Okay, maybe i'm over analyzing but the line "people turn away and I just had to laugh" reminds me of the lines "and though the news was rather sad/well, i just had to laugh" and "a crowd of people turned away/but i just had to look" from The Beatles' "A Day in the Life," which also has the parallel of relating to a car accident.
Okay, maybe i'm over analyzing but the line "people turn away and I just had to laugh" reminds me of the lines "and though the news was rather sad/well, i just had to laugh" and "a crowd of people turned away/but i just had to look" from The Beatles' "A Day in the Life," which also has the parallel of relating to a car accident.