'13 miles of queues caused by ONLOOKERS'!!!

[PETRONELLAS]

Every day. Every day on the radio the travel report will say there's a crash on the (invariably) M25 but that there are long delays on the other carriageway caused by ONLOOKERS. This is lazy reporting. Granted, a few people may slow to look but many are unsure if the issue is on their own side or what is even going on. It's making me very annoyed.

Eh? It mostly is caused by rubberneckers slowing down to look and then speeding up again.

Well what are the delays caused by then if it isn't rubber-neckers? It only takes a few to slow down and gawp at what's happened for the effect to be felt for miles.

Hardly lazy-reporting

It is not 13 miles worth of onlookers, it is caused by one or two people slowing, probably because they have witness the accident, even on the other side of the carriage way.

[https://phys.org/news/2007-12-traffic-mystery-mathematicians.html it is physics]

I'll try that link again

it is physics

I think 'one or two people' is a gross underestimate.

As a copper I have seen my fair share of RTAs from the other side, and I'd say (conservatively) that 90% of people want to know and especially see what has happened.

I hardly ever look at an RTA I'm passing as firstly I've seen all I'll ever want to see, secondly I recognise it's an unnecessary distraction and lastly if I was the poor person who'd broken down/had an accident/was lying injured/having paramedic assistance I wouldn't want to be gawped at.

I think OP is annoyed that s/he may be blamed for being an onlooker when really, s/he's just trying to go about the day.

In 13 miles of traffic, not all are onlookers. It only takes a few cars to overbrake to cause big effects downstream.

It would be more accurate to ssay 13 miles of traffic caused by a few slowing to gawp

It's human nature to want to see what's happened. It's a protective mechanism to observe where something went wrong and to think of how you could avoid such accidents. When I've seen an accident where someone didn't take care with overtaking it makes me more careful to avoid a similar accident.

People are nosy, that's not new and that won't change. If they don't stop to take photos, we can consider ourselves lucky.

That said, everybody should slow down a bit when you see an accident: no emergency services on site means someone might need help, and even if I see the blue light flashing, I wouldn't wizz past at 60 miles per hour and risk running over someone. You slow down to be safe, don't you?

dontbuyanewmum It is irrelevant whether you look or not, if the car in front of you is not moving, then nor are you.

I actually think it's a natural response to slow down, what with the flashing lights, people standing on the road etc. etc you'd have to be pretty unobservant and unresponsive NOT to slow down.

Sorry meant to say that I agree with you OP "onlookers" is the wrong word.

This is why in Japan they get out these big blue tarps for serious incidents. You can see them on the news all the time.

But it probably was caused by onlookers. It's not a queue of onlookers, it's a queue caused by them.

Even if they're just looking to check whether their side of the road is affected, they're still looking on. The traffic reports need to stipulate why the traffic is slowing in the other direction - whether it's due to debris, police presence or lane closures or people just going past more slowly for whatever reason - as it will affect people's decisions about their journeys.

Onlookers feels like a less loaded term than 'rubberneckers'

This is one area where the plod could do something very easy..

Set up a camera to film everyone who passes the site of the "incident". Then charge every driver who spends their time looking sideways instead of the road in front.. and publish the number of prosecutions..

The message will soon get out.. DON'T RUBERNECK...

Itisnoteasybeingdifferent

how on earth would you police that? I have family members working in emergency services who had to jump out of the way more than a few times to avoid being run over because some moron was speeding - despite an obvious accident/ lights flashing/ traffic cones in place.

I do slow down, when the road is busy you don't have the choice anyway, and I'd rather be confused with a rubbernecker than hurting someone! It's completely ridiculous not to expect people to have a look at what's happening.
I am all for fining the ones taking photos! But you couldn't prosecute the passengers taking photos, could you?

Slowing down is the safe thing to do, but completely unnecessary if the accident is on the other carriageway.

Rubber necking when assistance is in place is not. What does anyone gain from looking at the aftermath / seeing people in distress? Eyes on the road, please.

I guess its human nature, you don't want to look but at the same time many can't help themselves :(

Caused by onlookers is perfectly accurate. It doesn't mean everyone in the queue is looking on, but the few who are are the ones causing the queue.

Rubbernecking doesn't exist.. it only takes a few people to slow down when they see a potential hazard, the cars behind subsequently slow down and this has the same effect to those behind them. Stands to reason.

When I was 17, I wrote my dad's brand new car off on the motorway (not my fault; the person who caused it with their sloppy lane changing didn't half speed off!!). Unbelievably given that we were doing about 80mph on a busy motorway at 5pm and I was in the fast lane, we only hit the barrier on the hard shoulder and not one of us even had whiplash (that was a good car!). All 4 tyres were blown and the car was an absolute mess, but we were fine.

Standing on the hard shoulder waiting for the police, I swear every single driver slowed down for a damn good gawp.

I also had someone leap off a bridge in front of the lorry next to me and bounce into my lane - that was utterly traumatic. Again, huge delays on my side of the motorway - and the other as everyone slowed down for a look.

It's so distasteful IMO. When I drive past any sort of accident I do my best not to look at all. Give people some privacy!

Obviously people will slow down for sensible reasons too, and sometimes that's essential for safe driving. But on those two occasions there were a great many who had no need to slow down, but did - I could see their faces turning to look through the windows!