Running the Dips

They might not be there anymore, but back in the 50's there was a set of "dips" on a side street out in Old Hickory. The dips were a couple of deep revines, side by side, with a street crossing both of them at a right angle. You were driving along on a flat street when suddenly, you would plunge down into the first dip. It was like falling off a mountain at anything over 30 mph. You hit the bottom and up you went to the "hump" in the middle, then right back down again into the second dip. At the bottom of the dips you were slammed down into your seat and you felt like you weighed a ton. At the top of the hump, you raised up out of your seat, only to be slammed back down again. Some people claimed that their car went airborne at speeds over 45 mph, but I did it a 50 once and most of the wheels stayed on or near the ground.

Dangerous? You bet. But we were just dumb kids. One night, as I topped the hump, I saw red lights starting down the first dip. (Police used red lights then. Maybe blue lights hadn't been invented yet.) As I came up out of the second dip the red lights were climbing the hump at a high rate of speed. As soon as the red lights dropped into the second dip, I turned right down a side street and turned out my lights. It worked. In my mirror I saw him continue straight ahead.

There were some accidents there and the speed limit was lowered from 30 to 20. My guess is that by now they have filled them in and put a flat street on top of the fill. How in the world did we ever manage to survive dumb stuff like that?
Howard