Would You Stop?
 

Travelling down the busy freeway after light rain on Sunday evening I encountered my first car accident. Travelling at around 80 Kilometres an hour, the ute in front of me hit the breaks and I was forced to do the same. My wheelbarrow sized wheels locked up, I lost control and spun into the trees along the side of the highway. my car hit a pine tree head on, then was flipped into a larger pine which embedded itself in the side of my poor little daewoo, branches just inches from my face the whole accident happened on the side of the road, while emerging from the car I had to be careful not to be squashed by oncoming traffic. The car was a total loss but I luckily escaped with only a few cuts and aches.

Heres The Thing- Over 50 people would have seen me lose control and crash, way over 100 would have seen me stumble - crying, shocked and bleeding - from the car, and countless would have seen me sitting by the car alone and injured for the 20 mins I was there.NOT ONE PERSON STOPPED TO SEE IF I WAS OK OR OFFER HELP!! a handful slowed down to stickybeak, all with windows up though. I called my own ambulance from my mobile phone, which I had to find back in the car (lodged under a seat) and called my own tow truck. If I were travelling down a highway and spotted an injured and alone 20yr old female by a fresh crash site - I would stop to help, But no one did, not a sole. What is wrong with people??!! I am so ashamed at humankind for this pathetic display of community.

Have any of you been in similar circumstances? Would you have stopped for me? Have you ever stopped for someone at the scene of an accident?

I have stopped at the scene of an accident, and would most definitely have stopped to render aid to you. It is, in fact, against the law in some places and circumstances in the US to fail to do so.

I'm glad you weren't seriously injured. Cars can be fixed or replaced, people are a bit more dicey.

Yes I would have stoped . No question , no thought , no problem .
Some folks are afraid of getting sued for trying to help , as in if you HAD been injured and they had tryed to administer first aid and you had died . Some familys and lawyers will question if you were qualifed to try and stop the artieral blood from fountining fron your body. In my opinion this is bull shit !!!
In Iceland there is a good semeraten law , if you see a car on the side of the road and there is no assistance being given and you DON'T stop to help you can go to jail . The cops put cars out there to see if you will stop , if you don't they will radio ahead and you will get a ticket and have to go explain to a judge why you didn't stop !
I meen hell we all are just passengers on this great ship lollipop called earth , we NEED to help each other out every now and then .

I thought it was illegal not to stop in australia also, but i suppose all 2 thousand people could not have been fined. They had rebelious safety in numbers :mad:

I personally have never stopped for an accident, as every one i have passed has already been swarming with police and so forth, I think I would freak out a little if there were to be blood about though.Cant handle that, but thats what 000 is for :)

Are you going to buy another car with wheelbarrow sized wheels?:confused:

Are you going to buy another car with wheelbarrow sized wheels?
____

well im not actually sure if this was a contributing factor or not, a few ppl have said to me that the small wheels of my car were an unsafe factor in the accident, but i catn be completely certain of that, i mean i had the car for 3 years - and this is my 1st accident so go figure. Anyone know if this matters or not?

..... Although i do have my eye on a bigger car (old car was a Daewoo 1.5i two door toy car) and i like the new Mitsubishi Lancer Coupe... very sleek, all comes down to cost at the end of the day though. :rolleyes:

F*** the lancer , get a subaru WRX STI ,
http://subaru.com.au/explore/impreza...asp?item=23196

      Would and have. Never had to stop at a bloody crash site (human blood anyway) but I've stopped for a dozen or so people stranded on the side of the road for various reasons.
      I will say that I'm more likely to stop for women, or when kids are present. This is more of a safety issue. I think I'm less likely to get robbed or assaulted by women, children or men that have children with them. This said I've picked up a couple of male hitchhikers over the last few years as well. Other than questionable scents they've caused neither myself nor my vehicle any problem.

      On a related note, a couple of years back my car broke down (dead alternator) leaving me 30 miles from anywhere about 10 at night. I had no cell phone. I grabbed a jacket, as it was a bit chilly, and started walking. The jacket was baggy which covered my obviously male build and my beautiful long hair did the rest. I didn't walk for too long when a guy stopped for me. It was kinda funny, dude was obviously disappointed. He did still drive me to the nearest town though. He also didn't admit that he had thought I was a chic.

As an EMT, I totally would have stopped, and have before. There is a "good samaritan" law in most states that renders you immune from litigation when attempting to help someone. I too am amazed at how selfish people are. It is very common to go to an accident scene, and either find no one there or just the rescue personnel that 911 sent to help the ambulance crew. Ridiculous!

I'm a helper.

the last time i didnt help is still bothering me.

i will continue to help.

i have been helped.

it's all about the karma.

Yes,

Have done so in the past and Did so just recently on my Thanksgiving Holiday. The wife is a nurse ... Hopefully we'll never need her emergency skills.

Well... I don't know too much about Aussies...

But as much as I complain about the life here in the southern US (rednecks, hicks, back-country, etc etc)... one thing that I really do love about the people and the area...

The personal consideration everyone has for each other.

Here in the South, if your car breaks down, let alone an accident, someone will stop. Southerners are easily the most polite and considerate people that I have ever encountered, and it rubs off.

(Of course... life in the cities, like Atlanta or Charlotte, behavior tends back to typical urban politeness... which means it's all but nonexistant).

I watched a Land Cruiser racing some other car mess up a turn and skid head on into an oak tree at about 70mph.

I was in the opposite lane with my friend and his gf(who was asleep). So I made a Uturn and parked about 18 ft from the crushed LC. By that time there other car had already stopped and the two guys in it were pulling out the driver who was not visibly injured by seemed to be only semi concious. (Having been in a crash myself, I figure he was just 'shell shocked'...yeah you get that from high speed crashes with airbag deployments. It sucks.)

There wasn't much else for us to do at that point, the guy was alright even if a bit confused, the LCs front was half round, the tree had most of the bark shattered. There was some smoke coming from under the hood but I figured it was from the radiator being smashed.

Funny thing is that my friends gf who was asleep in my car woke up while we were near the messe up LC and she thought that we had somehow crashed into it or something.

I dropped her off at her house which was about 5 minutes away and comming back we saw that there was now way more smoke comming from under the hood. Black smoke...that didn't look right at all. I parked about 30 ft away to see what would happen....there was more and more smoke now comming out of the dash board...then it started to deform...then in about 1 minute the enitre inside of the car was on fire. THAT freaked me out. The front seats were pretty much engulfed in flame. The tires started to blow up in about 5 minutes. By the time the fire truck came the car was all burned except for the rear.

When I crashed my car at about 2 am I just placed a 911 call out of my cell but I did have 3 cars ask if I needed any help so I can't complain. BTW...aren't airbags cool? Even if they smell a bit funny...

I, too, would stop
 

unless as has been stated, there are already plenty of others stopped. eg, police, ambulance crew.

I once stopped for a single car crash in which I was the first person to happen along. There was nothing I could do, however. The driver's head was split open like a melon...no amount of first aid was going to help him. So I called police and waited until they came along since I could witness that the car's 100+mph speed WAS a factor in the crash.

And on a good karma note, I once broke down near Salisbury MD on 13. Fried alternator. Nearly everyone who came by offered help. Even one person who I saw came out of their house up the road, drove to me and offered a lift (changed their mind when they found out I was going to Norfolk, VA hehe). I will agree with whoever said up there that Southerners here in the US tend to be more willing to help out a fellow motorist as compared to the mostly indifferent Northerners I'm more accustomed to. Pleasant surprise.

Brian

When? The lady at the mall?

The last accident that I saw was in early summer, on westbound West Chester Pike near the 202 on-ramp.

A block or two before the on-ramp, I watched some yutz in a sports car dart from the left lane to the right, squeezing into a 1.000001-car-length space between two cars somewhat in front of me, making the rear car jam on its brakes and swerve a bit. "What an asshole," thinks I, and stayed several feet back in case he'd try anything else.

He got up to the on-ramp, and could've easily gotten onto the on-ramp smoothly; he wasn't pulling the cut-from-the-left-lane-to-the-right-hand-exit-lane-in-one-motion stunt that's very common in the morning rush. Instead, he waited until the last second, and then tried to pull a turn straight out of Grand Theft Auto 3 -- jamming the wheel to the right and blasting up the ramp.

Unfortunately for him, we have this thing called "gravel" in Chester County in places where there isn't actual road. He hit it, skidded sideways and smacked into a utility pole, and he couldn't have hit it any squarer if that'd been his intention all along.

The rear car he'd cut off had turned off into the Wawa, so I was now the next car behind him (albeit in the far left lane), but I didn't stop. First off, it took me a few seconds to process what'd just happened (did he REALLY just have a ridiculous wreck with no other car within twenty feet of him?), and by the time it registered fully, I was past the scene. There were a number of other cars behind me; to return to the scene, I would've had to go around the block and circle back, and by that time I reasoned that someone in a better position to stop would have done so, or someone in the Wawa lot (within easy sight range of the accident) could've called for help.

I finished my quick errand, and adjusted my route home so that I'd be on the other side of that road and see what happened. There were two cop cars there almost immediately, standing next to the (assumed-to-be) driver, so I didn't feel quite as bad. One less shithead on the road for a while, and nobody seemed to be badly hurt...

There is an interesting issue of "group thought". Nice experiment that was done was to stick a single person in a room and tell them to take a test. While they're taking the test, smoke begins pouring through the AC vent. Without hesitation, the test taker runs for help.

But put in a group of people in a room and the hesitation to leave once the smoke is noticed becomes much greater. In fact, they found that often no one goes for help despite it being clear that no one is going for it. Group thought always makes it seem that surely someone else will go for help, so why should you?

These types of experiments were done after the Kitty Genovese murder . 30+ people during a warm night heard her cries and saw her being murdered, but not one person called for help out of the group of apartments. Its not that the witnesses to the murder didn't care, it is the nature of thought in large group of people.

Stopping is always a good thing, I think. You might be the only one to do it, despite so many others being around.

YOU GOT IT

i can still see her face

freaks me out....i'm stopping next time

I've never driven past an accident that wasn't already "fully staffed" but would surely stop to aid someone clearly in need of help.

If its a guy and he doesn't look hurt (walking around, scratchin' his butt ), then I would probably just call someone on my cell phone and not stop.

I would never not stop for a woman with children no matter what the circumstances appeared to be.

What were april and FnF doing at the mall together? :)

Huh? What??? HUH?!!

I don't get it. Enlighten me.

I think the difference between stopping at an accident and the Genovese case is that in KG's case, everyone probably thought everyone else was calling the cops or racing down the stairs to help whereas when driving past an accident, it is clear that no one is helping and that you are the only "help" at that particular moment.

I can forgive KG's neighbors - they probably all made the wrong assumption. But I think failing to help someone in an accident (when its clear no one else is) is akin to stepping over a guy on the sidewalk who's having a heart attack - its YOUR turn and YOU know it yet you continue.

Just kidding! :D

Group thought is creepy that way. Many people thought KG's case was because people in the city were so used to it or that no one wanted to be involved with the crime. So they did another experiment that was really revealing.

I wish I still had that old pysch book, but it went like this: a large group of nuns were brought into an auditorium and lectured on the importance of being a good samaritan and helping people. One nun was picked out of the audience and told to see someone several buildings over. Between the buildings, the researchers had placed a man dressed in ragged clothes who was hunched against the wall, clutching his stomach, and given the appearance of being in a great deal of pain. He was very visible and, as the nuns came across him, they stopped to see if he was okay and assist.

...but only when released one at a time to walk to the other building. When released as a group to the other building to continue the lecture, the nuns all passed and noticed him, but even after the lecture on helping others not one of them stopped to check on the poor guy.

Group thought is really strange.

I have stopped at the scene of 3 accidents, fortunately although serious, the injuries weren't.

Would I have stopped, absolutely. However whenever this happens my bodies reaction instinctively is to get the hell out of there, you don't want anything to do with that!

Seeing other people in bad wrecks scares the hell out of me. In a sense, I have to go against instinct and convince myself to get involved, so I can understand those who didn't stop to some degree. This is probably why I've never picked up a hitchhiker or helped with a disabled car....by the time I "talk myself in to it" I am way past....although always on well traveled roads.

Can understand, but not condone the folks who passed you by tho.

why so that i actually KILL myself next time! too much power, anything turbo just turns me over, i would lose my head and certainly lose my licencse. More of a boys car. Give me a stock V6 anyday :)


_______________

Blue58
my bodies reaction instinctively is to get the hell out of there, you don't want anything to do with that

I know what you mean, although when i see something dramatic or life threatening i tend to freeze up probably from fear that I could make things worse - or get hurt myself. Many years ago i watched my grandad get electrocuted from a power socket he was fixing- I didnt run for my grandmother, scream for help or anything I just stood there. he was nearly unconcious but he was just in shock. he was ok a few days later. but at the time I didnt want to be there and I didnt want anything to do with the resposonsibility of anyone elses safety.

To the Aussies on the F3 highway the other sunday however - my blood is still boiling over your actions! :mad:

Hey! I had a dead alternator too! PA turnpike, near Beaverfalls. Heading back to college in Ohio, about 10 at night,during the winter. I tied a rag on the antenna. This is long before cell phones. I had a trucker stop. He radioed for a tow and a cop. I sat in the cab and listened as my little datsun was all the talk over the CB. I was still a not disillusioned young girl, and looking back it was probably stupid to trust this trucker and get in his cab. But this is but one of my kind trucker stories.

So the tow truck comes, loads up the Datsun, and as we're headed to Beaverfalls, the tow driver gets radioed that his garage alarm has gone of. He floors it. Poor Datsun is screaming hanging on for dear life back there. When we get to the garage, he tells me to stay in the cab cause the "dogs are loose." After calm returns and damage was assessed, I was dropped off at the Beaverfalls Motel, where a sign proclaimed "Jesus is Lord". Car was fixed the next day.

At the risk of showing everyone exactly how frigging stupid I am, I've got to ask...is 'sticky beak' the same as 'rubbernecking' here in the US?

I'm guessing that it is a truncation of 'sticking one's nose into someone else's business'?

Translation, please?

I had to change my alternator in Illinois in the midst of a cross-country drive. Did it in the parking lot of the auto parts place in 95 degree weather - blacktop is very hot - and people have no problem stopping to give dirty looks to someone helping themself.

Yes it is the same as rubbernecking, although in Australia if your rubbernecking, it generally means your kissing someone. so i didnt want to use this term. :3eye:

Yes, I stop, make cell phone calls, etc.

I can't be of much more use than that at an accident scene, although I've picked up more than a few basic skills from long term hanging out with EMTs. While i was in high school, college and for a good few years after I probably made a lot more calls than most active members of a local vollie squad ... my best friend was an EMT and he would respond to the scene rather than the station, then it was my job to drive his car to the hospital.

S_S, at least you owned one of the cheaply made cars that pretty much disassembles itself on impact. Probably saved your life by transferring a lot of that energy through the frame of the vehicle rather than through you.

I'm aware that some of the Australian road accidents can be quite nasty. I've seen video footage of the Clybucca bus accident ... I know they're not all like that, but it makes the point that there are long lonely stretches of highway to traverse.

Glad, though, that you're well, and hope you get a car you like.

      So Wolf, when you stop to help someone, do you make sure your gun is in your hand? Just wondering as several of us were specific to age and gender of who we are most likely to help.

Thats it! im moving to America where there is compassion, helping hands and love for all!! :)

i have a pic of the accident on my computer but the celler notified me it too large to post. ill fiddle and try to make it smaller, not sure how to though. :confused:

      Just remember, move to the south. Away from major cities too. That's where us decent folk live. You get into big cities you get people like Sycamore that victimize gentle folk like Dave.

Holstered, unless there's an obvious threat, just like always. However, at night the 6 D-Cell Maglite is in the left hand ...

On the other hand, if you move too far south, you'll be forced to forfiet at least 3 front teeth, and you'll have to marry a relative. We are fiercely loyal up here in Philly, and will always take care of our own.....so, whit....don't mess with sycamore or I'll come wax that pelt off of your chest!:D

For those not familiar with living up North, "fiercely loyal" should be translated to "belligerent towards out-of-towners".

      Jim, Syc and I are good. Actually after I posted that I thought it might be a little early for that kind of crack, but I decided it was posted already and I hate it when people delete shtuff. If Syc wants an apology I'd give it but I doubt it'll be called for.
      By the by, the stuff about the relatives and teeth are myths. We perpetuate them to keep you damn yanks from moving down here, that's what keeps our part of the country nice.
      Oh yeah, and if so much as try to touch my 'pelt' my daughter will so kick your ass.

Awww Whit, you flatter me.

Wednesday night, I got off the commuter train at my stop, and was walking back to my car. As I get near my car, a young lady steps out of another car and says, "Excuse me, sir, can I ask you for a favor?"

"Depends," I say.

She was having some car trouble, and wanted to know if I could push her car in an attempt to pop start it. So, I gave it a try...no success. The parking lot shuttle driver stopped a minute later to help push...still no success. After a few more tries, we pushed her car into a parking spot...I asked her if she needed to make a phone call, but fortunately she had a cell phone with her. It was cold that night too...about 25 degrees at 9pm with a gusty wind. And at that time of night, there's almost no one at the station...usually just the shuttle driver and a security guard or police officer.

I kinda felt bad, b/c I was rather cynical in my approach. I mean, I had every right to be cautious...parking lot in the middle of nowhere, not many people around, it's dark out...but I just felt that I could have handled it better. Maybe it's because I still don't feel "familiar" with Philadelphia folks...or because I don't trust them. Had this happened back in St. Louis, I don't think I would have hesitated to help.

I think it would depend on the situation too. For example, I saw a guy mugged when I lived in Washington, DC...I wasn't able to really stop at the time, so I called 911 on my cell phone. Had I seen Sun Sparkz, I may have been wary, but if there were enough people around, I would hope that I would have stopped and helped.

this morning on my way in to work, i stopped and helped push a mitsubishi that had gotten stuck in a snow bank.....

while pushing, i slipped and "kissed" the corner of the hood of the car. split my lip pretty good, and tasted blood for most of the ride in......oh, well.......

Karma...... Right! :rolleyes:

Now now Sun...sometimes, bad things do happen to good people.

(Jimbo though...definitely karma...he's such an asshole. :) )

well....i did omit the part where i raped and killed the peolple in the car.......didn't seem relevant

Well, hey...I mean, you DID split your lip helping them with their car.

this is probably dogma from that time i didn't help
:confused:

WTF Since when is cracking on Syc not allowed? Are poets too sensitive to be reminded of their fuck ups? I don't think so. :p

Shit, as much as I rib folks...if I couldn't take it, I'd be more of an asshole than I already am. :)

case in point

      So, your karma got run over by your dogma? Okay, that was bad but it was just sitting there...