Maybe it's just me

Sunday night I made a quick run to the supermarket (we are fortunate to have a Woodman's, the biggest supermarket I've ever seen in my life, just 5 minutes from our house via back roads). I was surprised at how much traffic was on the service road coming from the other direction, especially at 7PM on a Sunday.

Then I saw the flashing lights on the adjacent highway. There'd been an accident.

Okay, so people slow down just to be aware of what's going on. It looked like a particularly bad crash. The people behind the crash scene, heading south on I-94 and less than a half mile from the next exit, had turned off their engines and lights, as if they knew they'd be sitting for a while. But as I drove, I saw five cars pulled over to the shoulder of the service with their flashers on . . . just looking.

I found this disturbing. Have these people nothing better to do but to gawk at someone's misfortune? A Life Flight helicopter was perched on the median, apparently to transport the more seriously injured victims, while two ambulances were parked nearby for other, not life-threatening injuries. Were these people actually hoping for a glimpse of broken and bloody bodies being loaded into the ambulances and helicopter? Do they consider that entertainment?

I never did find out any details about the accident, found out how many cars were involved, etc. I said a silent prayer for the recovery of those who'd been hurt, made my way to the supermarket, made my purchase and went home, keeping my driving foot alert as the car in front of me constantly braked to get another look (the helicopter had taken off). Apparently the crash wasn't considered important enough to be featured on the Milwaukee news.

But it certainly provided a fascinating time for at least 5 carloads of people.

I hope the bastards enjoyed it.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I never understood what the fascination is about gawking. If you are not going to stop and help, then keep it moving. Gawking causes additional accidents because instead of drivers paying attention to the road, they are too busy being nosy and looking at the sidelines.

Gwyneth Bolton said...

I don't understand that either, Bettye. Sometimes it seems like folks run the risk of having an accident themselves with all the rubber-necking.... Ridiculous.

Gwyneth