Dubai Police chiefs hit out at crash rubberneckers

Drivers who slow down at the scene of a crash are increasing the likelihood of more accidents, Dubai Police say, but concede that they cannot issue motorists fines for being curious.

Rubberneckers create a knock-on effect that causes longer tailbacks behind them, Dubai Police said. Pawan Singh / The National

DUBAI // Motorists who slow down to rubberneck at the scene of a traffic accident could be putting themselves and other drivers at risk, warned a senior Dubai Police officer.

Curious drivers who crane their necks to look at crashes are distracting themselves from the road and are increasing the likelihood of more accidents.

“To slow down and stare at a road accident can easily distract the driver, and he can lose concentration,” said Col Jamal Mohammed Al Bannai, acting director of Dubai’s General Traffic Department.

“Also, it is something that causes traffic. We have repeatedly tried to raise awareness of this issue, asking people to continue paying attention to the road ahead of them to avoid more accidents and more traffic.”

Rubberneckers create a knock-on effect that causes longer tailbacks behind them.

“Some people find themselves stuck in traffic and look ahead of them and wonder why the flow is slow, and once they get to the point of the accident, they do the same thing as the cars ahead of them, stare at the accident and contribute to the traffic that they were just stuck in,” said Col Al Bannai.

“We hope that motorists stay away from this kind of behaviour to avoid more accidents and more traffic.”

Dubai Police chief Maj Gen Khamis Al Muzeina has previously said that there is no law that penalises those who rubberneck.

“We simply cannot give people fines for being curious,” he said.

But he urged motorists to be more considerate and avoid rubbernecking.

Norma Cairns, counselling psychologist at the American Centre for Psychiatry and Neurology in Dubai, said there are a number of reasons why people rubberneck.

“There is an aspect of normal human curiosity, perhaps even a morbid curiosity to find out what happened,” she said.

Many people could also be trying to reinforce a sense of illusion by making assumptions about the cause of the accident, she said. “They may think it was down to speeding and, as such, they would not be involved in a similar incident because they don’t speed.”

However, she warned people against rubbernecking.

“It can be an emotional response and, as such, that can have a knock-on effect in people’s physiology, making their reaction times slower or affecting their concentration,” she said.

Slowing down to have a look at an accident also impedes the emergency services and could prevent them from dealing with the incident, she warned.

“Drivers should be concentrating on the road, not looking at what is going on at the side of the road,” said Ms Cairns.

“They could end up being involved in an accident themselves.”

A key factor why people choose to rubberneck could be to do with the so-called “water-cooler” moment, she said.

“It could be that people want to have an interesting story to tell their friends or colleagues,” she said.

Another aspect is the herd mentality among large groups of people.

“It’s pretty common to see people following what the crowd is doing so if cars ahead of you in the traffic queue are slowing down to take a look at the accident then you will be more willing to do so,” she said.

Rubbernecking is also a cause of frustration for many road users.

“It’s really annoying because when people rubberneck they slow down traffic for hundreds of metres behind them,” said Imran Karim, an Indian who lives in Dubai.

“It can put a real delay on your journey and often it’s just people slowing down to look at what the police are doing.

“The police should have someone directing drivers at the scene and telling them to carry on driving and not slow down.”