Tragic Traffic?!

Sorry for the long hiatus. I promise to try and update more frequently. I've been burning to share this since yesterday evening. It's nigh unto unbelievable. So I'm driving southbound on I-15 about 6:30 last night and I flip over to KSL Radio to check out what's on. They have a nice little program called Radio TiVO. (Hope they have the copyright stuff all straightened out for that). It's essentially a recap of all the big news in Utah and Nationally from the previous week with two hosts-- Mary Richards and Adam Thomas. In their own words, I get to enjoy "everything from gas prices to construction on our roadways." It's OK, and kind of fun to review some of the bigger stories of the week--including the Obama Sock Puppet Monkey Incident. (Nice black eye for Utah). So, I'm tootling along, minding my own slightly-speeding business, enjoying the drive, when out of the blue, Mary makes the following comment-gem about the "horrible week for traffic:" Mary Richards:"There was this fatal accident...this distracted driver doesn't see this stopped car and runs into the back of it and kills two people. 19-year-old (girl) and her little brother...who is 14 were in the back seat of that car and they were killed. But in taking care of that accident, crews...that was only the beginning. Awful enough that these two people were killed, there was a HUGE backup of traffic waiting for the scene to be cleared and what it did to the road was what was awful." Really?! What it did to the road was what was awful?! Two teenagers have lost their lives because someone was texting or otherwise distracted and the mess the accident creates is the truly awful thing?! At that moment, I tried in vain to vomit. However, some inchoate part of my soul warned me that if I rolled down the window and vomited directly onto the street, the mess I would make in doing so could create a traffic tragedy on par with the Black Death. So, mostly because I did not want to be mentioned on next week's Radio TiVO myself, I opted for quiet disgust instead. After the initial nausea, though, I keep praying that Mary's gonna retract that statement or make some correction of what she intended versus what she said. "There's NO WAY she really meant that, right? Right...? Please.........?" Wrong. To my dismay: Nothing. Not a peep. What I do get is a minute or two analysis of how HORRIBLE, TRAGIC, and MIND-NUMBINGLY AWFUL the traffic backup was. Listening to Mary and Adam, these people must have been stuck in traffic for HOURS! How they could live through that mess is a miracle. I mean, come on, people! These unfortunates might have missed some of their favorite summer TV reruns!!! Horrible. Tragic. Awful. But then, the capstone. Mary outshines herself. In her most sympathetic tone, our most sensitive Radio TiVO anchor aches for those people stuck in the traffic caused by the fatal accident: "I really feel bad for people who were out in that. They had to clean it up though! They had to re-do that whole thing." Those poor traffic goers. Imagine if their AC had gone out! Worse, think of those poor, poor UDOT employees. Forced to do what they get paid to do!! But you wanna know how KSL's Radio TiVO segued out of that? THE VERY NEXT SEGMENT WAS--I KID YOU NOT--HOW CEREAL BOXES HAVE BEEN SHRINKING OVER THE YEARS. HORROR! TRAGEDY! AWFULNESS!!! I'm sorry if the sarcasm is laid on a bit thick at this point, but I don't know how to more forcefully express my angst at this complete insensitivity. I wanted to reach through the radio and bonk Mary Richards on the head, grab her by the shoulders and shout "Are you serious?!" Two young people lost their lives. That is the tragedy. That should serve as a warning to drivers everywhere to stay alert and attentive at all times. That cannot be compared to traffic woes. Who knows what they could have done, what they could have been, where they could have gone? And now they can't. My heart goes out to their family. Nothing will ever compensate for that loss. And I'm sorry that some of our local reporters lost sight of that.