Rubberneckers

[bungeejumper]

Grrr, I hate them. Yesterday, coming up the M5 at 5 pm, the gantries were giving advance warnings of a 30 minute delay between junctions 22 and 20, and sure enough the entire motorway dropped to a standstill. And for what?

http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/brist ... -on-M5.jpg

Yep, a van had left the road six hours earlier and was embedded in the verge. No police, no ambulances (indeed, no casualties, I think?), no obstruction of the carriageway, no debris in the road. Nothing!

Nothing except rubberneckers, all slowing down to a crawl to have a look, presumably in the hope of seeing a bit of blood or something. And probably taking snaps on their mobiles. That's forty minutes of my life I'm ever going to get back. And now multiply that by the tens of thousands of other people's forty minutes, and....

Grrrr. Hanging them by their dangly bits is too good for them.

BJ

[Slarti]

Some years ago there had been a big tanker crash at M25 J6 anticlockwise. I was going the other way and at that time of my life had not realised life is quicker in the slow lane.

Chap in front of me, in lane 3 of 3, stopped to have a good gawp at what was going on on the other side.

I blasted my horn like crazy and a couple of coppers on the other side made urgent gestures for the ghoul to move on, which he did.

I really do not understand some people.


Slarti

[didds]

I've often wondered if the majority of RNs did so because they have already slowed/stopped so have a gander as they are there anyway.

but the bloke Slarti describes takes the biscuit!

didds

[bungeejumper]

I've often wondered if the majority of RNs did so because they have already slowed/stopped so have a gander as they are there anyway.

but the bloke Slarti describes takes the biscuit!

Trying to be charitable to them ( ), I guess you may have a point there. I wonder how hard it would be for the Highways Authority Wombles just to cover up a crashed vehicle with a dark tarpaulin so that there was nothing worth looking at? (After the police had finished taking their pics, of course.)

I will freely confess that there was one occasion when I also took a swift peek at a crashed vehicle. I was heading up the M5 northbound near Brum when the traffic slowed to a near-halt. And there, in the outer lane of the southbound carriageway, was a prison transfer van lying on its side, with the "helicopter ID" number on its roof in full view.

It seemed only natural to scan the scene for any sign of East End gangsters with shooters. And it was almost a bit disappointing that there were none. I blame The Bill. (Seriously, the likelihood that there'd be pedestrians in the road, on either carriageway, was a valid reason for the traffic to slow to a crawl.)

BJ

[midnightcatprowl]

I suppose there is an issue in this that if people didn't feel a certain desire to 'look', then on occasion the emergency services would not be called and/or individuals would make no attempt to stop and help if they just assumed everything was already being dealt with. I appreciate of course that this does not apply to situations where motorway or roadside signage indicates that an accident has occurred or where a group of emergency vehicles is already gathered around an accident scene!

N.B. I had a personal experience of an irate police officer who was directing traffic around an accident on a motorway where there was already a huge tailback. He was desperate for motorists to MOVE, he was mad with the car in front of me and even madder with me for not moving faster. I didn't feel it was the right moment to lean out and point out to him that in his eagerness and frantic 'come on' signalling he'd stuck out one foot for balance into what was already a very narrow path for traffic to take and we were all going even slower in the attempt not to run over it.

[marronier]

Do you also find it puzzling that motorists will happily slow to walking pace to gawp at an accident ,but required to slow to 50 mph through road works , their heart rate soars with frustration.