Social Traffic

What is the deal with traffic? I can not understand why people constantly have to slow to look at the most mundane of things - a broken down car, a parked tow truck waiting for a call, some smooshed roadkill, etc. It's not even like it's a fender bender or a lunatic wandering in the street? You would think people would be wanting to get on their merry little ways and keep the flow of traffic moving, but no, our society of gawkers is astounding. Do people just think that pain, death or anxiety in others is worthy viewing material? It's like a form of crack to driver's, they can't help but to stop and look, hoping to spot broken glass, a trail of blood, or a fist fight that might break out at any moment. They seem to view all things stopped on the side of the road as a potential accidents or tragedies that will fuel their water cooler chatter for the day.

They don't care if someone is hurt or if they've slowed to a stop for two seconds,inadvertently creating a 3 hour traffic jam at that very spot they stopped to view an abandoned car. We are a collective of selfish people, subconsciously seeking out things out of the ordinary for our typical lives because it gives us a sense of relief that we're not the person in trouble or hurt, but an objective viewer that can revel in the grief or frustration of others without being directly effected.

We want to view hardships other then our own, not live them, and stopping to spot things on the side of the road helps us accomplish this goal, even at the cost of sitting for 2 hours moving an inch every 5 minutes to achieve this goal. It is so sad what types of people our social environment has turned us into. So I ask you, dear readers, if you see something on the side of the road, and it doesn't have a blinking orange arrow or red flames directing you to move to another lane, just keep driving...keep the flow of cars proceeding to their destinations unhindered by brake lights.