Rules of the Road

Every so often you'll be travelling down the highway and you'll suddenly hit a patch of slow traffic that is so completely unexpected that you spend much of the time trying to figure out what is going on. You're craning your neck this way and that while cars around you are attempting to do the same thing. You are struggling to figure out whether you need to take an alternate route or whether this is only a temporary problem. You try to figure out whether the accident or incident is close by or far off. You attempt to avoid getting in an accident yourself as you manuever your car in an attempt to get a little farther along by entering a lane that seems to be moving faster than the next. So imagine the disappointment when you find nothing there to cause the delay.

Perhaps it's cruel of me to say that there's nothing for me to see on the road but I don't mean it at all in a callous or cruel way. I'm not looking to see a horrible wreck or accident with tons of rescue equipment but it would be nice to know what was the reason for my having been delayed, often by a significant delay. There are certain roads in Virginia that are notorious for slowdowns with no root cause at any time of day or night; chief among these routes in Northern Virginia is Route 66. This east-west artery leads from the hinterlands of the western parts of Virginia into DC and it is clogged with traffic at random times. Sunday driving can take on a whole new meaning if you drive on this road and expect it to be clear of traffic on a given Sunday. Chances are you could end up in a log jam that reminds one of rush hour on weekdays. And sometimes these delays are caused by the most inane of incidents.

Take for example the incident pictured above which comes from Romania. This intrepid commuter was on a side road heading for the highway when he decided to take what he believed to be the on ramp. Much to his chagrin he found the road to be quite bumpy and probably wondered how his tax dollars were being used to have a road so bumpy. It was shortly thereafter that he probably realized that he was on train tracks and not on the highway. So what did he do? No he didn't get off of the tracks; he stopped the car right there and decided to wait for the cavalry to rescue him. Meanwhile train traffic was stopped and had to pass around the incident on foot in order wait for the car to be removed from the tracks. Once rescue equipment arrived they created such a ruckus that people on the adjoining highway began to look around in order to figure out what was going on thus delaying traffic on the highway as well.

Now I hesitate to call these people names though it is so very tempting but I can't help but wonder whether or not people every consider the possible consequences of ill-conceived actions on their part. Driving on the train tracks, for several miles, in the direction of eventual on-coming trains is not a normal course of action yet this individual did it for several miles before apparently having the shaking car jar him to his senses. Thankfully he didn't end up causing a major incident on the scale of a truck accident. He very well could have. I remember a time driving down the New Jersey Turnpike. Across the median as well as on our side of the road the traffic suddenly came to a grinding halt and then we continued our journey previously going at 75 miles per hour down to a stately 25 miles per hour. As we approached the apparent scene of the action we looked across the median to figure out what was going on. We could see individuals running up the side of the road. Was it a manhunt for a runaway prisoner a la "The Fugitive"? Unfortunately (or fortunately) it wasn't; it was a bunch of people who had to answer the call of nature in full view of all the drivers on the New Jersey Turnpike.

I'm sure most people who cause such incidents don't intentionally cause them in the hope of slowing everyone else down; at least I hope they don't. But what I wish is that people who are also driving along will slow down but not come to a screeching halt. Unfortunately I think many drivers simply look at the road directly in front of their car. They aren't looking out ahead to be aware of what's going on around them. We complain about 'deer in the headlights' reactions but the sudden slow downs that many drivers react with is just as much a hinderance to traffic as actually being involved in the accident. It would be nice to occasionally avoid such situations; at least then some of us could get to where we needed to go without unnecessary and aggravating delays.