On Thu, 10 May 2001, John D. Giorgis wrote:
> A thought on the ending to Wednesday's episode of "The West Wing."
> SPOILER WARNING, don't read if you want to watch it some day - that means
> *you*, Julia! ;-)
We didn't tape it. I didn't actually watch it; Dan watched it, and just
now got to watch the episode that preceded it (THANK YOU, JOHN!!!), and I
asked some questions about it, and got a feel for what you discussed below
the spoiler space.
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> At the ending of the episode, a running gag is made out of the
> announcement that there will be a major meeting come 9pm. The Senior
> Staff is then dismissed to get dinner before the meeting. That means
> that this event occurs no later than 8pm.
>
> Immediately afterwards, the best boy receives a phone call that Mrs.
> Laningham was killed by a drunk driver. Assuming that it takes at
> least an hour for word of a fatal car accident to reach one's place of
> employment, even at the White House, this places the time of the
> accident no later than 7pm, and probably closer to 6pm.
>
> So my question is, who gets killed by a drunk driver in the middle of
> rush hour? I honestly don't have any stats on this, but my impression
> seems to be that drunk driving is much more prevalent at much later
> hours.
1) If she had ID identifying her as a White House staffer, it *might*
speed up the notification process.
2) The intersection in question (18th & Potomac) is close to RFK stadium.
If there was some sort of event there that day where someone might get
intoxicated, I could see a driver in that neighborhood maybe being drunk.
3) I've known people who got sloshed now and again during *lunch*. One
of the most frightening episodes I had for sheer immediate shock value at
one place of employment was having my supervisor come in, having had 3 or
4 drinks over lunch (probably margaritas), and deciding to give me a great
big hug. It was a bit much at the time. So, while the typical driver
won't be that drunk at 6PM, there may be a few out there.
4) Wasn't she going to the car dealership to pick up the new car *after*
work? I can't imagine her knocking off work all that much before 5, and
having *seen* what traffic is like near some of those bridges around 5,
then if the dealership was in Virginia, she'd have to get across one
bridge, pick up the car, and get back into the city, which probably
wouldn't be that easy to do in 1 hour.
> And another thing, what was nice old Mrs. Laningham doing driving in
> Southeast Washington? Maybe Potomoac is a little nicer than most, but
> from what I have seen, Southeast is about the nastiest side of DC that
> there is. My guess is that all of the secretaries at the White House
> are living in either Northwest DC or Northern Virginia, and probably
> should have been driving from the other side of the City.
1) What if the car dealership were in Maryland?
2) Is there any reason she might have been at the Congressional Cemetary
which is right by 18th & Potomac?
3) Or the hospital right by there?
(For items 2 & 3, see
http://www.mapquest.com/cgi-bin/ia_find?link=btwn/twn-map_results&zoom_level=9&uid=udr179ues2r7c7sb:2l9za2dfya&aphoto=0&SNVData=3mad3-0.fy%28ayg5ar_%29zzw0r1%3bah7-%3d%3aN%13EMDRSJQR%3dQX_%3dGG_lrywd6%28.0z7xgz%28l%24efiid%7cyj1mm4.lq%286,qej%7cynbgmej,fwgf-d&pcat=&zlgif.x=1
)
> Of course, perhaps there is more to this than there seems..... ;-)
Probably so, this being a TV series near the end of the season (is it
going to be the season finale Wednesday night?).
Julia
