Smart Tipping: Amsterdam villains reportedly pushing fortwos into canals for fun
Note to Smart Fortwo owners: Don't park your itty-bitty city cars near easily-accessible bodies of water. If you thought the car's errant transmission and its rough-and-tumble shifts were your biggest concern, you've likely never heard of the latest craze sweeping Amsterdam: "Smart Smijten." That's 'Smart Tipping' in American, and the reality of the situation is just about as distasteful as it sounds to owners of affected Fortwos.Since drivers of the diminutive little urban runabouts often choose to back in to parking spots side-by-side in order to save on congestion – not to mention the fact that all the weight of the car's drivetrain is in the rear – it's reportedly quite easy for drunken revelers to lift the front of the Fortwo and tip it tail-first right into a canal. As you'd expect, any car that spends the night sleeping with the fishes at the bottom of a canal is very likely a total loss. Police in Amsterdam are working to crack the case, though the main concern at this point is reportedly stopping copycat criminals.
[Source: De Telegraaf via Gadling]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
CaramelZappa 7:54PM (7/27/2009)
I really don't like smart cars, but that's just messed up.
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Carlos 8:26PM (7/27/2009)
i love the Smarts, and that´s a real crime, animals.
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Brent 5:35PM (7/29/2009)
People have no respect for other peoples lives, this is what happens when a populous is this large. Everyone feels like a number, and then some of them realize there is a shadow in numbers, just due your evil act and hide back in the pack. It is up to the herd to realize the wrong doing and react to keep them from hiding. Someone has to be seeing this and not doing or saying anything. This race is a disgrace(this isn't a huge deal, I'd just like to rant that).
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DasBoese 6:10PM (7/28/2009)
You're of course free to interpret this philosophically as proof for a moral decay that encourages people to commit acts of undesribable evil under the veil of anonymity on a daily basis.
I'll go with the more rational deduction that sometimes, drunk people do stupid things.
The Dutch, by the way, are not a race.
Brent 5:45PM (7/29/2009)
Never meantioned the dutch or the culprits, I was talking larger, as in the human race. Being drunk by the way is no excuse for the lose of ethics, if you can't retain ethics, then you have none, you simply have temporary manners. Stupidity is rampit, and its what the power that be are willingly providing, and wanting for us.
Yanira 12:20PM (7/30/2009)
I like the way you express yourself. You said something very true about the society. I admired that. It is nice to see comments worth reading.
Brent 5:13PM (7/30/2009)
Well thank you very much Yanira, I believe that to be the first complimenting comment I've ever recieved. Usually my birds eye on society just gets me screamed at by the prideful. You are a shining ray of light in amongst the dull. Thanks
wincros 12:26PM (7/28/2009)
Not to mention all the oil, gasoline, coolant, and battery acid into the sea water in the canals.
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DasBoese 6:20PM (7/28/2009)
Keep in mind that smarts are much more common here in Europe and sort of have the image of being a fashion statement for asshole yuppies (Well, they are.)
Combine with the fact that Drunk People Sometimes Do Stupid Things and it's not hard to see why they're a prime target for pranks and mischief.
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mikerufor69 8:45AM (7/30/2009)
as happens so often---aol is full of shit---headline states car was thrown into canal--but in reality it was pushed in , they lie just to get you to read their worthless stories , which they recycle week after week --i guess its cheaper to reprint the same old crap than pay some one to find real news
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James Nathan Post 3:04PM (7/30/2009)
Since when is AOL a "news medium"?? It is exactly what we call a "tabloid" in paper. It employs whatever cute trick it can dream up to get you to click on a story, because that's how the ads are pushed to you, and how the money is counted. Remember there are NO objective journalists actually reporting the straight truth in America. Every station and paper knows its market group's slant, and reporting is a process of taking whatever happens and coloring it for their own boss's market. All of them work for someone trained in business management. You want the truth, I'd recommend novelists, heretics, and rappers. (I like AOL precisely because it does offer a window into the collective mind of the American people. It is so much like Animal Farm!)
www.postpubco.com
bucketabolts 9:41AM (7/30/2009)
mikerufor69, it says push in the headlines, not throw.Please reread before you post such. :)
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duffhessian1776 12:14PM (7/30/2009)
bucketeabolts, perhaps you would do well to heed your own advice. READ what it was mike wrote. he charged AOL with claiming the car was thrown into the water. in FACT, the aol HEADLINE used the word "THREW." i think you owe mike an apology, and as you said "Please reread before you post such. :)"
Not a white guy 12:22PM (7/30/2009)
Actualy, no. This is the link from AOL - As he mentioned.
Previously Featured on AOL
Cheating Husband Scalded by Wife
Drunk Vandals Threw Car Into Canal
So yea, I think he knows how to read.
charles mcroy 10:13AM (7/30/2009)
that happened to me when i was stationed in europe. i had an old vw fastback that was lime green. when we were coming back to go home home we were laughing about another one going down the canal. OOOOOPS that one is mine. oh well i was out only $500. the train ride home was fun though and i have photos and the police report that i had to show to de register the car.
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Angela 10:27AM (7/30/2009)
Excusable or inexcusable? Depends on the ages of the "villains". This falls in the category of underage drinking and it's negative side effects! But if the guys pushing your car into the canal are in their 40's, there is some hidden aggression there which must be addressed. Maybe I feel this way because in HS, my dear friend Elaine dated a guy who drove the tiniest little van I've ever seen. Well, the van broke down once on the side of Robinson Road and my older brother, who shall remain nameless, and some of his devilish friends tumped the van over. But not into water.... Believe me, it was a effen' growth opportunity feeling like I was in the middle when my brother tumped over one of my closest friend's fiancee's ride. Her fiancee was an unusual lad. He lived in a down-on-its-luck trailer hidden from view just off the road at the Nesbit intersection with lots of really big snakes because he was in the traveling circus. Not that that contributes anything to the story.
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Steve 10:41AM (7/30/2009)
LMAO
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jeff F 11:17AM (7/30/2009)
Pay for the car pay for the cleanup. Like someone else posted what leeches into the water from the car. Then have them do community service for the ecology for a year or 2 or go to jail for 364 days. If they find them. It always about me, me, me! Wasn't I funny to ruin a car ruin the water and look like a fat jack ass slob!
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Lita 12:51PM (7/30/2009)
"Fat jackass slob?" Where does the 'fat slob' come in, since no one knows what the culprit(s) looked like? I guess someone was taken off the breast before he was properly weaned. What an a-hole.
jeff F 8:17PM (7/30/2009)
Hi Lita! I did say if they find them. Slob fat gutless useless all adjectives to describe selfish senseless stupid acts or mob mentality also. Hope you follow along dear, try, do try!