rubbernecking. plain and simple. i was on 395 north, passing alexandria at a nice, comfortable 70 miles-per-hour. *screeeeeeeeeeech* next thing i know, i’m feeling like i’m on the 405 in california, bumper-to-bumper. thankfully my big v-8 engine was able to outrun the snail i saw on the road next to me. hopefully by now the poor fella’s made it to the next exit without getting crushed. anyway–i come upon the culprits, 5 squad cars with their roof lights running and presumably sirens blaring, overseeing a crash scene. because i was crawling along at the leisurely pace of .5 miles-an-hour, i was able to observe the scene at length. car #1, i could only see the back end of it; the front end was obliterated. amazingly enough, the driver of the car was standing next to his now-defunct mode of transportation, apparently cursing into his cell phone (insurance agent? family? make-believe form of anger?)…without a scratch on him. talk about luck! car #2, resting sideways on the shoulder, perpendicular to the railing, left side smashed in, rear tire jutting out at an angle…no driver/owner visible. car #3 a bit further up the road, tail end’s mashed, front end’s dented…owner’s leaning against the railing with a dejected look on her face. poor thing. car #4 is on the opposite side of the road, right side completely scrunched up, and apparently left side is intact. again, no owner visible… cars 5, 6 and 7 all had minor scratches, probably witnesses to the accident involving the first 4 cars. the owners of 5, 6, and 7 stood around in the median chatting with 2 of the 4,358,013 officers on scene (one too many).

now, you see, i was able to glean all of this from .5 m.p.h. i assure you, i could have done the same at 70 m.p.h. because the traffic lanes were open, and 395 has wide shoulders FOR A REASON! but, no. people who just have to S T O P and gawk at these things for the plain sake of human curiosity–these people are the culprits of traffic jams, road congestion…road rage…they prompt others to cut in, therefore making yet more drivers antsy and cursy (a new word-of-the-day) and then even more drivers grow exasperated and bang their hands on the steering wheel, not paying attention and accidentally bumping the car in front, causing the driver to stop, get out, yell and inspect his/her car…and so on it goes.

thank god I live in D.C. and have to spend as little time as humanly possible out on 395 or any other beltway loop commuting. i feel for all of you. you Metro/MARC riders are the smart ones.

there’s my blog on rubbernecking. see my first blog (9 Sept ‘05) for further details.

*shutting door*