Slump driving

Stopping your car under a viaduct at night could remind you of being in your own garage at home, right?

Friday night as my wife and I were heading to a restaurant with some friends we had to navigate around a car strangely stopped in the middle of the road (going under the tracks just west of the Cortland street bridge, for you Chicagoans). As we drove past we glanced over to see the driver of the stopped car slumped over the wheel and looking very unwell. We stopped. Our friends stopped. Traffic stopped. My friend, an M.D., did a quick check. The driver was alive, but doc thought he O.D.’ed. We gently roused him, stopped the car (which was — oddly — in park), and removed him and the keys.

The paramedics and cops eventually came and we went on our way. I’m not sure the guy was drunk, but he was clearly on something. I’m convinced he thought he had pulled into his garage, calmly put the car in park, and then blacked out. Not that he’s not an idiot, mind you. Just my theory.