"At least the paramedics are right here"

198 is a divided highway as it runs through Laurel. 197 makes a t-intersection with 198 (it looks like a real intersection, but actually Irving Street got lopped in two by 198 - if you select the map to enlarge it you'll see Irving running parallel to 197 and then ending (in fact, there's a fence around that apartment complex), and another street called Irving up at the top, on the other side of 198). Note the right turn lane from 198 onto 197; note, too, the 2 left turn lanes from 198 onto 197, which mean that when the left turn light is green going west, three lanes can be turning into 197, which fills it right up. Note, too, the sidewalk from Sharon Ct to 197 through the fence; the sidewalk marks the Metro Bus stop where I catch the bus in the mornings, being dropped off by the Connect-a-Ride after it turns left from 198 (sometimes the B bus can't get over fast enough - remember the right turn lane - and then I get dropped off at the next Metro stop down 197).

So much for the background.

Friday morning. Rainy, dark - it's not 6:30 yet. The B bus pulls up to the intersection, set to turn left onto 197. We're first in line to turn, having just missed the light. Some sort of accident has clearly happened on Irving; there are police and a paramedic van, emergency vehicle lights flashing and traffic flares, and the wet pavement is bouncing the lights everywhere. While we're waiting to turn, a van turning left from 197 hits a pedestrian - turns out to be a cop (the news tells us later that he was released from the hospital the next day) whose dark uniform couldn't compete with all the lights. Fortunately, the driver wasn't going at much speed. But by the time we got to turn, and I got dropped at the Metro stop, there were more police and more paramedics at the intersection.

Remember where the bus stop is? Also right there is a parked car with its four-way blinkers on. Just sitting.

Amazingly, he did not get rear-ended. The people making that right turn onto 197 were, I suppose, slowed down by the massive presence of emergency vehicles at the intersection and thus able to stop once they got around the curve to find their lane blocked. But the smooth flow of traffic was definitely impeded, and at least twice during the 198-left-turn cycle the cars turning right were backed up onto 198 east-bound. No-one honked; I imagine everyone figured he was somehow connected to the accident.

But no. As it turns out, he was just sitting there so his wife/girlfriend/sister wouldn't get wet while waiting for the bus. We figured that out when the 'not in service' Metro bus came around the corner and she got out of the car, then realized her mistake and got back in. When the 87 showed up, she got out and he drove away.

But, as I said to the guy waiting in the misting rain with me, if he had been rear-ended, at least the cops and paramedics were right there already.

It boggles the mind sometimes, what people will do. Instead of driving south on 197 a couple of blocks to the Park and Ride, this guy chose to disrupt traffic and put their lives in danger. On a normal day - one with no accident ongoing - people come around both sets of that 198-onto-197 pretty fast, especially the east-bound lanes who don't have a traffic light. As close as he was, in the dark, he'd have been extremely lucky not to get hit.