I have heard that there are folks who get downright annoyed when I and everyone else around me slow down to watch the accident on the freeway. So why not a mandatory gawk-cam, installed by the factory. The highway patrol sets up a homing signal at the crash site, and we uninvolved folks in our cars can simply activate the device. It is a digital video camera that extends above our car and hones in on the police signal. As we drive by, we know our gawk-cam is getting a good shot of the scene, and storing it on a floppy. It stays fixed on the signal source. It could also be variable-height, so we can set it according to which lane we are in. No need to slow down -- we can view the carnage later on our computer when we get home.-- globaltourniquet, Apr 27 2001 Anti-Gawker shield http://www.halfbake...nti-Gawker_20shieldAnother approach to the problem. [egnor, Apr 27 2001, last modified Oct 17 2004] Yeah-It is absolutely insane the way rubbernecking is worse on traffic than the actual accident itself. All appropriate sentiments to accidenter and accidentee notwithstanding.-- thumbwax, Apr 27 2001 The problem is ubiquitous, and the comment is intended as a cynical "take-a-picture-it'll-last-longer" sort of sarcasm aimed at our voyeurist culture. I sympathise with the horror you endured that moment, and I appreciate your sentiment. The problem is that this need to witness first-hand the worst in human tragedy, while perhaps cathartic and even instructive, is congestive. My idea, while a cynical sarcastic dig, _is_ an attempt to hold the problem up to the light of the reason for it -- the aforementioned catharsis and instruction -- while addressing the congestion issue. The anti-gawker shield doesn't do that!
So, acknowledging that we may need to see these things to appreciate the impact of such a thing on people's lives, let's just take a frickin picture of it and watch it later.-- globaltourniquet, Apr 28 2001 With swimsuit season approaching over here, I don't think this device will be used solely for accidents. Any ideas on a manual control?-- nick_n_uit, Apr 28 2001 Love the idea of a homing camera. Can't say I would give those to car owners, most of whom can't manage to drive the advanced cars they now own. Then there are the intrusive thoughts I'm having about yetalives circling an accident scene like vultures.-- reensure, Apr 28 2001 Good point.-- globaltourniquet, Apr 29 2001 If the losers who sit and stare at accidents were to be able to look at it at home whenever they wanted, it might be possible to get somewhere without being stuck in traffic behind them.
I don't care what the accident was. I don't want to see it. I am on the road for a reason, and the reason is to get somewhere, and a bunch of idiots gaping at someone's misfortune or stupidity are in my way.-- StarChaser, Apr 29 2001 Precisely my thought.-- globaltourniquet, Apr 29 2001 First accident I ever saw... I was 4, in a van going to school for Hearing Impaired- I could see that a car was approaching a Stop sign without slowing down-he collided with car coming towards us on drivers side. The van stopped right next to impacted vehicle. The driver stumbled out- his left eye was dangling from it's socket. Bleeding profusely he seemed to look at me with his right eye. He then collapsed and died. We went to his home after confirming address with Patrolman (this was 1964, things were different). His wife was kind-made a cup of coffee for our driver, gave the 3 kids-self included-Dentyne gum after she received the news. She was noble and strong. As we left, I turned to see her as she collapsed in tears. I will always remember that day. I've had my own horrors of an accident having been rearended while doing 15 mph away from a stopsign at 100 mph by a drunk. Why anyone would want rubberneck or to tape it to watch later is beyond me.-- thumbwax, Apr 30 2001 I'm all for cutting down on congestion, but on the principle that *anything* which serves to elucidate gore and tragedy further simply can't be good, I'm voting this down.-- absterge, Apr 30 2001 random, halfbakery