Blind As Bats?

It's really cold here. Normally, our temperatures in the winter will dip below freezing, but it doesn't usually get colder than in the twenties for long. This morning, we're sitting in the lower teens with a wind chill that dips into the single digits. Add to that on the way to work this morning, it was snowing, but given just how cold it is, it's basically snow dust that blows around out there. This, however, does not stop people from being crazy. In fact, the sub freezing temps plus snow makes them worse.

Now, if you re-read that, you'll see that by sub-freezing, we're just talking about cold, and by snow, we're just talking flurries that aren't sticking at this point. Basically, the situation wasn't all that serious as I was driving in. Oh, but apparently it was for some. My drive was almost uneventful but for one intersection, and what occurred there continues to amuse me.

In Tulsa, there are some hills. Now, nothing that compares to, say, Colorado Springs, but there are some hills that are not to be reckoned with on icy days, and 61st and Sheridan possesses two of these hills. Coming from the South and East, you can overlook the intersection below to kind of get an idea of what's going on down there before you actually reach it. This morning, I noticed the traffic was a little backed up coming up to 61st and Sheridan on Sheridan from the South. It was nothing serious, mind you, but more than normal for the time of morning I was driving in.

As I passed over the hill, I surveyed the intersection, and sure enough, there was a car with its hazard lights on sitting in the left turn lane to get onto 61st going West. Naturally, this was the precise direction I needed to go, but I found the cause of the backup was that I am not alone in this need to head West and those left-turners were simply going around this car and turning left the best they could. Ok, none too serious. I can live with that.

Here's the funny part. From the hill to the intersection isn't that far, but I saw no less than three people pull into the turn lane behind this stalled car, at least one pulling right up to the car's bumper before realizing he wasn't moving and needing to get back out of that lane. They had exactly the same vantage point I did, and I recognized the peril from the top of the hill, a good 5 minutes before I reached the point where I could even consider turning.

It just continues to prove this point: People don't pay attention while driving.