Incident screens to prevent accident rubbernecking - will they work?

[Paul the 6th]

http://recombu.com/cars/articles/new...-rubbernecking



What you lot think?

[tigersaw]

Hopefully they will yes.
And stop the spazzers taking home movies on their phones as they pass.

[Dipper]

From that photo it doesn't look as though they work.

[Paul the 6th]

Originally Posted by Dipper

From that photo it doesn't look as though they work.

"Oh look the motorway is shut and there's a big green screen on it, let's slow down and look." - was my thought as well.

[Fallout]

I think it'll reduce it, but not stop it. The only way to stop it is for people to stop crashing.

[embee]

It really bugs me when the chatterati talk of everyone slowing down and rubber-necking at accidents on motorways.

If there is any sort of serious incident ahead on a motorway, one would hope that the natural reaction is to slow down, it's what we are always being told to do anyway (speed camera = safety camera, yes?). When in traffic which is beginning to slow down, what the hell do you expect me to do, keep on trucking at 70+ ? No, I slow down as well. We all slow down.

The concertina effect is very well known and understood, it just happens. That's what happens around serious incidents, traffic slows and causes a bunching, even bringing traffic flow to a stop. That's the science behind the variable speed limits on the M25 for example, it minimises the conncertina effect a couple of miles ahead, fairly simple mathematical modelling tells us it works.

Yes, some folk rubber-neck, but most of us are just in the traffic and do what the traffic dictates. Screens a good idea? Well yes, probably.

End of rant.

[Paul the 6th]

I guess when you drive 20,000 miles a year, people rubber necking causing subsequent accidents on your side of the motorway and what should be 4 hours to get to the venue ends up taking 8 hours, then instead of working from 4pm til 8pm we have to work 8pm til midnight and start at 5am instead of 7 because we didn't have that extra time to run into last night = when this happens on a regular basis, it's no wonder people get so upset about rubber neckers. The number of drivers whose brake lights come on when along side the incident on the other side of the motorway, despite in front of them being no cause to brake - that's what causes further accidents.

With these screens all I can see is that there'll just be another novelty for drivers to slow down and gawp at instead of concentrating on what's happening around them.

I think they will work given time and when people realise there is nothing to see and nothing to film (sadly it does happen) then slowing to a crawl will begin to change to a reasonable 40 or something when passing such motorway incidents. For years I have had ideas of a similar system and deployed more rapidly....I guess I better get to the drawing board...

[Mr Speirs]

I didn't understand the point of them tbh. They said they were going to be introduced to try and stop rubbernecking but to also speed up the amount of time it takes to clear incident. Not sure how setting up a 100 yards of fencing is going to help with clear up times? It only gives one exit and one entrance to the scene so to get out of traffic i.e. the ambulance they are going to have to stop the traffic and make a hole in the fence to let them out. Then once every vehicle has been cleared away the highways agency has to go round clearing up these barriers onto a flat bed truck...
nope its makes no sense to me.

[Ch00]

Deployment time would be a major factor. Also anyone in anything higher than a large van will still see over them.

Better off spending the money on people to deal with the job faster.