Rush Hour...

So sitting on the bypass on the way home from work the guy in front of me slams on his brakes. Thankfully I am far enough behind him that I didn't have to slam on my brakes, but I was concerned that the guy behind me might not be able to JUST slam on his brakes to slow down. Thankfully he comes to a screeching stop, not .002 seconds later I see the truck behind him SLAM into his rear end. A Big puff of smoke and fluid shot into the warm spring air. Rear-ender. Bad one.

Due to the construction genius of the highway/by-pass road planners, there is no where for me to pull over, let alone slow down. Rush hour traffic-ers are a rare breed, we wouldn't stop if there was a half naked man dancing on your roof....well, maybe you'd stop for that...okay, so I would too....moving on. The POINT is, I didn't stop for a car accident that I clearly witnessed! Okay, so before you come at with me with torches and pitchforks, I did exercise my right to phone 911.

Something about calling 911 is super bad ass, cause the operators ask you all sorts of important ques ions. Right away my blackberry beeped cause it recognized that I was calling an emergency number, then a woman in solid and calm voice asked me "police. fire or ambulance?" to which I replied with the same solid calm tone "police" and the name of the city. I was transferred right away to the local federal police service "911 what is your emergency?" I explained the story as accurately as I could. "okay thank you, we will phone you back if we need any more information." boo-ya, mission accomplished.

So then I was feeling sorry for all of the people who are travelling one of the main arteries of our fair city in rush hour traffic. Then I thought about all the times I had sat in rush hour traffic ..."haha, suckers." Not even thirty seconds later, I come around a corner and BOOM rush-hour traffic!

When you know that you're going to be stuck in traffic your blood starts to boil. It gets to a point where every bone in your body wants to start flipping off people with veteran plates just because there is one in front of you. You calm yourself down as best as possible, because like a rational person you realize that this has nothing to do with the veteran, its the damn semi-truck in front of him! Bloody semi's they always let people in front of them in traffic, cause they're so darn slow its like nails on a chalkboard. "Why in the HELL is he in the fastlane?!"

So you turn on the radio, a local radio that brags about how they broadcast nothing but traffic updates 24/7. Just not now apparently cause you're bring forced to listen to a commerical about some seniors home opening up for sale in kelowna, then you remember how much you HATED "veteran plates"!! Then you remember about the semi as you finally hear that there's been an accident on the road up ahead that stalling rush hour traffic. You cringe at the word "accident" but punch your steering wheel and swear when you hear five little words "fast lane. 3 car. fatality. DAMMIT! You calm yourself down, but the frustrating resentment you have for rush hour suddenly gets turned into guilt when you start blaming the members of the fatality for anything. As patiently as you can you ride out the traffic to the sight of the accident, as calmly as you can..clinging to the bumper in front of you. You may have to sit in traffic, but NO ONE is getting in front of you.

95% of the reason why traffic slows down substantially when there is a car wreck is because people are m-o-r-b-i-d! It doesn't take long for the emergency officials to clear the highway of any obstruction, even if its only one lane open. The traffic has some kind of flow, yet you're not moving. Do you know why? Of course you do! You do it all the time, you stare at the accident as you drive by, and choose to do 5 km/hr when you do so!

Once you move past the accident, its like a breathe of fresh air. The traffic is moving, people are paying attention to driving finally - kinda like being let off a leash into a open meadow. You smile at 'veteran plates' as you drive by but glare at the semi driver who hasn't moved out of the fast lane yet.

Traffic would be so much easier for everyone if people just did things like...oh...I don't know...shoulder checked...merge with the flow of traffic?....used their signals?......didn't change lanes in an intersection? didn't slam on their brakes in the snow or rain, turned their lights ON, kept up with the flow of traffic in the fast lanes, didn't tailgate and if everyone who HAVE driver's licenses were the only ones on the road...who am I kidding. Rush hour will forever be that thorn in my side, one removed only by changing jobs. hmm.