Rubbernecking is a derogatory term primarily used to refer to bystanders staring at accidents. More generally, it can refer to anyone staring at something of everyday interest compulsively (especially tourists). The term ''rubbernecking'' derives from the neck's appearance while trying to get a better view, that is, crane one's neck.
Rubberneck is associated with morbid
curiosity
Curiosity (from Latin '' cūriōsitās'', from ''cūriōsus'' "careful, diligent, curious", akin to ''cura'' "care") is a quality related to inquisitive thinking such as exploration, investigation, and learning, evident by observation in human ...
. It is often the cause of
traffic jams, sometimes referred to as "gapers' block" or "gapers' delay", as drivers slow down to see what happened in a crash. ''Rubberneck'' is considered as of 2007 unconventional English or
slang
Slang is vocabulary (words, phrases, and usage (language), linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in spoken conversation but avoided in formal writing. It also sometimes refers to the language generally exclusive to the members of p ...
.
Etymology
The term ''rubbernecking'' was a term coined in America in the 1890s to refer to tourists.
H.L. Mencken
Henry Louis Mencken (September 12, 1880 – January 29, 1956) was an American journalist, essayist, satirist, cultural critic, and scholar of American English. He commented widely on the social scene, literature, music, prominent politicians, ...
said the word ''rubberneck'' is "almost a complete treatise on American psychology" and "one of the best words ever coined".
By 1909, ''rubbernecking'' was used to describe the wagons, automobiles and buses used in tours around American cities,
and through their Chinatowns.
The tours included a
megaphone
A megaphone, speaking-trumpet, bullhorn, blowhorn, or loudhailer is usually a portable or hand-held, cone-shaped acoustic horn used to amplify a person's voice or other sounds and direct it in a given direction. The sound is introduced int ...
-wielding individual offering commentary on the urban landscape.
''Chinese Rubbernecks'' was the title of a 1903 film.
One writer described the "out-of-towners" stretching their necks to see New York while having misinformation shouted at them, and artist
John Sloan depicted them as
geese in a 1917 etching called ''Seeing New York''.
Hawkers, touts and steerers were used to market the rubbernecking tours, also known as "gape wagons" or "yap wagons."
When phone lines were shared as "
party lines", the term ''rubbernecking'' applied to someone who listened in on the conversation of others.
Rubbernecking and the automobile
The term is often used to refer to the activity of motorists slowing down in order to see something on the other side of a road or highway, often the scene of a traffic accident. This is sometimes also called ''accident gawking''. A study on the English
M6 motorway
The M6 motorway is the longest motorway in the United Kingdom. It is located entirely within England, running for just over from the Midlands to the border with Scotland. It begins at Junction 19 of the M1 motorway, M1 and the western end of t ...
found that 29% of accidents and breakdowns caused slowdowns in the uninvolved opposite lanes.
According to a 2003 study in the U.S., rubbernecking was the cause of 16% of distraction-related traffic accidents.
Rubbernecking appears in the book ''100 Most Dangerous Things in Everyday Life and What You Can Do About Them'', which advises that the safest course when there are flashing lights and an accident is to keep moving, as "there is nothing to see here".
Rubbernecking's impact on traffic has been the subject of studies and is said to be factored into highway design.
Prevention
Incident screens have been designed that can be erected around vehicle accidents.
The plastic partitions are designed to shield accidents from passing motorists in order to deter rubbernecking and improve the flow of traffic.
Several types of screens have been trialed in the United Kingdom.
See also
* Badaud
* Social pornography
Social pornography (Norwegian: ''sosialpornografi'') is a term used in Norway and elsewhere to describe a type of journalism through which persons are exposed in an intimate way, especially in matters or situations of private or tragic nature, as a ...
References
External links
* {{Wiktionary-inline
English-language slang
Driver distraction