What's your opinion of "rubbernecking"? Checking out, or driving slowly by, a crime scene or accident?

NO I DON’T DO IT.
In my opinion it’s a morbid curiosity type thing people love to see dead twisted bodies and wrecks galore .
Of course slow down obey the police or flag people at the site but move through it safely and get going, what drivers fail to realize by stopping to gawk at the crash they are backing up traffic for miles by their actions.
What gets me is in the lower mainland Vancouver area is a crash can be in the centre median well off the highway Emergency vehicles will be off on the shoulder and yet both sides of the highway come to a complete halt so people can gawk at the accident, WHY do they do that?

I think it’s a human reaction.. It’s one of many we should resist for safety purposes and, sometimes, out of respect..

I don’t do it. I won’t even watch the stuff on TV or the net. I’ve seen enough of that shit for a million lifetimes. But I do slow down sometimes if the crash site appears to be causing a traffic hazzard. No sense speeding through and taking out one of the first responders. That would be fucking awful.

I may glance over but I don’t “rubberneck.”
The other day an ambulance was parked on a corner and they were assisting some poor homeless man that had, apparently collapsed. I was turning right at that corner and the ambulance was only about 10 feet away from me so yes, I looked over as the paramedics were lifting the guy onto the ambulance on a gurney. When passing accidents on the road I just keep going and do not slow to gawking speed, no.

My opinion is mind your own business, and get the fuck out of my way.

It’s more annoying than anything else. Some goober looking out slows down the road for everyone else.

Sometimes slowing down is justified; metal or glass in the road, but when the accident is on the other side of the highway, it is nothing but morbid curiosity.

The flip side, I guess, is that people live such dull and uninteresting lives – and osmething like an accident, out of the ordinary, livens it up.

I think it can be a human reaction – curiosity to see what occurred.

Sometimes you may as well see what’s going on because you’ve been in traffic for so much longer because of this accident or whatever, you’re curious to see what the big holdup was.

Sometimes you may as well see what’s going on because you’re crawling past the wreckage doing 2 miles per hour because of all the other rubberneckers in front of you.

It’s all very annoying but it happens.

“Rubberneck” complaints are grossly exaggerated. When there’s a traffic incident, other drivers should slow down and be cautious. Common sense dictates this, and state law often mandates it. Slow or stopped traffic doesn’t necessarily mean that people are gawking or staring in fascination.

It’s one of the sacred duties of the Navigator, to inspect accident scenes and relate any notable information the driver.

Yesterday I was on my way to town, and at the bridge over the river – 0% civilization/development here – there are 6 cop cars, a tow truck, and ambulance and a fire truck. The tow truck is trying to retrieve something off of the steep exit ramp. There’s a rest area over there, so drive down that way. Rubbernecking, as I want to see what went off into the ditch. In the rest area is a cop van with K-9 Unit on it and another car. They must be hunting someone! I got the hell out of there.
The 4 lane bridge is squeezed to one lane each direction for construction.
Coming back, crossing the bridge, I notice a guy walking against traffic. I find it odd that the cops, if they are still there, would let him walk across the bridge, especially against traffic. The cops are still there, so I wheel in and say, “Are you all looking for a guy?” “Yeah!” “Well, there’s a guy crossing the bridge, on foot, against…..” ZOOM! The motorcycle cop is gone The cop says to me, “Was he wearing camo?” “Camo pants, no shirt.” ”THAT’S our guy!” And they all take off.
A guy in plainclothes comes up to the car and asks if I saw a guy on the bridge. “Yeah.” Was he muddy? “Not especially.” Wearing camo? “Yeah, camo pants, no shirt.”
Then he says:
“You just made a lot of people really happy! We’ve been out here since 8 this morning (5 and ½ hours) hunting him. He beat his girl friend with a baseball bat, led them on a chase, and got away. There’s a woman home alone with a small child in that house over there (okay, there are TWO houses on that side of the bridge) that was worried sick. He won’t get away now, and we can finally tell her not to worry.”
I called a couple friends and related this story. A few minutes later one called and said she’d gotten a breaking new alert on her phone, and they’d caught the guy.

If I hadn’t been rubbernecking a bit, I wouldn’t have seen the K-9 unit, and wouldn’t have known there was a man-hunt in progress.

It’s instinct to look and the slowdown effect it has on traffic is a happy accident. I pretty much always look and a time or two it has resulted in me stopping and helping.

It depends on how long I am trapped in the back up. I was in one a month ago that took 35 minutes to go one mile and after that amount of time I will want to see what caused the back up and the 2 white sheet covered bodies in the median 100’ from the rolled over Porche told me all I needed to know.

I was recently driving to Vancouver (15 hour drive for me). The Transcanada Hwy ground to a halt just outside of Abbotsford. As we crept along for AN HOUR I thought that we were going to eventually pass a bad accident. What we ended up passing? An accident on the other side of the highway.

I hate rubberneckers for that reason: they clog up traffic to a stupendous degree.

Hey @tranquilsea I drive that highway a lot a while back east bound just past Aldergrove traffic ground to a crawl stop and go type thing about five kilometres east of Abbotsford I found out why someone lost a boat cushion and it was laying in the passing lane and both lanes had to come to almost a complete stop to look at this thing, WHY??
And people just think I rant about stupid fucking drivers.

Not when I’m driving, I don’t. If I’m riding it’s a different story!

True story where rubber necking saved my sanity. lol

Years ago on a camping trip driving to the campground store on a beer and wine cooler run there was a guy lying on the side of the road with a blanket pulled up to his chin and a ranger standing over him. A crashed motorcycle was laying on it’s side on the edge of the road.
The man was lucid and talking but….smack in the middle of the road, right on the double yellow line was a huge pile of guts! Intestines, a stomach, a liver or spleen, god only knows, just this heap of innards splatterd on the pavement.

I was completely stunned, HOW the HELL could somebody be ALIVE and disemboweled but still TALKING!!!!??? My mind could not comprehend what I was seeing and it was extremely upsetting to say the least. Then, on the return trip I rubber necked across the road to see the remains of a large deer in the ditch. So THAT’S where the guts came from!

I’m telling you, there are no words to describe what was going through my mind seeing what I had seen. haha
Thank God I looked more closely. Whew, what a mind fuck! 0–0

@Coloma WOW! What a tale!!

You should slow down when there’s an accident. Of course I look. I’m curious.

I stated that @jonsblond obey the police or flag people at the site but move through safely and get going, don’t hang out and gawk.
all that accomplishes is backing up traffic for miles.

Nevermind. I’m curious and I look but I don’t slow traffic down. where did I say I rubberneck? I guess I answered the wrong question.

I asked the question, @jonsblond, and no, you didn’t answer wrongly, or the wrong question.

It’s social.

If I’m driving I glance as I go by. If I’m a passenger I take in details and form an opinion of how it happened.