The Dangers of Rubbernecking

Driving down the freeway on your way home only to run into bumper-to-bumper traffic can be frustrating. What can make it more frustrating is seeing that the reason for all the traffic was because of a wreck on the side of the road that everyone is slowing down to look at before they’re on their way. While rubbernecking (looking at accidents while you’re driving past one) seems like a victimless hobby, it can actually become a cause of an automobile accident, which could involve a lawyer and a trip to the hospital in the middle of the daily commute.

Distracted driving is dangerous in any form it comes. The act of craning one’s neck in order to see the carnage of a massive accident is nothing less than giving up on paying attention to the road in favor of something else. To make matters worse, other drivers could be doing the same thing you’re doing, thus causing multiple vehicles to be going a varying speeds on a busy highway all with their occupants not looking at the road. This is a recipe for disaster like none other, and has been the cause of many auto accidents on freeways across the nation. An opposing lawyer will be the first to point out if you were also looking at the side of the road when the accident occurred.

Rubbernecking can be especially dangerous when the conditions are unfavorable to be driving in the first place, which incidentally may’ve caused the initial accident. Youtube is full of videos of police officer dashcam videos as they approach the scene of an auto accident in the rain only to have another vehicle slide into the already damaged car. A good lawyer will point out that the initial accident was probably the reason the second driver was distracted and why he slammed into the first, all caught on video.

Probably the most dangerous form of rubbernecking occurs while the first auto accident is happening. A person can become so distracted with the wild fury of cars crashing that they lose track of their own driving and turn an already bad incident into a disaster. This is how most multi-car pileups happen on freeways. Though it’s nearly impossible to practice what to do in this situation, the best tip is to pay attention to your own driving and get out of the mess as soon as you can. Having to contact a lawyer because your car became entangled in a pole while watching a person rear end someone else.

Joe Meyere is a legal writer for Fusion 360, an SEO and content marketing agency. Information provided by Robert J Debry. Follow on Twitter.

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Created on Dec 31st 1969 18:00. Viewed 0 times.

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