cars

When my mom told me "This car won't move until you buckle your seatbelt," I thought the car literally wouldn't move. Maybe there was some sort of electronic locking system that wouldn't let you put the car in gear if all the seatbelts weren't buckled, or something. It never occurred to me that she just meant she wouldn't drive it anywhere.

Eric Schwartz

I used to believe that the potholes in the road could just be flipped over and flattened out so that they could be fixed. Little did I know that road workers actually filled the potholes in.

Pothole ;)

When I was younger, I'd be in the car with my parents and they'd stop at a gas station and both go inside, while I waited in the car. I thought beyond a reasonable doubt that they switched keys with someone and the people who returned though looked like my parents weren't them, and I'd ask them where we were going, to make sure they weren't taking me some where strange.

Anon

When I was little my mom, brother, and I went to the store, and as we parked I jumped out of the car and ran around to greet my mom. Well it was a busy parking lot and she was mad that I would run out in the street...so as we were walking, I was holding my brother (6yrs older) and mom's hand and we passed an oil/grease spot in which my mother stopped and pointed to. She then told me that those were the markings of little kids who had run out in parking lots and got ran over and how sad the parents must be. My brother began to cry and I simply said "oh" as we were walking there was a large spot in which I shouted, "Look mama that must have been a big kid!!" I never ran out in parking lots again....

Anon

I believed for years that cars had auto-pilot. I would always fall asleep on road trips, and was amazed that my father could stay awake. He told me he didn't - he turned on auto-pilot. I started to suspect once when he DID fall asleep driving, but then rationalized that he just forgot to turn it on.

Wryle

up until the age of 8, I believed that the over hanging street lamps we're the showers for homeless people. everyday I looked outside anticipating and hoping i could catch a homeless person showering.

Sahara

I used to believe that Automatic Toll Boths had underground room where people counted your money.

Dillon

I used to think that my father pedaled fastly when the car was racing through the countryside

Anon

I used to believe that when the radio dimmed a little when driving throught a tinnel, it was so blind people who were driving didnt crash into the sides.

i think i might have been dropped as a child...

GhostWhoWalks

My Uncle Ernie told me that he had an ejector seat in his car (the button for it was supposedly under the gear stick knob) and that if I mis-behaved, he'd eject me. This kind of worked against him though - I played up on purpose as getting ejected sounded like fun :)

Lee

In my moms car there were little ashtrays on the sides of the doors that had a little picture of a cigarette on it so you'd know what it was for. The picture was so tiny, that when I was little, I thought it was a picture of a boat, and that you were supposed to hold on to it if a boat was crashing into your car! Then, when I told my mom my theory, she told me that the picture was actually of a cigarette. Til I was 9 I thought that was there for blind people who couldn't tell what the ashtray was for!

Someone

My parents used to tell us "this car won't start until everyone has their seatbelts on!" -- and I thought they meant it mechanically. So I would buckle all the belts of the empty seats so that we would be able to drive.

...When I figured out that the car *did in fact start* even when not all the seatbelts were fastened, I figured it must have some weighing mechanism under each seat that told it whether or not there was a person there, and only needed it buckled if there was.

This theory applied to all cars and vans

when i was young my dad told me that convertables converted into stuff and i thought that a car could convert into a dog!

Joshua Bedward

During an ice storm, I went with my father to pick up my sister, whose power had gone out. We were both about 10 or 11. We convinced her that every time we drove over a downed power line, we would have to lift our feet so we didn't get shocked and die. We're 12 now. She just found out we were kidding.

Anon

If you hold your breath and make a wish under a highway tunnel it will come true....I still hold my breath :)

aj

I used to believe that if you let the rev counter in a car reach the red section, the car would explode. My Dad used to have great fun terrifying me!

Aberdeen, Scotland

My parents tried to explain to me what is a spark plug in a car. After that I believed that it's a candle because it ignites the fuel. And that if you open car's hood you may accidentally blow it.

When we went on a trip an it was raining, spark plug somehow stopped working when big truck splashed us with water. It was totally logical for me because i imagined little candle being doused with water.
Believed it for soooo many years.

Anon

WHEN I WAS LITTLE I USED TO WONDER HOW PEOPLE KNEW WHICH SIDE OF THE STREET TO DRIVE ON. THEN OF COURSE I REALIZED THAT IT WAS THE PEOPLE WHO GOT UP THE EARLIEST WHO PICKED THE SIDE OF THE STREET EVERYBODY WOULD HAVE TO DRIVE ON THE REST OF THE DAY.

Anon

Sloppy Science Category: When I was quite young (It probably lasted until I was 6!), I noticed that if I leaned on the bumper of a car, the whole vehicle would bounce up & down. Conclusion: I was stronger than a car. I actually believed that, if faced with a car bearing down on me, I could simply reach out with my hand and stop it. No superhuman strength --- it just seemed logical, given that I could make a supposedly heavy car bounce. Thank God I never tested my theory! Fortunately, Mom & Dad watched a TV series called "UFO" that contained an episode in which a child is struck & killed by a car. LOTS of blood, too. I found it to be a sobering revelation.

Nicholas Dollak

Until a few years ago, I thought that when you parked where the sign said 'parking 1hr maximum, no return within 2hrs', that you were not allowed to go back to your car for 2hrs. I always felt I was breaking the law by complying with the 1hr parking time limit.

chris