Local resident encounters scary behavior from motorists amid Northern Lights: 'Dangerous and disturbing'

Seeing the northern lights is a memorable experience. This spectacular, otherworldly glow in the sky is commonplace for those who live in far northern latitudes, but for the rest of the world, the northern lights can stop you in your tracks.

But that doesn't mean you should literally stop in your tracks while driving should you happen to see the northern lights, as pointed out by a recent Reddit user in Norway who posted on the r/tromsotravel subreddit.

The Redditor posted a photo of a car driven by tourists stopped in the middle of the road, at night, with its doors open right into the road. The northern lights are visible in the skies above a distant hill. A lovely place to view the northern lights but a terrible and dangerous place to park a car.

In the post, the Redditor noted that after the car stopped, a group of people got out to look at the lights before eventually returning to their car and continuing on before stopping again. With seemingly total disregard for other drivers on the road. "It was very dangerous and disturbing," wrote the poster.

It's not just the northern lights that get tourists stopping their cars in the middle of the road. At American national parks with large populations of big animals, like Yellowstone, it's common to see tourists park cars in the middle of the road to photograph passing bison or grizzly bears.

But whether it's impressive animals or awesome celestial light shows, it's important to remember that just because we see something amazing while driving doesn't mean traffic rules suddenly don't exist or that we don't have to consider the people we're sharing the road with. Both traffic rules and common courtesy exist to keep people safe.

The stop-and-go drivers, in this case, probably would have taken better photos had they pulled off the road, stayed awhile, and concentrated on shooting great images of the northern lights.

Kudos to the Redditor for pointing out the danger in this situation. Hopefully, safer roads — and better photos — are the result.

The commenters agreed.

Do you worry about air pollution in your town? All the time 💯 Often 😢 Only sometimes 😟 Never 😎 Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.

"Weaving along the road at 30 kph in an 80 zone will at best enrage locals trying to get somewhere and at worst cause a deadly crash," wrote one.

"Parking pocket a few meters ahead. This is just sad," said another.

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