If you have slowed down to look at a crash on the roadside, you are not alone. Rubbernecking, the act of staring at an accident or incident while driving past, is one of the most common driver behaviours on the road and can have serious consequences.
Research by a 2001 study conducted by the Crash Investigation Team at Virginia Commonwealth University estimates that rubbernecking accounts for approximately 16% of distraction-related crashes. This makes it one of the leading causes of secondary incidents on the road. Secondary accidents are frequently more severe than the original event because traffic conditions are already compromised.
Human curiosity, particularly around dramatic events, makes it very difficult to not stare when driving past. The CEO of MasterDrive, Eugene Herbert, says that most, if not all people, have rubbernecked at some point when driving. “While you can be forgiven for this once, continuing to create dangerous driving situations by sustaining this behaviour cannot.
“Understanding the cost to you, other road users, and the people already involved in the accident makes it impossible to justify. At that point, rubbernecking is no longer an instinct. It is a decision, and you are responsible for the consequences of that decision,” says Herbert.
Herbert warns of the knock-on effects of rubbernecking:
- Traffic congestion: when drivers slow down to look, the vehicles behind them brake in response. This ripple effect can create congestion stretching several kilometres from an incident that often should have otherwise had a minimal impact on traffic flow.
- Blocked emergency access: the additional congestion created by rubbernecking can create delays for ambulances, fire engines, and other rescue vehicles. In time-critical situations, those delays cost lives.
- Secondary crashes: a driver whose attention is on the crash scene is not watching the vehicle ahead. This often results in rear-end collisions at the back of a rubbernecking traffic queue, introducing new injuries to the emergency.
- Additional exposure at the scene: emergency personnel working at an incident are placed at greater risk when passing drivers are focusing on the incident and not on moving past safely. Every vehicle moving at an unnecessarily slow pace in that zone is a hazard.
Practical ways to resist the instinct
- Always keep your eyes on the road ahead, not the scene: consciously fix your gaze on the vehicle in front of you and the lane markings or traffic diversions ahead.
- Maintain your speed: unless directed otherwise by emergency personnel, keep moving at a consistent pace anticipating challenges created by other drivers distracted by the scene.
- Remind passengers to do the same: reactions from passengers can pull a driver’s attention toward an incident involuntarily.
- Reframe what you are looking at: those are real people in a difficult and often traumatic situation. Do not negatively add to their experience by making it into a spectacle.