Traffic Accidents

[<offtheshoulder>]

So guys....how newsworthy are traffic accidents? Does your station make you shoot every TC they hear on the scanner? How do you guys determine if a traffic accident is worth shooting when you come up on one? I.E: traffic lanes blocked, a rolled over vehicle; are these just some elements that make a traffic accident worth shooting?

[<Trac AX>]

It sucks but my newsroom only wants a car accident when someone dies.

[shoot da parrot]

only fatals or if it impacts lots of people because of traffic.

[<good question>]

You never know how important a crash can be. I covered one many moons ago and though it was filler at the time, the major lawsuit that came from it was news worthy. I guess the air bag killed a small child. At the time of the crash the kid was in the hospital and never a follow up done on condition, but when the lawyers called a press conference we were the only ones with video of the crash scene and the air bag in question.

So we always check out injury crashes. Plus, you never know who's may be injured ie: mayors son, gov's daughter etc.

[SmlMktChief]

If it interupts traffic flow, weather related or fatal. But...&lt;good question&gt; is right, you never know who is in the vehicle.

[ewink]

We do them for the same reasons as mention above...

Fatal, Serious injury, someone important, traffoc, ect...

We also cover some ax that are just wierd. One I did was where a motorcycle skidded out of control, crashed into a streetlight and knocked it over on top of a couple of cars. The guy driving the bike ditched his bike and hopped on the back of hnis buddies and took off.

No one was hurt, but it was just weird...

[Terry E. Toller]

As a stringer, you want the stations to buy all the accidents you can shoot. BUT the reality should be that accidents aren't news unless they cause a second event that effects the community. Something like power outage or major traffic jam.

Auto accidents are about as much news as shootings. They happen all the time...

[Crimson]

We actually go to any Accident that involves Entrapment. That usually is our Key word. However there are other more specific exception. Like School bus involved or Car Vs 18-wheeler, or if a goverment vehicle is involved.

[RichVid]

Auto accidents are about as much news as shootings. They happen all the time... One thing I've learned is that car crashes are more pertinent on the overnite - for the AM shows, at least here in L.A. where there are millions of autos and many peculiar or spectacular crashes (cars into buildings/swimming pools/canals/) - If you're trying to string a car crash into a regular newscast during the week tho, chances are you're out of luck unless there's A) a fatality (the more the better) :( B) a hit and run with critical injuries & either a child or an elderly person involved, or C)Mass Casualties (bus stop or school or into a store or something) - People feed stuff in all the time that they think is great and none of it makes air during the week...Weekends are a little different...less reporters working and more room for spot news...your chances are a little better on Saturdays and Sundays but even if you shoot some big crash with people trapped, there has to be something a little out of the ordinary, either visually or in the story, for you to get multiple "hits"....

Just like shootings...I've stopped covering the run of the mill gang shootings even with 3, 4, or 5 victims hit...it's too dangerous to go into the projects alone without any guarantees your stuff will air...of course, later on, when the stations find out a young child was hit in a building by a stray round and they want the footage, they call all the stringers and of course, no one shot it...
oh well

[Newshutr]

One of our assignment eds. only send us out if there are "Nuns or orphans involved."

God, I love her.

[s. curelo]

i hate shooting car accidents. at my old shop we would shoot any little fender bender or crash that came across the scanner. it became the biggest waste of time because 9 out of 10 of the accidents would turn out to be nothing. (but a lot of this came from the idiots listening to the scanners(AE, producers, interns)...not smart people) but at my current station we stick to the fatal or traffic backup if anything. i think a lot of it has to do w/ staff. if you have someone available to go and check it out, it probably wouldn't hurt, but we don't always have the staff available.

a quick sidebar: how news worthy is a fatal accident? lets say two people get into a wreck one person dies, (i hate to sound unsympatheic) but do people care. it seems like more people would care about a 5 mile backup then a fatal, the backup may affect more people, making it more newsworthy, but who knows.

[<samy>]

oh my gosh! We cover EVERYTHING! The only thing anyone in the newsroom hears is accidents because they tone out.....hell, we run fatal accidents five counties away as readers or graphics if someone sends a press release.

Gotta love small town TV where everything thinks an auto accident is a lead story.

My opinion...very, very rarely is a car accident newsworthy...just because it's a rollover doesn't make it newsworthy.

[rusticrub]

Normally we only cover "special" accidents. i.e. - larger vehicles, entrapment, blocked traffic or ones that are highly visible (usually then because people call the newsroom). Our shop is great about weeding through the muck to find an actual newsworthy traffic ax. Now, with that said, there are those extremely slow news days (once in a blue moon) where we'll go cover something barely more serious than a fender-bender, rare but it does happen....

[cameragod]

I just got to shoot my own accident. It will probably only make it to the Xmas tape but there you go.

[ewink]

I was thinking about this, and location of an accident can make it news worthy.

Like that intersection in Kansas that had a lot of accidents (including the one in the live shot).

Several small accidents at one location can be far more newsworthy than one big crash in the middle of no where...

[sheriff]

Stephen, you ok? How's the Subaru?

[stroke the hokie]

And god forbid there be a schoolbus involved...even if nobody is hurt and it was just a little ding, we like to freak out all the parents and send them into a "is my child ok" frenzy.

[RichVid]

a quick sidebar: how news worthy is a fatal accident? lets say two people get into a wreck one person dies, (i hate to sound unsympatheic) but do people care. it seems like more people would care about a 5 mile backup then a fatal, the backup may affect more people, making it more newsworthy, but who knows. The newsworthiness depends...if it's a single fatal with Joe Schmoe at the wheel of a 1989 Nissan 200 SX, who went over the side and didn't really affect traffic, then Joe might get a flyover-spray with a 30 second cut-in IF the crash happened during the 3 hour morning or afternoon shows...if Joe crashes in the middle of the day, forget it (No offense Joe)...even if a stringer shoots it, it probably won't make air...But like others have said, throw in a school bus or a vehicle into a Ross Dress For Less with some injuries and your chances improve significantly... I remember in 2001 I shot a charter bus loaded with kids coming back from a summer camp that crashed on a freeway. There were multiple minor to moderate injuries and I think more than 15 kids were transported (between the ages of like 6-13)...about a dozen ambulances, 5 or 6 engines, 1 ladder truck, cops everywhere - I had great access - AND I only got 3 stations to air the footage out of 8 I fed to (Only camera there)...This was midweek right before the afternoon shows started...not great but at least a couple went with it

[ January 21, 2005, 09:48 AM: Message edited by: RichVid ]

[A/B roll]

They want anything you get. The funny thing is you can have an awsome crash and the won't use it but then somtimes they air a fenderbender. It all depends what other news is like that day.

[Frank McBride]

Covering accidents in Houston just got more interesting. The city has put into effect the "Safe/Clear" program. ANY auto on ANY freeway within the city limits that is stopped is subject to immediate tow.

While chasing down cars getting towed, at least one of our news units was reported for towing. They moved on before the wrecker arrived, but if we are simply covering a news event on the freeway, our unit very possibly won't be there when we're done.

To the question: Our criteria are in line with those listed for L.A.: It's got to be pretty unusual for us to air it. Officer involved will make air every time.

FMc

[SeattleShooter]

We do them if traffic lanes are blocked and on a main road. Just yesterday there was one and I was told we were going to go live. Well, as I was setting up, another station saw me and you can probably guess what happened...if they go live we go live (vise versa). So they ended up having to go live for a lame ass car crash because we did. Just as soon as we were on air, they were towing the cars away. I never had enough time to send them back any shots so it was just a live shot and then a VO at 10 and 11.

I also think it depends on what market you are in. Bigger cities + more stupid drivers = more car wrecks. Why cover them all when you don’t have the man and in some cases women power. (had to throw that one in because we have a few female photogs here and they a some cool people)