Dubai: When you’re gawking at a road accident while driving, you’re likely to end up in hospital or send someone to their grave. Too much curiosity kills — especially when you’re behind the wheel.
Rubbernecking — when motorists slow down or stop in the middle of the road to look at a crash or ‘eye-candy’ — may be an innocent act but it comes at a cost. Unfortunately, emergency responders like medics, police and even road cleaners at accident sites are the first ones to pay.
A cleaner who was cleaning the scene of a traffic accident recently lost his leg after being hit by a motorbike on Shaikh Zayed Road, while a policeman responding to a road accident near Arabian Ranches in November died when he was struck by a driver while getting out of his vehicle. Investigations revealed that the driver was looking at the accident and did not see the police officer.
Currently, no law penalises drivers who rubberneck, Major General Khamis Mattar Al Mazeina, Dubai Police Chief, recently said. Al Mazeina explained that if the motorist is violating existing traffic laws, such as obstructing traffic flow or driving below the minimum speed limit, and is seen by an officer, only then can he be fined.
“We cannot fine people just for being curious,” he said, adding that Dubai Police urges people to be considerate of other people’s time and to refrain from rubbernecking.
A study called ‘The Impact of Rubbernecking on Urban Freeway Traffic’, published in the Journal of Transportation Technologies in January this year, revealed that rubbernecking caused one in 10 road accidents in the Hampton roads freeway system in the US. Traffic congestion, even on the opposite side of the road, causes average delays of 107 vehicles per hour.
Abdul Rahman Akbar, an Afghan driver, says this is a common sight even in Dubai. “Drivers look at car crashes instead of focusing on the road, which causes more traffic and might be a reason for another car accident,” he said. “Dubai police should start enforcing a law that prohibits such behaviour while driving.”
Jordanian driver Farah Al Amir said she recently witnessed a road accident on Ittihad Road but other motorists’ behaviour was what caught her attention.
“All drivers’ [cellphone] cameras were rolling,” Al Amir said. “They were able to catch live footage of an accident on the opposite side of the way. I almost couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
“The rubberneckers caused a lot of traffic that made me arrive one hour late to work.”
Dr Saliha Afridi, Clinical Psychologist at Lighthouse Arabia, said rubbernecking boils down to being human.
“One of the reasons for rubbernecking is that humans are naturally curious,” Dr Afridi said. “The interest and curiosity to know what will be the end result is what makes people spend so much time staring and discussing it.”
But considering the dangers rubbernecking causes, Dr Afridi stressed it should be avoided.
— Nawal Al Ramahi is an intern at Gulf News
