I can’t stand those who gawk out their windows while driving down the expressway causing a backup of traffic. True, there may be the remnants of a car that recently caught flames, but that gives you no reason to cause me pain and suffering over five miles behind you for thirty-three minutes in a car that lacks proper air conditioning.

Why do people do this? I feel that the majority do, and if they don’t they have taken the pain of waiting long enough to join in when the time comes. Are they simply trying to get a glimpse of death, peril, or an event they hope to never encounter? They may just think that it’s interesting to see a few ambulances rushing by and sirens ablaze. Possibly they enjoy watching their tax dollars at work and feel the need to see it through the end. It could be a sense of compassion, though I have a doubt on that accord.

A few weeks back I was having coffee with a few of my friends at a local coffee shop. Outside of the window we saw a teenage kid being hand-cuffed by a few officers and then they sat him on the ground by a fire hydrant. They talked – mostly the officers to each other – for what seemed an hour or so. A few other officers came over to join them from across the street after a half hour or so went by (we would find out later they were eating dinner and were curious at what was going on). It went on like for a while, with them yelling and us taking turns between talking about our disgust of the hundred degree + heat and watching the event unfold. The reason we figured he was a teenager (possibly younger) was due to another woman taking him away without handcuffs in her car and constantly berating him. Our group ended up outside watching what was going on out of combined feeling of boredom and curiosity.

This is where it gets interesting though, as they start to drag the kid away a car rams into the back of a motorcycle at the intersection slamming the guy into the car in front of him. My theory is the man wasn’t paying attention to what was going on in his lane, but rather the captivating chain of events on the sidewalk. Within minutes the largest convergence of government vehicles not at a government center bum rushed the intersection (a major one within the city), closing the traffic flow down. The man – to my knowledge – ended up fine and took a trip to the hospital downtown. One of the prime fascination I had with though was the amount of people that spontaneously appeared as if there were a bat signal for these sorts of things. The people were huddled on both sides of the streets, some taking pictures and others just out on the porch of the coffee shop having a drink.

My conclusion is that curiosity drags people to these horrible places, but that is no reason for me to go through that amount of traffic for your curious eyes to see a car that has no bumper. It gives me a strong urge to slap someone in the face.