Why do people like starring at accidents? What is so amusing that it causes idiots to stare and slow traffic?

Question

Don't people realize that people starring at traffic slows down the traffic behind them? I think a lot of times its not the curiosity of seeing if someone is hurt, it's to see how bad the accidents are so some people who stare can go "damn, wow, whoa etc...."

Don't people realize that people starring at traffic slows down the traffic behind them? I think a lot of times its not the curiosity of seeing if someone is hurt, it's to see how bad the accidents are so some people who stare can go "damn, wow, whoa etc...." Am I correct of this?

Answer 1

Human beings are curious. That's the short, easy answer. Some people (myself included) make a conscious effort to avoid looking, because we (or at least I) feel it makes a person a bit stronger to resist temptation. But that's just me.

Longer answer: no matter how inconvenient it was for a person to wait in backed-up traffic, they'll still look at the accident -- and cause further backup -- when they get up to it. When each driver (consciously or not) makes a quick judgement call on whether or not to look, their own inconvenience is no longer on the table, and now it is a choice between succumbing to strong temptation on the "look" side, versus working to resist the temptation on the "don't look" side.

If they give in and look (to their personal gain), they justify it in part (again consciously or not) by judging (correctly, as it turns out) that the impact of this decision individually to the drivers behind them is minimal; it's only the aggregate of each minimal disruption that adds up to a huge backup. Thus, they can look guilt-free, and so the backup continues until the road is cleared.

That said, there is a special class of rubbernecker, the one that doesn't just look to the side, but actually keeps going slowly and looking back over their shoulder (or turning their whole body) for five to fifteen seconds, just gaping at the accident. My assumption is that these people have a serious dearth of entertainment in their lives -- and the good news is, they cause the rest of us much entertainment when they accidentally drive into the car in front of them (whose driver also slowed down to stare back.)

Answer 2

I totally agree w/ you.

Several times I was stuck in traffic,,that moved very slow. When I reached the accident,, it was on the feeder road, and therefore the traffic should of been progessing normally, once I got passed the wreck,,,the traffic dispursed and went fine.

Another time a police officer was giving a ticket, and the same thing happened,, I can understand that you should move over in the other lane, for safetly,, but not practicaly stop and back up traffic.

Answer 3

It's not the fact of curiosty and how bad the accident was.It's that over a billion people in this country is naturally nosey.The want to know did anybody get hurt more than anything else and o who was it.They dont realize that slowinng down n being nosey can cause more accdents.

Answer 4

1. Driving in routine traffic is boring and people are easily distracted.

2. Schadenfreude.

3. When the idiots slow down to start, everyone else around them has to slow down too or risk causing another acident for people to stare at.

Answer 5

i don't think that it is amusement, at least not for most people. i think that it is a morbid curiosity. also a bit of human compassion, i know i always assess the accident and try to figure out if anybody is hurt. now i would ask you...how come people always slow down when a cop has pulled someone over? he is occupied...it seems like the perfect time to speed to me:)

Answer 6

I've often wondered the same thing. I think it's sad when people stop and stare, especially if someone is hurt and the paramedics are attempting to help them. Even in no one is hurt, it's a tramatic experience, stop staring and keep going.

Answer 7

I don't think it's so much amusing as it is...crap, I can't think of the word. But it is just human nature to look and see if people are hurt, how bad the accident was...so on.

Answer 8

I hate when people do that!!!!! Slows traffic sooo bad, they are freakin idiots

Answer 9

yeah i agree with you completely.

But i also think that its just human nature to want to see if someone has died or seriously hurt. its a trip to think "Wow, that coulda been me". You know?

Plus their are just a million people who can't preform simple tasks like merging.

Answer 10

Because they're trying to see what happened, who was involved, how bad it was, etc...It's just natural curiosity.