I'm on my way to work this AM (driving the M3). Somewhere between 5:30 and 5:45, ripping along ~90mph in the carpool lane (legal until 6:00am, well, the carpool lane part) when I see something ahead that just doesn't look quite right. I lift, try to get a closer look and HOLY ***** and slam on the brakes. There was a black/dark blue SUV 45 degrees sideways in the carpool lane! I'm glad I have ABS, and I think this is the 2nd time I've ever used it. I stopped about 10 feet from the driver's door. Luckily the guy closing fast behind me had ABS too, or I would have been creamed. I heard two sets of tire squeals beyond him.
I don't know all the details, but apparently Mr Rocket Scientist had some mech issue based on the fact that the hood was up and there was a good puddle of fluid on the ground, and for whatever reason, decided the best course of action was to exit stage
left, and somehow couldn't get all the way over. But that wasn't enough! Our future Nobel Prize winner also decided it would be a good idea to turn
off his lights, and hazard flashers would just call attention to his plight and make him look like a pussy, so let's not use those, either! But wait, there's more: for the hat trick, he somehow manges to
lock himself out of the SUV!
Someone else had stopped to help, but they had pulled
ahead of the sideways SUV, so they were behind the SUV from the perspective of oncoming traffic. What I originally saw that caused me to react was the side reflectors of the SUV and one of the taillights of the other vehicle, which was too far left to be 'normal'. One guy was standing there looking at the engine, while the other guy was pulling angrily on the driver's side door handle and cussin' up a storm. Traffic was backing up pretty good now, and I spent several minutes waiting for a spot to get back into traffic.
I wasn't even going to post this, but a co-worker just came in and said "Wow, did you see the huge wreck?!" I imagine someone came along who was just a little less observant than I was.
