This is why you don't rubberneck!

[blas]

So last night, we had about half an inch of snow and some freezing rain on top of it.

I saw cherries and blueberries in the distance as I entered the freeway. Another brainless idiot flipped it and went into the median. So the cops were in the left lane.

In front of me was a Cavalier. Now, the road LOOKED dry and clean, but of course, looks are deceiving.

The Cavalier just HAD to slam on its brakes and stare at the carnage. Just HAD to.

Of course, him/her slamming the brakes caused me to have to do the same. My back wheels locked up and my back end started fish tailing and I started to panic.

Of course, the fricken moron just HAD to brake to a dead stop.

I had 3 options.

Swerve left, and bash into a cop car.

Keep going straight and rear end the stupid fuck.

Or swerve to the right and go into the ditch.

I chose swerve to the right. In what seemed to be a split second, I cranked the wheel to the right, went into the ditch, gunned it, cranked it to the left, and got back onto the road.

Of course, by then, the Cavalier had gunned it out of my sight.

[Mr. Rager!]

That's how I avoided an accident about 4 years ago.

I was driving to school and in the left lane. This Grand AM cut me off so as I let off the gas to start giving myself more following distance, about two cars up lost control and hit another car. So the cars in front of me were braking. So I slammed on my brakes, I see that A) I'm not stopping that well and B) there's a vehicle behind me having a hard time stopping. So I took the ditch. As I was traveling in the ditch, there was van that lost control and went right in front of me. I managed to drive out of the ditch just fine.

That accident turned into a pileup which backed up traffic for about 2 miles. I'm glad I wasn't a part of it.

[crazylegs]

Seems more of a case of a lack of situational awareness by the cavelier, a lot of motorists HALT when they see flashing lights of any description without any thought of what else they are doing.

He panicked, failed to see what was going on behind him and slammed on his anchors.

(Blas, if the road is that bad you may wish to leave a bit more room to allow for idiots like that though)

[blas]

My dad always taught me, the ditch is better than running into someone else.

Crazylegs, I was a good distance behind the Cavalier. I entered the freeway alone, so he/she had already been traveling. I had no idea he/she was going to pull that kind of stunt. It was as though as soon as he/she saw the lights, all brains went dead and they just slammed the brakes. I wish MY brakes worked that good!

[gunsage]

This happened a couple of months ago actually. I live in a small, backwater town just southeast of Columbus (and you probably can guess what it is, actually). Naturally the back roads were not salted well. A bobtail stops ahead of me and I start to skid. Problem here is, well...let me give you a visual...

- Left lane on a do not pass, but cars were coming in.
- Ahead of me the bobtail had completely stopped.
- To the right of me was a ditch, but it was a DROP to a corn field.

I chose right and managed to stop JUST in the gravel...only to have him back up into my car. :eek: Fortunately, we inspected everything and there was no damage, but we were both a bit worried in the interim. :help: Fun stuff.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

I HATE rubberneckers.

I actually yelled at this stupid cow downtown (mild weather, everyone's windows down, traffic no going very fast anyways cuz it's downtown.) because a guy on a motorcycle had gotten hit (I dont think he was bad hurt, but still didn't need the added crap of being her entertainmnet) and this cow just HAD to gawk and slow down and create congestion and problems for everyone. I yelled out my window "Hey! Hey!" until she turned around. When she looked at me I yelled "What are you trying to see? Blood? Get moving you stupid fucking ghoul!" She was all like :eek:

Man, that felt good. :rant:

[Emrld]

RK - can I be a member of your fan club?

I wish I had the ability to do what you do sometimes.

Course I kinda have to laugh about when I was involved in an accident. (My car and all those in front of it were stopped . . .the bus that turned in behind me wasn't paying attention and boom there went my car)
I have to forgive one rubber necker . . .it was my sister. She had heard the accident then was driving past . .she had to make sure I was ok. ( always exceptions to the rules out there)
Then I had some people I know drive past and I stood there and did the beauty queen wave at them.

[crazylegs]

"What are you trying to see? Blood? Get moving you stupid fucking ghoul!"

Which is why we now use screens to stop people from being able to see what is going on and close roads leading up to scene, just makes life so much easier.

[Rine]

Rubbernecking is a HUGE problem down here. I mean, even simple things like fender benders has traffic backed up for miles on miles because people slow down to gawk.

This is what I do. I take a quick glance to make sure it's not a family member and after that, I'm completely focused on driving. Other people feel the need to slow down to a crawl or hit their brakes to gawk. Annoys the heck outta me.

The only time I've had to take evasive action to avoid a collision (aside from deer encounters) is when I was driving over some bridges/man made roads over a swamp. There was someone on the side of the road ahead of me fixing a flat tire. Well, there was a van a few car lengths ahead of me that suddenly slowed down and hit the breaks I guess to gawk, so I had to swerve in the right lane to avoid it. Then, I see this tire sailing through the air--the van had hit the guy's spare tire!--and the tire is coming for me!

It bounces on the road inches from my car and bounces over my car and hits the guy behind me. It was the weirdest near accident I've ever been in.

People need to pay attention to their driving and mind their business, you know?

[Greenday]

A few months ago, I was on I76 driving into Philly to drop my friend off at her school. Some idiot decided to start swerving farther down ahead of me. For some reason, the guy in front of me felt the need to slam on his breaks. I slammed on mine too, but my brakes were a little worn down and my car didn't slow down much. Smashed up the entire front hood of my car. The other guy's jeep didn't even get a scratch on it. To the left of me was a concrete wall and there was a car to my right so there was nothing I could do to avoid it. Since my car was the only one damaged, and no one was hurt, we agreed there was no need to report the crash and just went on our merry ways.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

:lol: All it takes to do the stuff I do is willingness to let people think you are a bitch. And lack of general embarassment. :o

Last time i went down to Savannah, traffic was backed up for miles. The southbound lane was a parking lot. The northbound lane was barely moving, either. I'm thinking there must be a HUGE wreck ahead.

Nope. Some joker pulled off into the median changing a flat. That was it. He wasn't even obstructing anything. But I guess hundreds of people had to stop and gawk, just in case he was bleeding or something.

Sometimes I hate people.

[Greenday]

On 202, going back to the turnpike from my school, the cops like to put a cop car on the side of the road so people slow down. And they do this every Friday. And EVERY freaking time, traffic slows to a crawl. I maybe go 10 mph at certain point. The rest of the time I'm not moving. And not once, ONCE, have I ever seen a cop IN the car. And as soon as you pass the cop car, there is no traffic. A cop car on the side of the road does NOT mean slow down to 5 mph. It means do the speed limit, 55 mph.

[draftermatt]

I stood there and did the beauty queen wave at them.

When I got rear-ended by a huge van that sent me flying (literally) into a ditch I stood on the side of the road and gave anyone slowing or looking at me the finger.

[Seshat]

I have one situation where I forgive rubbernecking: when the accident has just occurred, and the passenger does the rubbernecking. Or when the accident has just occurred, and the driver pulls over and goes out to check.

I've been in cars which have done both.

If we actually witness the accident occurring, we'll also stop to offer witness statements. But otherwise, we safely attempt to determine whether anyone's injured.

Any other form of driver rubbernecking, or any driver rubbernecking when the emergency services are already there, is an unnecessary safety hazard.


Side note: pulling over into the emergency lane or onto the median is smart use of available space. I also recommend keeping your brakes in as good repair as possible, and keeping at least a full two seconds between you and the car in front of you. To measure the two seconds, watch the car in front of you pass a pole or something, and count 'one thousand monkeys two thousand monkeys' or some other second-measure you know. If you pass the pole before you're finished, slow down and keep a longer distance.

The two seconds buys you reaction time, but not stopping distance. If your reactions are slower than the normal person's, or you think your vehicle might not stop as fast as the vehicle in front of you, add extra following distance.

If other vehicles keep changing lanes into your following distance, just shrug and keep adding extra distance. Your safety is more important than staying directly behind a particular vehicle.

I don't know about anyone else, but I feel terribly vulnerable when I'm driving and there's nowhere to go if the car in front of me stops suddenly. I HATE feeling boxed in. Bridges or busy traffic scares me. I love having a traffic island, median, parking lane or emergency lane beside me. That's my emergency safety space.

[NotSoInnocent]

I have had ONE accident in my 10 years of driving. In fact, it was at the beginning of this month while moving to WA.

I was traveling up I-5 through Stockton, CA. There were road signs indicating some construction on the highway, so I started to slow down. I was going up a hill and traffic was moving smoothly at around 50 mph. As soon as I came to the top of the hill... traffic came to a dead stop.

I had less than 2 seconds to try to stop. My van was towing a trailer full of our stuff. This made stopping a little difficult. I managed to get down to less than 10 mp.... but couldn't stop completely before I hit the SUV in front of me.

She had very minor scratches on her rear bumper.

I had a smashed headlight and turn signal, a crushed passenger side bumper, and a bit of hood damage.

We pulled off and did all the stuff we needed to do for insurance things...

She drove off without any serious damage... I had to find the nearest body shop.

7 hours later and $100 later (the body shop didn't charge me for labor) I was back on the road.

[RetailWorkhorse]

I don't even slow down to LOOK. I change lanes and keep going. If it has an impact on anything I'll hear about it over the CB either before I reach it or just after.

I got no interest in my fellow man. Only the one that makes my venison burgers.

[crazylegs]

keeping at least a full two seconds between you and the car in front of you. To measure the two seconds, watch the car in front of you pass a pole or something, and count 'one thousand monkeys two thousand monkeys' or some other second-measure you know.

Those police officers who are on their training to run with blue lights in the UK (No, not all officers are trained which is why sometimes you will see a police car with blue lights go screaming past another without) are taught "only a fool breaks the two second rule" phrase, gives a bit more than two seconds, but at 70m/h you need all the space you can get.

[wolfie]

Turns out, some stupid cow in the car in front of the one in front of me decided to take that emergency road (you know, the spot on the median where cops like to sit and catch speeders) and instead of pulling over onto the shoulder first, she STOPS ON THE ROAD FIRST to make her turn.

You mean the one with the signs "Emergency and authorized vehicles only"? Not only were her actions stupid and dangerous, but they were also illegal. Still, idiots like that will keep doing their thing until they scratch somebody's chrome (hint - hydraulic brakes have pressure at the wheel cylinders as soon as you push down on the pedal, but with air brakes it takes about half a second before the brakes come on).

A Texas bumper (3/16" steel plate) backed by 40 tons moving at highway speeds vs. a 4-wheeler? It's obvious who's going to lose.

[myswtghst]

Stuff like all these stories are the reason when my dad taught me to drive, he taught me the importance of knowing my options and paying attention to all the cars around me - I always know where there's an open space I can go to, if I need to - shoulder/next lane/etc.

[Seshat]

Stuff like all these stories are the reason when my dad taught me to drive, he taught me the importance of knowing my options and paying attention to all the cars around me - I always know where there's an open space I can go to, if I need to - shoulder/next lane/etc.

Yep - that's why I hate busy traffic or bridges where there is no open space. I drive like you do - always knowing where I can swing the wheel to avoid the hypothetical 5-year old chasing their ball right into the road in front of me.