Mysterious Traffic Jam Solved: UPDATED
You've all experienced them. Traffic slows or grinds to a halt. You creep along for a while and then traffic starts moving again. No sign of an accident, no one getting a ticket.
That happened to me today; but, the mystery was solved. I could see traffic picking up about a half mile ahead. When I got nearer, I could see a van on the side of the expressway with a police car facing it. As I got nearer, I saw a man and a woman walking in the direction of traffic and a policeman walking backwards in front of them. Then the cause appeared. The lady was leading a llama.
A bit ahead of them, there was a horse trailer, or I suppose properly, a llama trailer pulled over with an "animal ambulance" next to it. Same size and configuration as a human ambulance. A paramedic (?) was walking toward the human/llama procession.
It was then time to speed up. There's a story there that I'll never know. Had the llama just wandered on to the expressway and the police, ambulance and hauler dispatched to handle it? Had the llama escaped the trailer and was it being rounded up? Had the man and woman let it out of the van (it was maybe four foot tall and would have fit in the van) to let it stretch it's legs?
What do you think? Well, here's the UPDATE: ajc.com reports what actually happened, less interesting than my surmise.
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/northfulton/stories/2008/04/04/llamas_0404.html
11 comments:
Ignorance of the llama is no excuse.
I wish all traffic jams were that simple to figure out. We have those all the time and to this day I have no idea why people insist on doing 40 on the interstate.
"Smalley said traffic was moving between 35-40 mph, when they came out of their trailer near the Northside Drive exit.'
Really, traffic on I285 was moving at 35-40 MPH. You don't say.
When I got there it was moving at about 10 m.p.h.
Actually, at about 2:30 p.m. 285 is usually moving at close to the limit at Northside.
I chose not to read the click through. I like the idea of it being mysterious. My dad was an engineer for CalTrans, designing freeways in California. He told me that the source of the jam is, oddly, the place where traffic again picks up the pace. It is the flow of traffic adjusting that makes for the jams.
Wow, who would have thunk it. I live in a very rual area,livestock aplenty, and have never had a traffic jam due to a llama, you big city folks have the best stuff happen to you. Although it is not uncommon to have to slow for a chicken crossing the road..and yes the inevitable question is why is he crossing the road?
w
I'm sorry that I missed your trip to Biloxi, I would have asked you to send me something:-)
Only in the South would a llama interrupt traffic.
Glad no llamas were injured in the making of this blog. Pos, thanks for the giggle.
Wow a llama! I've only seen them in a zoo.
If I had a dollar for every time a llama slowed down my commute...
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