Freeway looky-loo/ghoul rant

LVSteve

Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2005
Messages
22,844
Reaction score
34,654
Location
Lost Wages, NV
I'm driving to work this AM and see a pillar of smoke rising into the still morning air. After a couple of minutes or less the freeway straightens out and I can see the cause, a trash truck with the cab area on fire. They use the forward control trucks here, so I'm guessing the engine caught fire. Things to remember:

1) The truck is on the other side of the freeway.
2) The truck is on the shoulder on the other side of the freeway.
3) Both sides of the freeway have four lanes, so you are at least four lanes away.
4) There was no wind, so no smoke was blowing across the freeway.

Given these four points, can someone explain why the brain donors on our side of the freeway want to slow done to 20 mph. :mad::mad::mad: Is it to get a better view and improve their chances of smelling burning flesh? I moved to the empty right lane and blew by all the ghouls.

The clowns on the other side of the freeway weren't much better. They seemed to think it was a good idea to stop before they got to the burning truck and block the freeway for the fire truck that was trying to attend. I can only guess that they got into a funk at having an emergency vehicle behind them but not wanting to pull right because of the flames. Just drive on up the freeway past the fire and get clear too obvious for them? Or maybe they were afraid they would miss something if they drove on. Perhaps they just needed time to get their cellphones out and get pictures and video.:rolleyes: Idiots!
 
Register to hide this ad
At least there was something going on for people to see.

Last monster traffic jam I was in was on I-4 between Orlando and Daytona.

Backed up for miles of stop and go because a truck was parked in the emergency lane. No wreck, so smoke or fire. Just sitting there.
 
Last monster traffic jam I was in was on I-4 between Orlando and Daytona.

Backed up for miles of stop and go because a truck was parked in the emergency lane. No wreck, so smoke or fire. Just sitting there.

I was in one too, outside Harrisburg, Pa on Father's Day. Just a car sitting in the center median. Almost 3 miles long of inch worm traffic. Almost made me late for my Cheeseburger!

Ivan
 
“ Use of some dang gone device” to take a picture or video to show off somewhere? Had same experience last month on I-26 —— I-95, no crash, nothing. Maybe someone thought they saw Bigfoot???
This type of driver should be Banned For Life from driving. Most Any State Trooper will say, most interstate crashes are caused by SLOW drivers.
 
The problem is that all you need is one driver in each lane to slow, and then every car that follows for an hour is caught in the chain reaction.

Back in the late 70’s, a group of truckers would occasionally protest the 55 mph speed limit in Missouri by lining up across all lanes, slowing carefully to the minimum speed for five or ten minutes, and then returning to speed. Do it during rush hour, and gridlock ensued . . .
 
We slow down to see if we can offer any assistance. At least our hearts are in the right place.
 
They slow down to rubberneck. Then after they pass the incident they run 20 or 25 over the limit to make up for lost time. They feel they can get away with it because all the first responders are tied up at the scene.
 
Last edited:
We slow down to see if we can offer any assistance. At least our hearts are in the right place.

I guess you didn't catch the bit about it being on the other side of the freeway. The center dividers on the urban freeways here are mostly just that, a divider made up of a large Jersey Barrier type arrangement. You are not able to pull into an open grass or dirt median to park up and then run across four lanes of traffic to help.;) In fact, unless you have a light bar and a badge, you shouldn't even be considering this regardless of the freeway layout IMHO.

There are times to stop and maybe render assistance, but when the action is on the far side of the freeway, MYOB applies if only for safety's sake.
 
Anyone remember the part in “The Choirboys “ when the cop at the scene of a fatal accident had had enough of the public gawking at an accident scene. When a curious driver slowed down and asked if anyone was hurt the officer picked up a severed head and held it at arms length saying “Yeah, this one got banged up a bit!”
 
Happened AGAIN on I-95 between JAX and St. Augustine, traffic slowed to stop, crawl then maybe 45MPH. Expected to see some sort of crash, nothing, zip, nada, IBW’s strike again. Knew I should have taken 16!
 
At least there was something going on. The ones that get me are the "mystery" slow downs. Where traffic gets bunched up and slows to a crawl for absolutely no reason.
 
Back
Top