You’re sitting in the short line at the I-5 southbound on-ramp at 45th, waiting for your turn to enter the freeway, when a Washington State Patrol car shoots past you in the carpool lane. The cop gets onto the freeway about 10 seconds before you do.

Once on the freeway, the cop immediately flips on his lights — but not his siren — and begins a slow, drunken weave across all the lanes of the freeway. Back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth.

Everybody on the interstate gives the cop a wide, wide berth as you slowly cross the Ship Canal bridge, staying well back.

Once across the bridge, the cop turns off his lights without fanfare and darts off the road at the Roanoke exit. Traffic immediately speeds up to normal.

WTF?

Theory 1: The Dalai Lama, or somebody else requiring a police escort, was trying to exit from 520 westbound onto I-5 south. The cops decided to give them some space to merge.

Theory 2: Washington State Patrol has finally lost it and decreed that traffic should never exceed 45 miles per hour on the ship canal bridge.

Theory 3: You have finally found the one man in Seattle who most desperately needs a vacation.