News

Multi-car-truck collision in rural Iowa kills two - One vehicle 3 collisions and then catches fire.

Posted on Jul 20, 2009

What is “threading the needle”?

I became interested in the idea of threading the needle after reporting on an intersection collision in rural Iowa that killed three people. The accident occurred in Washington, Iowa on May 23, 2009. I reported on it in a blog dated May 26th. Here is the blog post if you’re interested to review it.

Multi-car-truck collision in rural Iowa kills two - One vehicle 3 collisions and then catches fire.

One commenter raised the question of whether the young driver was attempting to thread the needle. Another commenter seemed irate about that being suggested and after the dust settled I left the comment alone because it appeared to me to be fair for discussion. So I’ve been asking myself, what is threading the needle and are the kids in Washington County, Iowa doing it? I was not able to locate any video on YouTube involving the Ellen DeGenerus show and threading the needle. If anyone has it please send us the link.

“It is my opinion that teenagers pay only lip service to the idea of driving safely. To be a teen is to risk your life and survive to tell the tale. If somehow these teens had performed that much-viewed feat seen on Ellen Degeneres and YouTube, where an SUV "threads the needle" between two cars at an intersection at highway speed.”

Partial comment, Posted by VCDaedalus on May 28, 2009 8:41 AM.

Well low and behold another commenter later asked the same question and pointed out about a more recent collision in Washington County. Whatever the case may be the Courts need to get tough on the kids in Washington County and figure out if that is what is going on down there

Posted by Gordon D
July 11, 2009 9:07 AM

Another "accident" in Washington County, where and I state from the local paper "According to reports from the Washington County Sheriff's Office, at about 11:13 a.m. Thursday, a green 2004 Saturn driven by Zachary Ryan Bonebrake of Keota was westbound on 190th Street east of Ginkgo. According to report, the vehicle didn't stop at a stop sign at the intersection of Ginkgo and 190th and stuck a gray 2000 Chevy S-10 driven by Russell Albert Yoder of Richland in the intersection." Is this another possible case of "threading the eye of the needle." From the talk here in Washington, Iowa, by the High School age drivers, yes.

I’ve checked but am not able to confirm this collision or the people stated by Gordon D as being involved. So I can’t say the collision occurred or if it did that it happened as reported. But the idea is one that parents, law enforcement, lawyers and judges need to be aware.

Here is threading the needle with a car while crossing an intersection in heavy traffic. It's very dangerous and scary.

Let’s assume that young adults are brave, stupid or crazy enough to try this. If they are we have to wonder where young adults are getting the idea to attempt this. I was surprised how prevalent the idea is and how often the term “thread the needle” is used in our society. News reporters use the terms, as do coaches and even parents. It's used in sports, leisure activities and for anything where competition to one-up the next guy is involved.

THREADING THE NEEDLE DEFINED

Threading the needle refers to performing some action at a high rate of speed through a narrow opening. You might wonder why parents and lawyers need to know what threading the needle involves. Well, your child may be threading the needle with your family car and kill someone; in which case the lawyers need to understand either how much trouble their client is in or to plead for punitive damages against the driver who unsuccessfully tried to thread the needle causing injury to the client. Parents need to know about this because as owners of the cars their kids drive they are legally responsible for their driving accidents that cause injury and death.

WHERE DO KIDS GET SUCH IDEAS!

How about if we look around to see how this term is used today in American society, who is using it and in what context. You'd never believe responsible parents would allow it to be taught; would you? And I'm sure we doubt our schools are teaching it to our children. Right? And certainly coaches aren't teaching it. Certainly not.

As parents we can in some ways be teaching the skill of threading the needle. While it may be cute at a young age, it does teach the idea of thrill seeking that can later lead to serious injury or death. Here is a young snowboarder, about 6 years of age, threading the needle. From the sound of the voice on the recording it appears to be an older man, which I’m assuming is the boy’s father proudly recording his young son while threading the needle on a snowboard.