Why does this not surprise me

[markomalley]

More news of a very healthy society:

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Body on I-95 halts traffic for hours

Police say it was hit by motorists in dark

By Melissa Harris

Sun Reporter

Originally published January 10, 2006

All northbound lanes of Interstate 95 in Howard County were shut down for more than seven hours yesterday, diverting thousands of motorists, as authorities dealt with the gruesome aftermath of a body that was struck by several passing vehicles, none of which stopped in the pre-dawn darkness.

The remains were so badly mangled that police could not immediately discern the body's race or gender or determine a cause of death. It is not known whether the person was a pedestrian hit and killed on the road, was pushed from a vehicle or was killed first and dumped on the road.

No unattended vehicle was found at the scene, apparently ruling out a motorist with car trouble being struck.

"We're treating this as a homicide investigation until we know why the person was where they were," said Maryland State Police 1st Sgt. Russell Newell.

The body was found on the interstate - a major north-south corridor that carries 200,000 motorists on a typical workday - between Routes 175 and 100 in Elkridge.

Police closed the northbound lanes of the highway shortly before 5 a.m., and more than 40 cadets from the Maryland State Police training academy were brought in to retrieve human remains, which were spread across a quarter-mile stretch of the road.

Newell described the scene as "gruesome."

"They did find various body parts," he said.

Southbound lanes were not closed, but traffic slowed as passing motorists viewed the scene.

Police said several vehicles apparently struck the body in the darkness and did not stop. As of last night, investigators had been able to reach one witness who called police with information and were asking other motorists who had driven on the stretch of highway between 4:30 a.m. and 5 a.m. to call them.

"I'm sure that there are other people out there who didn't realize that they witnessed something," Newell said. "It was dark, and they probably thought they hit a bump, pot hole or a deer."

Anyone with information is asked to call the state police Waterloo barracks at 410-799-2101.

The area has been the scene of an unusual number of serious accidents in recent days. A crash at the Route 175 exit ramp left two teens dead and sent a third to a hospital Friday. Three more people were flown to Maryland Shock Trauma Center yesterday after an accident at the intersection of Routes 175 and 108 around 5:30 a.m.

The final northbound lanes on I-95 did not open until 1 p.m., when police were confident they had recovered all the remains. Such lengthy shutdowns are rare for investigative purposes, said Dave Buck of the State Highway Administration.

The last time I-95 shut down for such a long time was when a gasoline tanker exploded in Prince George's County the day before Thanksgiving last year, ripping apart the asphalt and forcing work crews to repave the road.

Bob Lande, who lives in Columbia, said his 40-minute commute to Baltimore took more than two hours yesterday.

Lande, who works at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health/Center for Communication Programs, began his trip by getting onto eastbound Route 32 from Cedar Lane. "It [Route 32] was already backed up," Lande said.

He said traffic was "creeping along" as he proceeded onto northbound I-95. However, all lanes were shut down at Route 175. Once on Route 175 eastbound, Lande tried to get onto northbound U.S. 1, but that also was blocked.

Lande stayed eastbound on Route 175 and went north on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway.

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As somebody who usually takes I-95 North every day to work, the cars not stopping, I hate to say, don't surprise me very much. (No, I wasn't one of them...I took side roads to work that day, thank you very much)

But it is a pretty bad commentary on society when so many of them don't stop.

On edit, to add a hyperlink and the graphic.

Edited January 10, 2006 by markomalley

[Belle]

Mark, that's just AWFUL!! So pathetic.

I was going home from work one day and saw a gal on the side of the road and she looked pretty upset. Had her hood up and the doors to the car open. It was a typical scorching hot day in Florida and traffic was creeping along at about 5 miles per hour.

As I got close enough to her, I pulled over and told her I was mechanically stupid, but that I did have a cell phone and some water in my car. She said that I was THE FIRST car out of the thousands that had creeped by to stop and see if she was okay or needed any help. :(

She had already called someone to come help her with the car, but gladly took the water jug that I offered her. THEN, as I was trying to get back into traffic not one idiot would even let me back in. I sat there laughing with her at the insensitivity and selfishness of all those commuters. Took me a good 15 minutes and waving down a co-worker coming by to let me in. Pretty sad when you think about how rude people are these days.....

[excathedra]

i'm thankful the society i live in is not like this