As I drove home yesterday, I saw a police car racing south on I-87. I figured the officer was chasing down a speeder, tho I hadn't noticed anyone driving fast on the other side of the highway. Then a second police cruiser zoomed past. This was curious. Where were they headed. It occurred to me that maybe they were rushing to the scene of an accident.
Up ahead, I spotted more flashing lights and initially figured that the accident must be just up ahead of me. I was partly right, but the lights I saw weren't rotating blue and red; they were blazing orange and yellow. Soon enough I noticed the flames and the truck they were attached to. The driver of the truck had pulled off the road and was about 200 feet ahead of the blaze. Presumably he'd noticed a problem, pulled onto the shoulder, and gotten out to alert authorities.
As I drove past, I could feel the intense heat radiating off the truck. It must have been over 1000 degrees.
Within a few minutes, the road was closed off behind the truck; it isn't really safe to drive past fully engulfed trucks, as they do have a wee tendency to explode. The police shut down the highway for a few minutes, and after three more drivers had passed me, I had the eerie experience of being the only driver on the road for miles and miles.
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Followers
My New Paltz blog...about moving to, and life in, New Paltz
The life of a country mouse, from the eyes of a city mouse
LINKS
About Me
- voiceofsocietyman
- My pesky alter ego who will set you right if you break one of the unwritten rules of getting along
2 comments:
Not sure videotaping while driving is the safety-conscious choice.
True! But stopping wasn't an option bc of the danger, and there were no other cars around me for about a mile. I felt that the amazing video merited a bit of risk, and I made sure not to take my eyes off the road for more than a second at a time.
Post a Comment