Monday, November 26, 2007
Holiday traffic
Yesterday we returned home from Maryland on the busiest travel day of the year. We were somewhat prepared for delays on interstate 81. Last year we had to detour to a secondary road to avoid backups there.

This year we hit our first snag in the middle of nowhere on 66. We crawled along barely registering on the speedometer for six miles or so. There was no exit to provide us with an escape. When we finally passed the flashing blue lights it looked like someone had gone way down over an embankment. They were funneling all traffic down to one lane.

When we hit 81 it was pretty packed. I came to the conclusion that the worst hazard on the interstate is people who drive slower than the flow of traffic in the left lane. They stay in the left lane like they own it. This creates a situation where people in the left lane behind them follow too closely and eventually decide to pass on the right when they've had enough. That makes the cluster around the slow car unpredictable and scary. I saw that situation too many times last night. When people are blowing by you on the right you are the problem.

We hit another slowdown on 81. There was apparently a fender bender and the people involved parked on both sides of the interstate. Only one cop car had arrived by then. Once we got past that and up to speed we had to hit the brakes for another accident. It was insane. I was never so glad to get off the interstate. We were actually fortunate because we must have hit those two accidents soon after they happened. The emergency vehicles were on their way and weren't there slowing traffic to an absolute crawl yet.

I'm just glad to be home in one piece.
Written at 8:01 PM by Highlandgal.
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