There are a lot of thing I expect to see lying along the side of a major highway. Mufflers fall off, I understand that. Tractor trailer tires explode and are left where they fall. Occasionally whole bed liners lift out of place and end up on the shoulder. Trash, animal carcasses, all manner of refuse of the civilized world ends up there at one time or another.

What I never expected to see on such a list is an entire steering wheel. Now, I know that the most likely explanation is that it fell of a truck hauling cars to the auto graveyard, but I can’t quite shake the image of a frustrated commuter finally pushed over the edge, pounding on the wheel, tearing it from the column, and flinging it from the car in a fit of traffic-induced rage. I can almost feel the singular moment of ecstasy and freedom just before the car slammed into the guardrail, nearby tree, or under the wheels of the neighboring 18-wheeler. The final scene of Braveheart comes to mind.