Traffic Troubles

Nikki and I really enjoy our urban lifestyle here in St Petersburg, especially now that the weather is tolerable and even enjoyable on most days. We walk everywhere and love it. Specifically over the summer we are averaging using the car only once a week to go to the grocery store. The traffic here has been at times unbearable hence we prefer to go to the grocery store as early as we can (not quite Army early, but definitely before 9am). One of the rules of the road here that we find incomprehensible is that in the event of an accident no cars involved in the accident are allowed to move, at all, until the police investigators (not the everyday Police which stand on every street corner) and "insurance" investigators arrive to investigate the accident. As most accident occur at intersections and stop lights this causes insane backups as cars jockey their way around the accident. Thankfully sidewalk driving here is not only tolerated but expected. Anyhow on one of my summer walks I walked by an accident investigator doing his thing. Check out the pictures below and notice- 1. The accident is a front / rear collision and hardly even a fender bender, if the investigation is to determine fault I am pretty sure the guy that needed the bumper of the car in front of him to help him stop in time at the intersections red light is probably at fault, if the investigation is to verify damages at the scene I am sure a camera or cell phone camera even can achieve the desired effect.
2. In the above picture they are measuring the length of the car... yes apparently blocking traffic to determine the stock length of a mass produced modern vehicle that certainly is listed somewhere else is well worth the wait of the significant portion of the city that is waiting to cross this intersection. (And notice how helpful the cars driver is in the endeavor as he smokes a cigarette obviously in the way of the measuring, its ok the drivers behind you can wait for you to finish that well deserved smoke, I mean someone ran into you)
3. I stayed to watch this accident investigation for about 20 minutes, as I have driven by them before or walked past them but never had the time to stay and see how long they really take, I waited 20 minutes and then left, but the investigation looked no closer to done at the time I left from the time I arrived.
Rest assured we will continue to enjoy walking every place that we can in the city.