Gapers' delay.
 

Hey skidmark, as a followup to the thread about "move over and slow down", perhaps there should be a discussion about gapers' delay, aka rubberneckers... you know, the idiots who feel the need to slow to a crawl to see what's going on at the side of the road, thus clogging up traffic for miles behind them, and creating an even more potentially dangerous situation as their attention is distracted?

I read about jurisdictions in the states now, where emergency responders are carrying large knock-up scrims to block the view of accident sites - a practice that's reportedly greatly improved traffic flow in such instances.

On the other hand, I get really tempted at times to just park my car in the middle of the road and get out to go over and see what's happening... it's the next logical step to gapers' delay, and substantially safer since I don't have to worry about hitting something while I'm distracted...

I figure that no matter how hard you try, there will always be at least one driver who will find a way to screw it all up.

If you just stopped pulling over speeders, there woudn't be anything to slow down for and look at :p

The spectacular wrecks from speeders running into each other are much more compelling to lookie-loos.

Inattentive speeders.

There should be some sort of "crack down on lookie loos". Can't remember how many times going into Richmond on the 91, where I have had to slam on my brakes coming over an overpass because everyone on the other side has slowed down to 50 to look at the cranberry farms or the low flying helicopter/spray plane in the fields next to the road.

Or when you are on the opposite side of the road (barrier and all) of an accident, and for some reason, YOUR lane is going slower than everyone traveling in the opposite direction.

This emoticon captures my feelings perfectly actually: :die:


Some sort of privacy curtain does sound like an interesting idea - though I wonder about the potential for harm to the responders because drivers aren't able to see the individuals and thus may not be as cautious or able to respond accordingly if someone steps onto the roadway.

We call them "crows"...nuisances that hang around highways, getting in the way & picking at dead stuff stuck to the pavement. Kinda crude, but you have to wonder what sort of human being wants to stop and gape at someone in crisis...specially when it often involves injury and death? Fail to move immediately and you will be waiting while I write you a ticket for failing to obey the directions of a peace officer.

Isn't there a law that you have to pass by emergency veichles at 20-30 for safety reasons? I remember heading about that last year. Maybe skidmark can confirm?
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Wow, you just failed harder than anyone else in the history of RS. Congratulations!

What are the very first words in this thread? "Hey skidmark, as a followup to the thread about "move over and slow down"..."

:gotsearch

http://www.revscene.net/forums/behin...s-t578128.html

This law has actually been in place FOR OVER A YEAR AND A HALF.