You've just described my ex-husband. High IQ, post grad, masters, professional qualifications, yet no common sense. He literally blew himself up twice. Once, by spraying a flammable spray onto a hot gas pipe and once by sticking a screwdriver into the motor of a vacuum cleaner that was still plugged in 🙄 Intelligence doesn't always equal sense.

Who else thought this video about a woman sneaking into the back of a tractor trailer to hitch a ride to the eclipse

When cars had doors that opened like that, they were called suicide doors. This story illustrates why.

Riding in a small trailer can also disrupt the weight distribution, which can destabilize sway control.

The one thing this incident shows us is that we are here one minute and gone the next.

Such a sad story. One instance of poor judgement ended a life, destroyed a couples plans for retirement and left two adult daughters motherless. 😢

The last 20 minutes of the trip has the same risk of the previous 8 hours.

WOW! Two people with doctor's degrees couldn't prevent a death from a simple safety violation. Moreover, the daughter still blames the door for being installed in the wrong direction. A family without the common sense.🙄

Sad but avoidable. It's sorta like people that take their chances riding in the bed of a truck. It's okay until it's not.

So sad how one small moment and lack of good judgment could end a life.

I had no idea you weren't supposed to ride in the trailer. This is a great public service announcement.

Intelligence is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing you don't put it in a fruit salad.

It is illegal to ride in a towed trailer because it is DANGEROUS.

This is a sad story. So sorry for her family’s loss.

RIP. My heart goes out to her family, especially her daughter, who witnessed her demise.

I had an experience with the same situation. Driving out to Berkley from Boulder for summer school with two other students, I came upon a young boy covered in blood and sand on the side of the road in western Colorado. He had been riding in the towed trailer with his younger brother who dared him to lean out the door. So he did. The trailer went over a big bump in the road and he fell out onto the side of the road, tore his hand partially off at the wrist and skinned himself up pretty badly. His wrist broke off at the outside, leaving the main artery intact, luckily! I put him in the front seat, made him drink a coke to keep his blood sugar up because he was in shock. Then I turned around and drove back east to ask some cowboys I had seen along the road herding cattle what to do and where to go for help. One of them jumped in with us and we drove back to Grand Junction to the hospital. The police found the parents. The parents and the sheriff thanked me. I said, "If you need help, ask a hippie!" We laughed and I was off again to California. That night I broke down and cried. Luckily, one of the boys with me was studying medicine and could explain the bones and structure of the bloody wrist, scientifically speaking, which helped to calm me down. I'm a farmer's daughter, so it wasn't the blood, but the broken limb that freaked me out. We were lucky that God provided all the help we needed in that situation. Don't ride in trailers, and teach your kids not to accept a dare from anyone!

Dr Grande, you have done a great public safety service with this video.

Owned a trailer camper for years and the way those things move... would never have dared risk travelling in it.

I feel like almost any of us can make a fatal decision or judgement call. It happens. It's very sad. I personally would never have rode in the trailer. But I could see myself - not thinking - and trying to shut that door. So sad. Rest in peace.

I opened my office's outside door, not realizing how hard the wind was blowing. The door turned into a sail, and jerked me outside so fast I couldn't turn loose of the door handle. It was about a 10" drop down to the sidewalk. I was really lucky not to get hurt.

The fact that the doctor was responsible for her accidental death does not diminish the great loss to the patients she served or the immesurrable grief to her family, friends and colleagues at Stony Brook Hospital. RIP Doctor and thank you for the many children you dedicated your professional life to.

Very tragic and an outstanding example of what can happen in an instant when you make a risky decision. There is a reason riding in a hitched trailer is illegal.

As an ex ambo and mortician, sometimes it amazes me what some people think is a good idea, at the time.

All three made a regrettable mistake and the surviving family realize it. No need to deride them any further. Rest in peace, Dr. Monica.

This reminds me that in Japanese we have a term 専門バカ (senmon baka). It refers to a specialist who does stupid things. For example, a doctor spent all of his younger years immersed in studying and nothing else, then continued to be immersed in his or her field. Because they're so sheltered from the rest of life outside of their field, they're pretty stupid about really basic things sometimes. "Senmon" refers to being a specialist, and "baka" means stupid. Also, it's like how George Bush Sr. was once in a photo op at a grocery store and was bewildered by the barcode scanner. That technology had been around for years, but he had no clue about it because he lived in his own world apart from the common person.

An old friend of mine in high school…her dad was a brilliant doctor but had no common sense. Interestingly enough, the daughters of his that also became doctors, didn’t either. I went on a weekend trip with them once, and they brought their bikes. The dad rope tied them to the car….running the rope all under the car, side-to-side, never once realizing he was roping his door closed. When it came time to get in the driver’s door, obviously he couldn’t because it was roped shut, all the while, we were all sitting in the car waiting for him to do this job, then get in and start the journey. I was the only one that spoke up and asked his wife how he was going to get in. She was clueless. She had to roll down his window so he could climb through. And when we got to our destination, he climbed through the sunroof and slid down the windshield. I remember thinking this exact thing….that the family was so smart, intellectually, but lacked tremendously in common sense.

It's a very sad story, there is no going back, it's final. This video is a good warning.

One of my college professors was a lawyer, and when we studied product liability he touched on this very phenomenon. He noted that people who go from high school to college to graduate school learn about their specific fields in great depth, and that they're often "stunted" in other areas. One of my wife's relations married a Ph.D. with an impressive C.V. They guy had no clue about things like currency conversion for travel or financing a car. He's an real-deal genius ... in one _highly specialized_ area of applied science. Both of his parents are also Ph.D.s, and they took care of all his education financing and bills until his late 20s. Outside of academe he's been know to to make huge errors in judgment.

Whether the incident involves cars, trucks, trailers, aircraft, or firearms, I always appreciate the objective attention to technical details.

My ex-husband is a genius and a moron. He taught himself IBM mainframe programming in his spare time. He also ran my lambs' wool sweater through the dryer and ruined it. He asked me how he was supposed to know it was wool and I showed him the tag and said, "It says 100% lambs' wool in five different languages, all of which you can read. Which of those five languages did you not understand?" His response was that he doesn't need to read tags because they're for "stupid housewives." This goes a long way towards explaining why he is my EX-husband.

One of the things people new to travel trailers soon learn is that they are indeed rough riding. After having to put things back in their place that fell off shelves and out of kitchen cupboards on the way to the campground, these new owners often find themselves having to invest in various organizers and restraints for their dishes and other items. My parents' first trailer had "positive" latches that required you to manipulate them to open and close the cupboard doors. They couldn't just swing open, so we didn't really experience the effects of motion on the trailer contents. The door latch for the entry door was another matter. After our first night sleeping in our brand new trailer hundreds of miles from home, we woke up to find that the entry door would not open. It's a good thing my brother and I, being curious, had earlier discovered the emergency exit window. Dad sent my brother out the window with the car keys to fetch tools from the car. The latch was fixed, and never gave us trouble again. The advantage of the trailer's vigorous motion is that you can put your dirty clothes in a bucket of soapy water, suspend it in the shower on a bungee cord, and at your next stop your clothes will be thoroughly agitated. I believe you're supposed to close the shower door for this operation.

A tragic accident. Nothing more, nothing less. My heart goes out to the family. I express my deepest condolences.

I've known not to ride in a trailer since the age of 4 or so, after watching that Disney cartoon where Goofy takes a rough ride in a camper trailer, which becomes unhitched and out-of-control.

Here in Australia there is no way that you are allowed to be in a moving caravan , and nobody does it as far as I know . Its so ingrained in us as a 'no no'

Terribly unfortunate. My wife and I differ widely in formal education, yet she frequently points things out to me that I did not come even close to realizing. Wonders of the brain.

A very judgemental perspective by Grande in this video-particularly the caption in the thumbnail. There is little respect or sympathy shown in the cool clinical analysis of this unfortunate woman’s demise. We are ALL capable of momentary lapses of reason. My sympathies to the family of this woman.

Former limo driver here. Who's to blame if I know my passengers stood up out of the sunroof and got injured? Me! I got a ticket for them doing that. 😡. I fought it and the case was dismissed. I told those clowns not to stand up like is done in the movies. 😐. They got citations too....😏

Also, sometimes when we get too excited about things, such as when on vacation, we forget to use our common sense.

The driver also holds some responsibility. He never should have allowed it.

As a child, I remembered Lucy and Ricky in the movie, The Long, Long Trailor.

To those wondering why its legal in some states: When transporting horses it is common for an animal handler to ride with the horses in the horse trailer. This is done so that they can keep the animals calm and can have the vehicle stopped if there are any problems. Many horse trailers are specially equipped for this.

So incredibly sad. Terrible tragedy and loss. Regardless of IQ, many of us have made bad decisions. This story reinforces the importance of checking and considering every safety precaution.

I am so sorry for the family's loss. My heart breaks for them.

Interesting analysis, Dr Grande! I just love how you offer such an interesting variety of cases/topics that you cover here on your channel! ❤️

Reminds me of the CA couple who went hiking with their baby and dog in triple digit temps.

My grandfather used to take me with him went he transported camp girls to events in his flatbed truck with slat sides, a vinyl covering, and benches nailed to the floor, mid-1960's. Even as a young kid I worried about their safety. Now they travel in nice safer busses, thank goodness!

Your channel has been added to my top 5 channels,great work dr. Thank you for your time

i used to babysit for a gal who was from a rich family. In the 50's and 60s, they had a limousine and chauffer. The limousine had suicide doors, which means the front passenger door opens in the regular way and the back passenger door is hinged to open in the opposite way. She told me they were driving down the highway (so probably at 60MPH) and she tried this exact scenario described. She was thrown from the car, catapulted through the ditch, and was pretty banged up with only a broken arm. She was about 14 yrs old at the time, so was probably in better shape to sustain such an accident. However she did admit she was extremely lucky to survive. My family had a motorhome, and the door opened correctly to prevent such an accident. It appears that Airstream could mount the door on the opposite side as well. No amount of laws will prevent illegal and careless behaviors. Humans like excitement and will often ignore sense in order to meet their desires.

We travel with an RV for over two years now. NOT once did we ever ride in it while being pulled. Too dangerous!

My first ex was the smartest person I've ever known, but had absolutely no common sense at all. Her friends were the same balance of book smart and common sense. I have come to the conclusion that the more academically smart you are, the less common sense you have in day to day living.

The daughter asked why the engineers would be so stupid to design the doors that way? The seeds do not fall far from the tree. I don't care if she is a doctor.

My first thought after hearing you describe this was--you NEVER ride in a trailer being pulled. This is another example of why.

What a damn shame. They seem like a lovely family. RIP.

Hello Dr Grande. Very interesting video, My heart goes out to the family. ❤

Thank you, Dr. Grande! Almost every time i take in one of your videos, I learn a new term. Clever-sillies!

I think of the thousands of dollars and thousands of hours that Monika spent getting her medical degree, and thousands of hours examining children to determine their individual treatment without serious error, and then making a careless mistake that cost her her life and left her family with the traumatic loss of their wife and mother, to say nothing of all those families she helped with an allergic child

Smart and stupid come in many flavors and we’re all different compositions. Not gonna lie, I could see myself getting killed in a momentary lapse of judgement like this. At least her death was quick. But how awful for her daughter to watch her mother vanish in a blink and suddenly have a fun vacation turned into one of the worst days of your life. I have immense empathy for this woman and her family.

Thank you Dr. Grande for detailing this case! I've been wanting to know more about it because it was so tragic and it happened to someone so accomplished. I see these events as cautionary tales we can all learn from. Things can happen in an instant, and we don't always get second chances.

“clever sillies”. great theory. my brilliant brother’s physics degree did not prevent him from falling down a mountain crevice in northern Italy when he was only 24 (44 years ago ). Totally preventable in his circumstances. no common sense. it is hard for the rest of the family to accept when a gifted and good person is gone forever and it could have been preventable. my heart reaches out to this family in their grief.

In my professions, I dealt with many specialized highly educated people. Just because a person is very smart in their profession it does not mean they are smart in other areas. But many of these people over estimate their abilities in areas they really know nothing about.

This is a heartbreaking story!! Her poor daughter saw this happen. I can’t IMAGINE how traumatic this must have been 😢

Thanks Dr Todd I think you hit the nail on the head.

I'm very sad for this family. I'm praying for comfort for them.

If you tow, you know a trailer can easily get out of balance and start fishtailing. The only thing you can do then is hit the gas and hope hard. That thing will turn both vehicles over unless you can divert the energy.

I was married to a physician for over 20 years. Brilliant but no common sense. He was in the yard one day doing 'something'. I walked over to him and noted an extension cord connected to the skillsaw. He had a roll of string...one end tied to some and his hand on the other end. I thought "he's not gonna use the skill saw to cut the string but before I even finished that thought, he used the skill saw to cut the string...it was his lucky day and did not cut off his hand or fingers but did have a minor laceration which he promptly sutured up. Still, nearly 30 years later I cannot unsee that moment. Now, I learn there is name for this....Clever Sillies? Wow!

My heart goes out to the family, I can imagine how they are feeling . Which reminds me of the saying “what you don’t know could really hurt you. “ So, so sad.

Excellent presentation!

That's way in the olden times we called them suicide doors!

Thank you Dr Grande for analyzing this case. It’s very sad that this happened to this family.

I definitely agree with what you say about very smart/brilliant people not having any common sense. It amazes me.

"It's almost like a total eclipse... Of common sense" OOOOOOOOHHHHHHH 🗣️🔥💯💯💯

I read about this accident last night, and I couldn't help but wonder why would grown-up ever consider riding in a travel trailer while it's being towed, since there's so much that could go wrong if you just consider thinking about it for five seconds. I couldn't believe a physician would do something so dangerous.

Unfortunately, People seem to want to Blame the manufacturers and never take any accountability.

I agree with your assessment. It's the most logical explanation. I also have a fascination with campers and RVs, im planning to buy one as soon as I find a job. Im glad i saw this video, so my kids and myself will be safe on the road.

Not one person on this planet is immune to a moment of lack of common sense. We're all guilty of it, it is part of life and it is arrogant to think 'i am better than that'. I think its safe to say that most people with some years behind them have all had at least one moment in their lives where they've looked back and cringed at the dangerous situation they placed themselves in through lack of common sense. She was just unlucky with the risk she took in that moment.

How sad😢. May Monica rest in peace❤.

I can understand her not imagining the worst, more being absorbed by the getaway with her family in that lovely little camper. Hopefully this will be a lesson learned by many so that they will never make this mistake or to warn someone else who purchases a camper that they will not get caught in this type of disaster. I'm sincerely saddened for the family for their loss. Their mother seems like a free spirit, not an idiot. This could have easily been prevented, that's the sadness. I too take chances once in awhile. So far, I've been lucky.

Wow! Well said my friend

Whoa 😢 My Condolences... God Bless 🙏

That's why they call them "suicide doors". Very sad story.

Reminds me of the McCanns: 2 physicians who should have known better.

Hi Dr. Grande, excellent analysis. Not only are there no seatbelts in trailers, there are no seatbelts in living quarters of RVs. I refer to people like Monica as smartstupid. As always I learn something new from your videos.

Its a very good thing to be well-read, well-educated, and well-traveled. But nothing can compare with street-smarts and people-smarts. That's why we MUST limit screeen time for our kids and keep them actively learning lifeskills of all types with other kids.

Dr. Grande has a good point: It seems that Monika may have been “seeking novelty” just by wanting to sleep in the trailer even while at home.

When I was a kid in Wyoming I learned all about what wind can do to a car door regardless of the orientation of the hinges.

This was utterly devastating, and while laws were unquestionably breached, the sheer improbability of such an event unfolding is staggering.

You are a smart man and I appreciate you teaching critical thinking skills

My grandfather would never let us ride in the trailer, no matter how much we would beg. He would explain to us all of the dangers and somehow this wasn't even one of them that was mentioned. That poor woman and her family.

I said "your not suppose to be back there!" the second I saw the article, 3-days later Airstream said the same thing.

I've always been fascinated about the clever silly just never heard it called that before.

I'm very sorry that this happened. Pray peace for this family.

Once again, Dr. Grande saves immeasurable lives with a video in a time that matters: just before summer/ high level of travel trailer use…

Well said Dr. Grande. Condolences to Monika's family and friends.

Heartbroken for the family Everybody needs a mom sometimes. And they permanently lost theirs.

This is heartbreaking.

What an extremely sad story. Poor family.

I was told to never allow passengers on a trailer that is being towed. It's dangerous and uncomfortable. Regardless, a terrible loss to the medical community and to the people she dedicated her life to serve.

This is so sad. What a terrible misfortune. Just when she could relax and enjoy the fruits of her labor.

Education does not equal intelligence.

I’m a trainer of high risk industrial machinery and one thing we are told when we first start training is that there is no such thing as common sense anymore, it’s now known as acquired sense. Meaning that the amount of people who lack basic understanding of how things work is the common ability of people these days and they are in danger of injury. A lack of role models and father figures is leaving many young people in a bad situation.