Un Cachito

Cameron's Links

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I've been out in Maryland this week, and normally that's all well and good and there's not much to report. This time, however, I feel like rambling. Lucky you :)First though, an opinion on driving in general. My main rule of driving is:
Thou shalt drive so as to not impact traffic.
That implies a lot of things such as don't cut people off or make them brake. Also, if you are holding traffic up, even if you think you're going the "right" speed, you need to either speed up or get out of the way. A second rule that is a nice companion to the first is:
Thou shalt pay attention when driving.
I actually don't care if you are talking on a cell phone while putting on your pants, as long as you are paying attention and abiding rule #1 as well. In my opinion, there are too many oblivious drivers out there. And that brings me to DC. I-495 or the Capitol Beltway often demands that you pay attention when you drive. With lots of traffic and short on and off ramps, it can be exciting or terrifying. I've often been impressed with the few number of accidents I've seen in my numerous adventures near the 495. For some reason though, yesterday was different. I was traveling from northeast of Baltimore down to Bethesda, and I-95 seemed to have tons of accidents on the side of the road. Then, as I was returning about 11:30 last night I got one that prompted me to make a 911 call. I was traveling east on the 495 and came to the interchange to take 95 north, and as I was exiting, I thought I saw a couple lights about road level at the end of the gap/fork between the two now-diverging highways. I actually thought it was nice to have it marked with those lights, but as I passed the point, going fast, I realized the lights belonged to a car. As I kept driving, my mind processed a car off the road and thought it had just pulled off. Now well beyond the point, I belatedly realized the car was in a ditch with the front of the car all smashed in. There wasn't really any nice way to get back to the car, so I grabbed my phone and tried dialing 911. I couldn't even get through on my first three attempts (kinda scary, I think). On the fourth, I just had to mention "495" and "95 North" and the dispatcher asked if it was about a car in a ditch - they already new about it. Oh well - I tried to be a good citizen. Then a little bit later, I saw another driver that had driven right into the median and was stuck in a ditch in the middle. I guess my question is, is this common? Are there just a bunch of bad (drunk?) drivers here on the weekend? I was kind of surprised.