Sunday, September 11, 2005

Another wreck on Blanding Blvd


The wife and I were headed back down Blanding, having spent a hefty chunk of change on a small supply of groceries, when we saw ahead of us a fresh auto accident. Already there were people pulled over and swarming over the two cars that had both lost the encounter. There was an older model camero with a crumpled up front end pointed at a bronco that was laying on it's side, something that these SUV's are rather good at. I usually don't pull over for these things, especially when plenty of other people are already lending aid in one form or another, but the cops or paramedics hadn't yet arrived on the scene, and being employed in a critical care unit at the local hospital I thought perhaps my being there might make a difference if injuries were involved.
The young couple in the overturned vehicle had rode out the flip non the worse for wear, as they were able to extricate themselves from their belts, the guy exiting out the hatch in the back, the girl crawling out the sun roof. About all I could offer in way of assistance was to brush the broken glass away from her bare feet as she made her way out. Good looking little thing, too, but that's beside the point.
The driver of the camero had stayed put in the driver's seat, perhaps having been stunned by the airbag if that particular model had come with one. There were quite a few people gathered around him, so that seemed to be taken care of, but I noticed that the traffic was starting to back up in the one lane that was clear passing the wreck. Between rubbernecking and disorganized jockeying for position in the one good lane, I could see the whole blvd starting to turn into a parking lot behind us, so I stepped up and started playing traffic cop, as none had yet shown up to take control of the situation.
Waving and mouthing "Cmon, dammit, keep moving" while getting each driver to take turns taking the good lane, I managed to keep the traffic going past faster than it otherwise had been. The first cop car made it's way onto the scene, finally, and the one deputy went immediately to check out the victims. Seeming to be happy that I had the traffic directing in good hands, he pretty much ignored me and I kept at it while the wife waited impatiently in the car with the melting cold stuff. Then deputy friendly number two roared up, and he went to check out the wreck as well.
By this time the traffic down the road was getting the gist of what was going on and began to turn on their blinkers and blend into the proper lane much further down the road, so with one more wave to encourage their progress, I abandoned my impromptu stint as traffic cop and made my way back to our car.
Well, OK, then, maybe my pulling off to render assistance would not have made that much difference accept for reducing the bottleneck that rubber neckers tend to cause when they encounter traffic accidents. But at least I was prepared to lend some first aid had it truly been needed, so I don't consider it a totally wasted 20 minutes. I myself would gladly have too many people rushing to my aid than not enough. And if one person in that traffic jam got home a tad bit earlier than they would have had I not been there directing traffic, then, hey, I'm happy.
Oh, and the ice cream made it just fine. Grin.

2 comments:

And the Past Recedes... said...

It's people like you who make me think that there is in fact still good left in this evil world we live in. Rock on!!

Buffalo said...

Stopping is a good thing.