Khamelion
Tour Winner
Rubber neckers, either take their licenses off them or give them blinkers, they are a menace on the roads.
Rubber Neckers
- Thread starter Khamelion
- Start date
cookelad
Tour Winner
Run someone's backside?
They're a pain in the ar$e more interested in someone else's problems than what they're doing!
They're a pain in the ar$e more interested in someone else's problems than what they're doing!
I never understand this abuse against slowing down when approaching an accident 
God forbid it's someone you know (but it's happened), would you rather people didnt slow down and didnt look? I'm not talking about the parasites that slow to nearly a stop and get out the camera phone, but maybe, just maybe when you slow down you might not hit the dazed accident victims who might wander out, or possibly, just possibly you might stop to help!
God forbid it's someone you know (but it's happened), would you rather people didnt slow down and didnt look? I'm not talking about the parasites that slow to nearly a stop and get out the camera phone, but maybe, just maybe when you slow down you might not hit the dazed accident victims who might wander out, or possibly, just possibly you might stop to help!
SwingsitlikeHogan
Major Champion
I don't get it either.
If I was driving along a motorway at 70mph and ahead of me on the other side I saw an accident happen I would instinctively slow down significantly - not to look but just out of 'shock' and a degree of fear in case the accident spills over to my carriageway. On our busy motorways this has an immediate backing up effect as all cars behind me break and this flows backwards through the traffic on my side very quickly - effective it is a 'wave' travelling down the cars. This is a well understood physical effect and is easily modelled using mathematical 'wave theory' and so the 'front' of the traffic slowing down moves very quickly backwards - essentially at a speed equivalent to the difference between my original speed of 70mph and my slowed speed of say 40mph - so the 'front' of the slowing traffic travels back down the motorway at 30mph. And as the wave moves backwards the slowed speed reduces until the car at the front of the wave doesn't just slow down but it stops - and so do all cars behind it as the front of the wave hits them.
Of course the opposite effect occurs when the front of the wave - me - speeds up again after I've passed the accident. It takes a few seconds before the car behind me starts to speed up, and after that car a few more seconds before the car behind that one starts to speed up. So in a queue of say 200 cars, with each car taken 5 seconds to get going after the one in front - the rear car will only get going about 1000seconds after I do - that's 17minutes just to get going - and that assumes that everything then goes smoothly - which it doesn't - it bunches - and more braking waves are sent rippling back down the queue.
Anyway - was I rubber necking when I braked - nope - and the car behind me - nope etc. Maybe drivers in passengers of cars in the queue who haven't yet been able to speed up when they pass the accident will look - but they didn;t slow down to do so.
I'll go lie down now.
If I was driving along a motorway at 70mph and ahead of me on the other side I saw an accident happen I would instinctively slow down significantly - not to look but just out of 'shock' and a degree of fear in case the accident spills over to my carriageway. On our busy motorways this has an immediate backing up effect as all cars behind me break and this flows backwards through the traffic on my side very quickly - effective it is a 'wave' travelling down the cars. This is a well understood physical effect and is easily modelled using mathematical 'wave theory' and so the 'front' of the traffic slowing down moves very quickly backwards - essentially at a speed equivalent to the difference between my original speed of 70mph and my slowed speed of say 40mph - so the 'front' of the slowing traffic travels back down the motorway at 30mph. And as the wave moves backwards the slowed speed reduces until the car at the front of the wave doesn't just slow down but it stops - and so do all cars behind it as the front of the wave hits them.
Of course the opposite effect occurs when the front of the wave - me - speeds up again after I've passed the accident. It takes a few seconds before the car behind me starts to speed up, and after that car a few more seconds before the car behind that one starts to speed up. So in a queue of say 200 cars, with each car taken 5 seconds to get going after the one in front - the rear car will only get going about 1000seconds after I do - that's 17minutes just to get going - and that assumes that everything then goes smoothly - which it doesn't - it bunches - and more braking waves are sent rippling back down the queue.
Anyway - was I rubber necking when I braked - nope - and the car behind me - nope etc. Maybe drivers in passengers of cars in the queue who haven't yet been able to speed up when they pass the accident will look - but they didn;t slow down to do so.
I'll go lie down now.
cookelad
Tour Winner
It's one thing stopping if the accident happens right in front of you (been there done that and hopefully never again!) but when the police ambulance and necessary people are there to help those in the incident yes slow down so that they are safe but coming to a crawl is unnecessary and risks causing more accidents when the concertina effect really narrows.
SwingsitlikeHogan
Major Champion
You've got to remember that the first car to brake and slow down will not slow to a crawl. The backwards moving braking wave (that results in what looks like a concertina) is what causes the problem. The first few cars may keep going at say 40mph but very quickly the queue is too long for everyone to keep at 40mph and the slowed speed of each successive car 'hit' by the braking wave gradually reduces. Because the wave hits cars approaching the back of the queue is moving faster than the speed at which cars speed up at the front - the queue gets longer and even if the slowing increment of cars reaching the back of the queue is only 1mph you can see it doesn't take that long on a busy road for the back of the queue to have to stop. And then cars reach the back of the queue quicker than cars can clear off the front and as the back is stationary so the queue grows. That's why it can take ages for a queue on a busy motorway to clear after the accident has been moved out of the way - and the same for the other side of the road.
And all you need for this to happen is for someone to make a sudden drop in speed for even a fairly short period on a very busy road.
And all you need for this to happen is for someone to make a sudden drop in speed for even a fairly short period on a very busy road.
Minhoca
Assistant Pro
Crawling past is fine, but spinning your head a full 180 to gawp at whats going on is dangerous and unecessary. Can lead to another smack and more inconvenience for everyone.
SwingsitlikeHogan
Major Champion
Agree - that's ghoulish - but not really the issue. We continually hear of queues on motorways past an accident on the other side from the accident being blamed on 'rubber-neckers' slowing down to look - and that's really just not the case. The first car brakes hard out of shock and the rest happens.
Khamelion
Tour Winner
Hey don't get me wrong, I'm all for helping if an accident occurs, but what really boils my blood is when an accident has happened on the opposite carriage way, and everyone not involved has to slow down to gawp.
Why??
Just drive past, the accident doesn't concern you, the only thing you are doing is slowing traffic unnecessarily and causing tail backs.
It doesn't matter if it is a major accident or two cars that have rear ended, if it's not on your carriage way then move along and stop being a nuisance. You would get no thanks from the police for stopping and for that matter how would you cross the motorway without being killed?
If the accident is on your carriage way then obviously common sense says you slow down, you take precautions and if appropriate and safe to do so you can try to warn others behind.
If I had £100 for the number of times my 10mins drive down the motorway to home has taken 30mins plus because of rubber neckers, I wouldn't need to work, well maybe I would have to work, but I wouldn't need to be on-call any more
Frivilous comment aside, if an accident is not on your carriage way it is quite simply none of your concern.
Why??
Just drive past, the accident doesn't concern you, the only thing you are doing is slowing traffic unnecessarily and causing tail backs.
It doesn't matter if it is a major accident or two cars that have rear ended, if it's not on your carriage way then move along and stop being a nuisance. You would get no thanks from the police for stopping and for that matter how would you cross the motorway without being killed?
If the accident is on your carriage way then obviously common sense says you slow down, you take precautions and if appropriate and safe to do so you can try to warn others behind.
If I had £100 for the number of times my 10mins drive down the motorway to home has taken 30mins plus because of rubber neckers, I wouldn't need to work, well maybe I would have to work, but I wouldn't need to be on-call any more
Frivilous comment aside, if an accident is not on your carriage way it is quite simply none of your concern.
Khamelion
Tour Winner
What is also really annoying, and my dad has pointed this out to me, is that when an accident has occurred, all the emergency services are in attendance and the carriage way has been filtered down to one lane past the accident, that is when the rubber neckers have a good gawp, slowing down to have a good look.
He lost count of the number of times he was waving cars past, telling them to speed up, even resulting to smacking the cars roof to make a point. My dad, now retired was a traffic officer for over 30yrs.
He lost count of the number of times he was waving cars past, telling them to speed up, even resulting to smacking the cars roof to make a point. My dad, now retired was a traffic officer for over 30yrs.
SwingsitlikeHogan
Major Champion
Hmmm - clearly not explaining well enough why it need not be general rubber-necking that causes traffic to slow down resulting in tailbacks. Once again. The tailback will happen as a result of a car coming upon an accident as it happens or very soon after it has happened. The driver brakes suddenly and slows down significantly as a result of the shock of what they've just witnessed. The accident needn't be that serious - but when you are driving at 70-80mph+ ANY accident you witness will cause you to gasp a bit and brake.
Khamelion
Tour Winner
No need to explain again, I fully understand, I mean it's been proven that for every minute a car is stationary on the motorway the resulting queue increases by 1 mile.
But to play devils advocate, what you are saying is; You are driving down the motorway and you witness a crash on the opposite carriage way, you, then brake hard out of shock and the result is a braking wave going back down the carriage way with the further it goes the longer and slower the queue.
If that is what you do, then I can only write that the drivers behind you must concentrate more on the road in front of them to avoid crashing into you.
But to play devils advocate, what you are saying is; You are driving down the motorway and you witness a crash on the opposite carriage way, you, then brake hard out of shock and the result is a braking wave going back down the carriage way with the further it goes the longer and slower the queue.
If that is what you do, then I can only write that the drivers behind you must concentrate more on the road in front of them to avoid crashing into you.
stevelev
Journeyman Pro
I think for all major incidents they should put hoarding screens around the incident to prevent rubber necking.
JustOne
Ryder Cup Winner
It's human nature, don't know what all the fuss is about. You can hardly go speeding past a crash scene so therefore as you dribble past it's only natural to be surprised at witnessing something 'unusual' (eg: a car on it's roof) such that it turns your head. Rather like saying you wouldn't look if some lass got her fun bags out 
Agree that they should (somehow) screen off accidents asap if it was viable to do so.
Agree that they should (somehow) screen off accidents asap if it was viable to do so.
ScienceBoy
Money List Winner
I remember going past an accident once, 3 lanes filtered to one. I was going at what I thought was a safe speed to pass and the guy waved me to speed up! I made a judgement on speed out of experience, not to gawp.
I do a lot of motorway driving at the moment so I do see a lot of people gawping at accidents. I slow down just to give me more time when they swerve!
Khamelion
Tour Winner
The job of the Police officers at the scene of an accident other than gather data to find out what happened, is to keep traffic flowing if possible and to do so as quickly and safely as possible.
Myself personally I do not look at accidents that have happened, I like to keep my concentration on the car in front, I need to know when they are going to brake, so I can leave enough get out jail room, for when the car behind fails to notice I'm slowing.
Myself personally I do not look at accidents that have happened, I like to keep my concentration on the car in front, I need to know when they are going to brake, so I can leave enough get out jail room, for when the car behind fails to notice I'm slowing.
Gawd forbid it's someone you know or they're trying to get your attention, it's a bit of a myopic view. Good drivers are aware of all their surroundings
:ears:
MegaSteve
Tour Winner
Unfortunately, at times, the 'normal' human trait of curiosity borders on the macabre...
I was at the race meeting Jo Siffert perished in a fiery accident... Those of us relatively close to the incident started moving away whilst those further away from the scene seemingly started making their way towards it....
A friend was in a very serious accident on the M4... He told us that he remembers that whilst being trapped in his almost crushed vehicle others driving by actually made eye contact with him!
I was at the race meeting Jo Siffert perished in a fiery accident... Those of us relatively close to the incident started moving away whilst those further away from the scene seemingly started making their way towards it....
A friend was in a very serious accident on the M4... He told us that he remembers that whilst being trapped in his almost crushed vehicle others driving by actually made eye contact with him!
SwingsitlikeHogan
Major Champion
agree on all thought upon ghoulish, disrespectful and dangerous behaviour of rubber-neckers when passing an accident - but they are generally not to blame for any tailback.
Khamelion
Tour Winner
For some reason the quote system is not qorking on my PC, but in reply to Darth, what difference is it going to make if it is someone I know or if someone is trying to get my attention? I'm driving on the opposite side of the carriage way, with 2 possibly 3 lanes of traffic, where would you suggest someone stops safely to offer assistance, the hard shoulder is for emergencies only, and stopping to try and cross 2 or 3 lanes of motorway traffic is just plain fool hardy.
