Car Design Offers The Possibility Of Unperceived Existence

IF A tree falls in a road, and no one is around to move it, does it make a sound?  

After a dark and stormy night (it really was), I awoke to a battered day still nursing its boughs. At that time I was working in an adjacent studio which required crossing a busy road. That day, a large mass of foliage was causing cars to brake and swerve. I saw two almost collide. So the next time the traffic paused, I ventured into the road and lugged the fallen timber to the verge. Cars proceeded again.

It occurred to me that this was probably the most immediately useful task I have done as a car designer. For all the sweat and tears that car design entails, the nature of the work means that few projects make it to the road, and of those that are on the road, few explicitly reflect your contribution. One shouldn't finish a career without also removing branches from the road.