DISQUALIFIED Darwin Awards

Named in honor of Charles Darwin, the father of evolution, Darwin Awards commemorate those who improve our gene pool by removing themselves from it.

Christmas Tree   DISQUALIFIED Darwin Award Nominee Unconfirmed by Darwin (25 November 2000, Canada) A 66-year-old Quebec woman was hit not once, not twice, but three times by speeding cars on a Canadian highway while trying to save her Christmas trees. The woman had been driving on the highway with several conifers strapped none too securely to the roof of her vehicle, when they fell off into the traffic lanes. Although it was nighttime, and there were no lights on the road, the courageous woman risked -- and lost -- her life trying to rescue her trees from the speeding cars. DarwinAwards.com © 1994 - 2008 Submitted by: François Morasse Reference: Le Nouvelliste, Trois-Rivières, Canada Awful? 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Great? Hate it! Love it! Rhino says, "I won't dispute that this woman was quite foolish to try try to rescue her trees, but I wonder if she might have had a nobler purpose? If I lost a Christmas tree on an unlit highway at night, I would be tempted to try to move the trees out of the way of other cars so they would not hit them, and possibly be killed. I think that motivation of the person who is nominated for a Darwin Award should be considered whenever possible. In some cases, we might agree that the person really wasn't quite as stupid as it first appears." Torbin says, "I disagree with Rhino's comment on this nominee. Nobility of purpose in no way offsets stupidity of execution." Iain Macdonald says, "The woman in this story saw the havoc the obstruction would have caused, and was actually an asset to the species, trying to rescue others from a horrific death, and sadly met her own end doing so."

Cartoon by Thomas Banwell

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