Stalled Cavalcade

On my way to work today there were a dozen cars stopped by the side of the road at varying intervals, but all within about a mile of each other. Really. It wasn't more than a mile from the first car I saw to the last, and there were so many that I started counting: 12. Most had blinkers on and/or people standing around with cell phones. What the . . . ? And this was on a major 8-lane highway at the end of rush hour. Oh, and I didn't see any signs of colision or dammage. Weird.