Obit: Police volunteer killed

Subject: Obit: Police volunteer killed
From: kendall
Date: 16 Dec 06 - 08:47 AM

I belong to a branch of the police department here called VIPs (Volunteers in Police Service). We do the routine stuff such as parking tickets and traffic control at accident sights. Night before last one of our volunteers was run over and killed by a woman who was driving straight ahead but looking back at the accident.

Please people, when you happen on an accident, watch where you are going! This sort of thing happens too often with people on cell phones, applying make up eating and even READING!

Subject: RE: Obit: Police volunteer killed
From: Tom Hamilton frae Saltcoats Scotland
Date: 16 Dec 06 - 08:49 AM

Rubber necking they call it here, they do a lot of that in Australia and here in Britain.

tom

Subject: RE: Obit: Police volunteer killed
From: jacqui.c
Date: 16 Dec 06 - 09:07 AM

This hit home for me because it could so easily have been Kendall there.

Some time ago, on the A1, it took close to an hour to travel about three miles due to an accident on the northern carriageway and everyone on the southern had to slow down to see what was going on. Luckily that didn't result in an accident on the southern stretch but I've seen cases where that was happening. What happened to common sense?

Subject: RE: Obit: Police volunteer killed
From: paddymac
Date: 16 Dec 06 - 09:51 AM

A sad story, to be sure. The "rubber necking" phenomenon seems to be a built-in feature of human kind. Having spent some time behind a badge at another time in life, I learned early on that the two most dangerous places for driving were accident scenes and parking lots.

Subject: RE: Obit: Police volunteer killed
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 16 Dec 06 - 09:51 AM

Common sense is not so very common.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Obit: Police volunteer killed
From: Sorcha
Date: 16 Dec 06 - 10:00 AM

Hits home for me too, Jacqui. My condolences, Kendall. It can and will happen anywhere.

Subject: RE: Obit: Police volunteer killed
From: GUEST,Nicholas Waller
Date: 16 Dec 06 - 10:20 AM

an accident on the northern carriageway and everyone on the southern had to slow down

This specific example seems quite logical to me, especially if the motorway is busy. If you see an accident happen on the other side it's only natural and common sense to hit the brakes in case some rolling vehicle/bouncing wheel/lorry load or even loose person[*] crosses the central reservation and comes at you.

The braking propagates backwards as everyone behind hits their brakes to avoid a pile-up, and before long the carriageway crystallises into a solid mass. Vehicles near to the front can't get away until those right at the front move on, and it's frustrating but there you are. While you're inching forwards it's a good idea, to my mind, not just to stare fixedly at the brake lights of the car in front but to keep aware of the total environment.

Plus, clocking the carnage caused by someone else's accident might give reckless drivers pause for thought about their own behaviour. (This is not, of course, to condone driving ahead while not looking where you're going, as in the OP's example).

And it's not only accidents that cause rubbernecking... there's a TV clip in which an official is being interviewed about safety at a roadworks, and in the background a driver clearly distracted by the TV crew shunts into the car in front!

[*] An old schoolfriend of mine told how he'd been involved in an accident on the M62; in a daze he'd got out of his car and crossed the central reservation and the three lanes of traffic coming the other way, and then turned round and walked back again, looking for his briefcase!

Subject: RE: Obit: Police volunteer killed
From: SINSULL
Date: 16 Dec 06 - 10:26 AM

I heard "Scarborough VIP" on the TV news and my heart hit the floor. Damn stupid woman!

I will admit to rubbernecking once. An accident involving a trailor truck blocked the entire Southbound NY Thruway. I was going North.
Suddenly a small truck started to drive through the stopped traffic. I looked trying to figure out how he was doing it. He was driving OVER the cars. People were getting out of their cars screaming as the windows exploded. Unbelievable. It made the evening news. And a musical was performed on Broadway about it - what makes a man snap.

Be careful out there, Kendall!

Subject: RE: Obit: Police volunteer killed
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 16 Dec 06 - 06:24 PM

A common term here for the traffic snarl that results from an accident - or even from a patrolperson writing a ticket on the side - is "gawkers block."

I never see what they're all looking at. Since it's one of the most dangerous situations most drivers encounter with any regularity - I'm too busy to try to get a peek at what they're watching. I'm watching all the gawkers (i.e. EVERY person and vehicle close enough to kill ME,) to see what IDIOT things they're all going to do.

John

Subject: RE: Obit: Police volunteer killed
From: katlaughing
Date: 16 Dec 06 - 09:20 PM

How senseless. My sympathies, Kendall. Please be careful. Is the woman being charged with anything?

Subject: RE: Obit: Police volunteer killed
From: kendall
Date: 16 Dec 06 - 09:28 PM

I haven't heard about charges, but they way things are going, maybe littering.

Subject: RE: Obit: Police volunteer killed
From: katlaughing
Date: 16 Dec 06 - 11:03 PM

I can believe that, Kendall. I know another Mudcatter who was t-boned four and a half years ago. Just settled with the insurance company. Barely enough awarded to pay for medical bills and lost wages. She has debilitating injuries for life and the kid who ran into her got a small fine and nothing else, plus he is still driving.

Some girl, here in CO, recently ran over a pedestrian and killed him and didn't even know it until another driver chased her down. She was a teen on a cell phone.

Subject: RE: Obit: Police volunteer killed
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 17 Dec 06 - 12:31 AM

That's too narrow a squeak.... my sympathies Kendall, losing colleagues is never good, especially when it's 'there but for the grace of God'.

LTS

Subject: RE: Obit: Police volunteer killed
From: Beer
Date: 17 Dec 06 - 07:48 AM

I work as an auxiliary member of our fire department and one of our jobs is to direct traffic so the firemen can do their job. Last Friday I was directing traffic and this asshole if I hadn't been watching would have run me over. Directing traffic is a very dangerous job at accident sites. Peace warned me a few years back to be careful and I never forgot it.
My condolences to you and your buddies.
Beer

Subject: RE: Obit: Police volunteer killed
From: kendall
Date: 17 Dec 06 - 09:17 AM

When Laura Bush was a young woman she ran a stop sign and "T boned" a young man in a Corvair. He died, she was never charged with anything, didn't even get a ticket.

Subject: RE: Obit: Police volunteer killed
From: Penny S.
Date: 17 Dec 06 - 09:26 AM

I have often thought along the lines Nicholas Waller posted. Nobody, except the people at the front, can be stated to be going slowly to look at the accident. They are going slowly because the cars in front are slow. They may also look.

Penny

Subject: RE: Obit: Police volunteer killed
From: GUEST, ...
Date: 17 Dec 06 - 10:04 AM

To drive past an accident without so much as slowing down feels very callous - maybe drivers slow down through some kind of instinctive respect for others' suffering.

Subject: RE: Obit: Police volunteer killed
From: jacqui.c
Date: 17 Dec 06 - 10:05 AM

On the A1 incident - it took close to an hour to pass the spot and the accident scene was, by then being cleared up. There was a barrier of bushes, I think, at that point so no likelihood of anything coming across and, basically, the cars in front of me were slowing down to see what was going on. This isn't the first time I've come across this - happens in the UK regularly. I also had motor claims to deal with caused by the same problem - people just have to look!

Subject: RE: Obit: Police volunteer killed
From: kendall
Date: 17 Dec 06 - 12:30 PM

They go to boxing matches and car races for the same reason.

Subject: RE: Obit: Police volunteer killed
From: jacqui.c
Date: 18 Dec 06 - 08:41 AM

To drive past an accident without so much as slowing down feels very callous

It also causes more accidents when the car behind DOESN'T slow down - again, I've dealt with this type of incident when doing motor claims. When driving what can be a deadly weapon the idea is to concentrate on your part of the road and ensure that you are not causing inconvenience or danger to other road users.

Try slowing down to look at an accident during your driving test. I guarantee that will get you failed!

Subject: RE: Obit: Police volunteer killed
From: kendall
Date: 18 Dec 06 - 09:00 AM

Apparently, there will be no charges filed. It's being called a tragic accident. I wasn't there so don't know the whole story and can't really judge what should be done. What purpose would be served by putting her in jail? This is something she will have to live with for the rest of her life.Maybe that's enough.