OTR Morning Drive Nightmare

Last week was a particularly difficult one for me. While on a short tour of duty in P.G. County (near Washington D.C.), my mission was put on hold as my team was called to the site of a serious traffic accident. The fatal crash, which resulted in the death of one our employees, occurred when a chemically-impaired driver T-boned one of our vehicles at an intersection. Having spent nearly 4 hours conducting and investigation and reconstruction of the occurrence, I had the opportunity to interact with several local authorities. As you can imagine, fatal accidents draw a large response at the scene. I left P.G. County with a heavy heart. The deceased employee was a co-worker and friend of mine.

I returned to P.G. yesterday to complete last week's unfinished mission. Folks think I'm nuts, but I leave Southern PA very early on the morning commutes that take me anywhere near D.C. The goal is to be on I-95 or I-495 well ahead of rush hour crazies! After my experience on I-95, after entering P.G. county, I may have to re-think my travel tactics.

Picture a 5-lane Interstate, maybe 20 minutes before first light of day, moderate traffic, and you're my passenger. We are in "lane 2" (lane one = the right-most travel lane). There's traffic around us but I'm maintaining good space cushions to the sides and front. There's a tri-axle dump truck in front of us on lane 3, it's tailgating several vehicles ahead of it. Lanes 4 and 5 are moderately populated with "zoomers" - you know the type, if the posted speed limit is 65 mph, these assholes do 80+. We about 3 miles from our exit.

On our right (lane 1) we are overtaken by 2 P.G. County Police cruisers travelling in "tight formation" (nice way of saying kissing bumpers). I'm doing about 60 mph, keeping back from the dump truck. The 2 police cars merge into my lane and begin overtaking the dump truck. No turn signals mind you . . . no sirens or light bars . . . these guys are just motoring along.

Crusier # 1 cuts into lane 3 filling a small space between the truck and the vehicles ahead of it, then continues to merge into lane 4 to join the zoomers. Cruiser #2, "what the fuck is this guy thinking?", tries the same move. I have no idea what event up ahead changed the choreography of the traffic flow, but suddenly Crusier #2 hits his brakes, comes back into my lane, re-sets his mark, and goes for the lane change in front of the dump truck again! Don't worry rider, I've already dropped our speed to adjust . . . thank God, the dump truck panic brakes and goes sideways straddling lanes 3 and 4. Cruiser #2 completes his lane changes and if off to catch his buddy in Cruiser #1. Fucking morons, impervious to situation they caused and left behind them.

By this time, my SUV is swallowed up in a cloud of smoking rubber. I glance over to left, see that I'm past the dump truck, unscathed. Vehicles in lanes 3, 4, and 5 . . . no so lucky. I heard 2 impacts. The first I believe was the truck taking out a vehicle to his left, and the second was either that vehicle going into the median guardrail or another vehicle.

I don't know what possessed me, but after a short talk with my guard angel and word of thanks to my Maker, my first thought was getting the license plate # of one of the cruisers. By the time I talked myself out of it, I too far past the scene to be of any assistance.

I've developed a distaste for Prince George's County, their highway users, and I'm thinking some of their police officers need a huge wake up call when it comes to defensive driving.