then you better keep your car stereo turned down. According to a 2004 report in the medical journal, Thorax, four young men died when their lungs collapsed due to the booming bass from extraordinarily loud music. One of the men had customized his car with a 1,000-watt sound system. The report details how the young men's lungs ruptured when thundering bass caused their lungs to vibrate at the same frequency as the music.
Question: Did the wife of singer James Brown really try to get out of a traffic citation by claiming she had diplomatic immunity because her husband had been given the honorary title "Ambassador of Soul?"
Answer: When the wife of singer James Brown appeared in court in Georgia in 1987 to face charges of speeding, criminal trespass and driving under the influence of drugs, she attempted to use an unusual defense to get the charges dismissed. One of the many honors her famous husband had received came in 1986 in Augusta, Ga., when on James Brown Day, U.S. Rep. Douglas Barnard gave a speech during which he said, "James is indeed our No. 1 ambassador."
As the wife of an "ambassador," Mrs. Brown felt she should get the same perk the wives of foreign ambassadors are afforded -- diplomatic immunity. Unsurprisingly, the strategy failed. Diplomatic immunity protects foreign ambassadors and their families on American soil, and protects American ambassadors on foreign soil. Had James even been an actual ambassador, neither he nor his wife would have been immune from charges in their home country.
Question: Can putting a banana in a vehicle's tailpipe cause it to stall?
Answer: How can we forget watching a mischievous Eddie Murphy disable a police car by putting a banana in the tailpipe in the movie "Beverly Hills Cop?" A banana, an apple, a kiwi -- you can pretty much take your choice of nutritious and delicious fruits and vegetables. If a vehicle's tailpipe is obstructed, there can be no combustion because air cannot be pulled into the cylinders. The vehicle will stall.
In the movie, Eddie Murphy got away with packing a tailpipe with produce. In the real world, the only thing that someone will gain by pulling this stunt is a nice, healthy charge of vandalism.
Michelle Groh-Gordy is the owner of InterActive! Traffic School Online at www.trafficinteractive.com , and writes a syndicated weekly column on driving for the publications of the Los Angeles Newspaper Group.
