September 17, 2007
Cowbells on Overpasses: Christopher Walken Not Included
Everyone's doing it, so why can't we? MORE COWBELL! The Globe announced that highway officials are considering bringing back dangling cowbells under the warning signs before the Storrow Drive and Memorial Drive overpasses.
The cowbells will be hung before the overpasses, so truck drivers will hear the sound of the cowbells and theoretically stop before they hit the overpass itself. Of course, if the truck driver/college student is blasting loud music or talk radio, no amount of cowbell is going to help. After all, if the driver is listening to Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper," the cowbell will sound like part of the song!
While we love the idea of bringing back the cowbell, you can have all the cowbells you want, but you can't stop the green college students from doing what they will with their U-Hauls.
Also, one cowbell killjoy pointed out that if a cowbell breaks loose, it might actually strike a car or go through a windshield and hurt somebody. Hospital CEO/blogger Paul Levy takes issue with the cowbell killjoy's claim.
Despite the naysaying, the article points out that the number of truck jams under the bridges fell when the cowbells were used in the 1980s.
Image of Christopher Walken from more-cowbell.org.


