Posted on 09/22/2005 7:38:56 AM PDT by pickrell
On the way to work today, the southbound traffic in Columbus Ohio was held up for miles. Untold fuel was expended and an indeterminable number of persons were late for work, appointments, and other committments. Many minutes later we inched our way past the cause of the delay- two vehicles sitting motionless in the roadway.
You might assume that terrible loss of life had occurred, or the vehicles were wrecked beyond movement. You'd be wrong. The drivers of the 2 vehicles had engaged in a minor fender-bender, and were waiting for the police to arrive unsolicited, so that they could plead their respective cases against insurance payouts.
Drivers in the other lanes were availing themselves of long, delicious "oooh...aaaaah!" gawks to try to snatch a glimpse of blood or absorb dark delight in how bad the accident had been.
Flash forward, (at least back to 45 miles per hour), and read the Drudge Report about a hundred miles of traffic out of Houston locked up to a standstill, and a bad feeling overcomes you.
Can we not agree, as a rational society, that the personal self-absorption manifested by holding up a huge number of people, instead of pulling the vehicles off to the berm, is a bad, perhaps even rotten, thing to do? Could we not further stipulate that the duty of any driver, finding himself in front of a massive contingent of other drivers, is NOT to slow down to a crawl so as to better soak up the carnage, but rather... to drive?
In any major catastrophe, the whole of the people depend on all of the individuals involved exercising reason and prudence in their actions. In future, it should be mandated that any drivers, finding the entire evacuation held up by the mindless actions of a few drivers, should exit their vehicles, firmly escort the brain-dead obstructors to the berm, and push or force the roadblocks out of the way, brooking no argument from the obstructors.
Mercifully, it will play out that other causes brought the evacuation of Houston to a temporary halt. Can you imagine in future if such foolishness caused massive death along the evacuation route because such mindlessness occurred?
I can.
Great way to get yer son hurt.....
OK. Good point. Revision. It only applies to non-conservatives.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.