I’ve learned to try and not get upset because usually when there is THAT big of a backup, it was due to a serious accident where someone has gotten hurt badly. It’s annoying, but I’m willing to wait (as if I had the choice) for them to do their jobs and help the people involved. After all, it could easily have been me in that position a multitude of times over!
I know this is gonna sound bad, but usually when I’ve been in traffic for that long I want to see fire trucks, parimedics or at least some glass or skid marks on the road. Although I wish no harm or ill-will to anyone, I can at least rationalize why there is so much traffic and convince myself that if this accident didn’t happen I would have already arrived at my destination. The alternative — being that there is *NO* reason for the insane traffic — is not even an option I want to consider! That would mean that there were just that many cars on the road and that’s a far more too depressing scenario.
Well, this particular day there was a reason, and the reason was a cop with his lights flashing on the side of the road. It looked as if he had some white utility truck pulled over. And it was just the 1 truck. If it was due to and accident, I would have figured that the other car involved would have still been there. As soon as we passed the cop, everyone accelerated to their normal speed of 70 mph in a 55 mph zone.
You know, at first I focused my anger at the cop. I mean, people are gonna slow down when they see a cop but by having his lights on it was just encouraging rubber necking. But then I realized it wasn’t the cop’s fault at all. He wasn’t out there threatening people with steep fines if they go over 30 miles an hour … no, it was these voyeuristic people hoping to get a glance at disaster or misfortune that were to blame.
Who knows why they do it. Perhaps it’s an effort to bring excitement in their life, or maybe it’s some self booster where they can feel glad that it’s not them in the predicament. It was *THESE* people that were slowing up my commute! These people to blame! As I was thinking how horrible everyone else is, I caught myself applying a little extra break and slowing up to see what really happened with the cop car and the white utility truck.
