San Diego, California, is not a surprising place where one would see plenty of traffic jams. So, it’s not hard to imagine why Reddit user Kingsman22060 initially thought nothing of a long freeway line of cars near an exit. It wasn’t until they reached the end that they encountered quite the shocker: dozens of people were lined up behind a box truck sitting at a standstill at the end. What’s absurd is that there was an entirely open lane next to it.
“This lane is usually backed up this time of day so I didn’t think much of it til I got to the front,” Kingsman explained, which is why they found the actual reason behind the traffic jam so surprising. For clarification, the reason was that those further and further behind the box truck didn’t know it had stopped with nothing in front of it.
Once the line started building up, it clearly became almost impossible to stop, with dozens of cars lining up behind one another. Despite there being an empty lane to the left, no one was moving over. Redditors were quick to call out the folly of those waiting in the pointless traffic.
“That’s hilarious,” laughed one commenter. “Ah yes, the NPC’s,” chuckled a second. More continued to insult the drivers, some calling them “morons,” “monkeys,” and “robots.” “I would lose my mind,” remarked another user.
People in the Back Clearly Couldn’t See the Stopped Box Truck Blocking the Traffic at the Front
On the flip side, many understood that it was impossible for many of those in the back to know why the traffic had formed. A few blamed the box truck driver for not taking action: “Everyone’s thinking the exit is blocked and so they’re patiently waiting in line and can’t see past the truck. Box truck driver should really be waving people around,” suggested a Redditor.
Others added that, even though an entire lane is open, coming to a standstill on a freeway and then trying to merge into traffic zipping by at 70mph+ is far from easy, if not dangerous. Even Kingsman admitted that they should have anticipated someone trying to move over: “Yeah I 100% should have slowed down. I left an entire lane between me and the line of cars but still, not smart to go that fast.”
In the end, it’s quite an interesting social experiment of sorts, seeing people line up on a highway, thinking that there must be a reason for lining up. That box truck driver definitely could have signaled for others to go around them, though, considering they could have seen the traffic building up behind them.
