# Rubberneckers-shoot them in the face? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 26, 2002, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rubberneckers-shoot-them-in-the-face/120988 "2002-07-26T19:49:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gus28](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6de8d8/32.png) [@gus28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gus28)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2002, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rubberneckers-shoot-them-in-the-face/120988/1 "2002-07-26T19:49:38Z")
I just got off of work, and it took me 30 minutes longer to get home than normal, because of a wreck on the other side of the interstate… I only wish that I had access to a blow torch and a pipe wrench. I had to get that off my chest, I feel alot better now. ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2002, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rubberneckers-shoot-them-in-the-face/120988/2 "2002-07-26T20:24:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gus28 \* > \*\*I only wish that I had access to a blow torch and a pipe wrench. \*\* To be used together in some sort of death ray? MacGuyer to I-95. MacGuyer to I-95. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2002, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rubberneckers-shoot-them-in-the-face/120988/3 "2002-07-26T21:48:34Z")
_sigh_ Rubbernecking is not nearly as common as people say it is; usually traffic congestion attributed to rubbernecking is nothing more than a static wave of compressed traffic - a residual effect initially caused by either a few rubberneckers or a few people wisely and cautiously slowing down when an accident occurs (even if it occurs on the other carriageway, it’t instinctive and sensible to slow down). Usually it’s like this: traffic density is high; _something_ happens to cause driver A to slow down; driver B (immediately behind) has to decelerate equally or more (if he decelerates less, he risks hitting A); driver C (immediately behind B) has to slow equally or more… by the time we get back to driver H, the backlog is at a standstill, cars join the back of the stationary queue, stop, start, stop, crawl a bit, then leave after the car in front leaves (driver A, even if he is the original and genuine rubbernecker) is long gone by the time driver Q hits the stationary queue, but everyone in front of Q is looking around in a perplexed fashion to try to determine what, if any, reason there is for the holdup; Q sees this and calls it ‘rubbernecking’, but he’s mixing up cause and effect. ---
**Author:** ![porcupine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac91a4/32.png) [@porcupine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/porcupine)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2002, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rubberneckers-shoot-them-in-the-face/120988/4 "2002-07-26T22:06:51Z")
Won’t shooting rubber-neckers in the face cause more rubber-necking? ---
**Author:** ![Critical1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2002, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rubberneckers-shoot-them-in-the-face/120988/5 "2002-07-26T22:10:12Z")
only till they are all dead ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2002, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rubberneckers-shoot-them-in-the-face/120988/6 "2002-07-26T23:30:10Z")
Seems like you should shoot rubberneckers in the **neck.** Could just be me, though. > [@](#): > > (even if it occurs on the other carriageway, it’s instinctive and sensible to slow down) Ooo, “carriageway!” You Englanders are so cute. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2002, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rubberneckers-shoot-them-in-the-face/120988/7 "2002-07-26T23:50:06Z")
Nah, the bullets’d just bounce off. ---
**Author:** ![belladonna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9fc29f/32.png) [@belladonna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/belladonna)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2002, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rubberneckers-shoot-them-in-the-face/120988/8 "2002-07-27T01:11:27Z")
> [@](#): > > Won’t shooting rubber-neckers in the face cause more rubber-necking? That was my first thought, too. More rubber-neckers, and the small detail of the multiple emergency vehicles, police helicoptors, and SWAT team vans who are coming to chase ol’\*\* gus28\*\* down. Then _he’d_ be the reason traffic was held up, and therefore be subject to the “face-shot” punishment put forth by his own proposal. Brilliant! This is the best idea I’ve heard all day. 😃 okay, I wasn’t going to admit to this, but it wasn’t until preview that I got your joke, **Neidhart**. I was reading it, and thinking it was re: the OP, and wondering why the bullets would bounce off rubbernecker’s _faces_. All I could figure was because you meant they were “hardheaded”, which is kinda lame. But you meant their _necks_, which are rubber, ergo bouncy. Which is actually pretty fucking funny, and I can’t believe it took that long for my synapses to fire. :o It’s been a long week. bella ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2002, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rubberneckers-shoot-them-in-the-face/120988/9 "2002-07-27T01:49:07Z")
> [@](#): > > I can’t believe it took that long for my synapses to fire. It’s been a long week. My thoughts start to noticeably slow down too around 10 p.m. 🙂 (And what if you shot 'em in the neck with rubber bullets? They’d just keep ricocheting around till the end of time.) ---
**Author:** ![Joe\_Cool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecb155/32.png) [@Joe\_Cool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Cool)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2002, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rubberneckers-shoot-them-in-the-face/120988/10 "2002-07-27T07:16:47Z")
Just piping up in support of Mangetout’s post… Here is a really good discussion on the concept of [url="[http://amasci.com/amateur/traffic/traffic1.html](http://amasci.com/amateur/traffic/traffic1.html)"traffic waves. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2002, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rubberneckers-shoot-them-in-the-face/120988/11 "2002-07-27T08:11:32Z")
Announcement: Gus28 is not me!!! Honest…