Cassi Creek: During
the morning hike with Mike the clouds were rolling around the high peaks and
threatening more rain. By1100 the sky
was beginning to clear. I took advantage
of the cooler, drier weather to drive to Greeneville and have the Pathfinder
washed and the summer’s accumulation of mold scrubbed off.
While the car
was being dried and polished up a bit, I noticed a group of what appeared to be
middle and high school aged girls across the street. They were wearing shorts and what were most
likely bikini tops. They were waving homemade
signs at the cars passing by on the bypass for 11 West, the major commercial
strip for Greeneville. Traffic at that
location is always constricted, most drivers following too close and too fast
for the driving conditions.
The girls
were bunched up at the edge of the traffic lane and trying to attract drivers
into their car wash. I didn’t see the
wreck, I heard it. I didn’t hear any
braking noise, just the sickening crunch as a smaller, older care plowed into
the back end of a full-sized sedan. The
sound of a horn blaring continuously followed closely.
I didn’t see
any ambulance or other medical support arrive.
Many of the occupants of the bigger car were wearing some sort of scrub
uniform. The smaller car was towed away
while traffic crawled by and the eastbound inner lane was finally opened up to
traffic again.
I doubt there
were any lessons learned. On my way
home, I had to travel past that location.
The girls were still bouncing around, dangerously close to the
traffic. The human eye follows
motion. Knowing the danger it involved I
was unable to avoid my gaze drifting to their jumping and bouncing.
It seemed as
if no major injuries happened during the incident. Even after the wreck, the adults who were
apparently supervising the girls made no effort to lengthen the distance
between humans and automobiles. No one
in the group acted as if they understood the risk of distracting drivers
passing by.
I don’t know
who was begging to wash cars and raise money.
I suspect, given the appearance of the group, that it was some private
school or home school group. I hope they
make it home safely without causing any more auto accidents.
It all comes out in the wash if someone jumps and bounces
around with sufficient energy and insufficient clothing.
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