justplainbil

Just Plain Bill

The Law of Unintended Consequences

I had the occasion to drive on the road east of Bakersfield, on the way to Barstow, where over six feet of mud had recently engulfed more than 30 cars. The incidents of flash floods and mudslides are not uncommon in that area, resulting from short but concentrated rains that come from time to time.

What was unusual about this storm and resulting trapping (and probably totaling) of many vehicles falls into the category of what I'd call the “Law of Unintended Consequences” based on the following: Cal Trans took four-foot high dividers and built a dividing wall, intending to make safer the windy highway with its serious down grade, by preventing cars from head-on crashes on the curves.

While traveling this road a day after it re-opened (after experiencing an 80 mile detour a week prior), I noticed the stain line caused by the collected mud on those concrete dividers. It was apparent the dividers compounded the damage from the collected mud, since they prevented the flow of the rainwater and mud to dissipate across the road. Without the dividers, the mudslides most likely would not have trapped, stopped, and engulfed the eastward traveling vehicles.

Hindsight as they say is 20-20, but it was interesting to observe this particular case of the unintended results of action purposefully taken with the intent to make things better.