Would You Stop?

Sun_Sparkz · 12-03-2003, 11:30 PM

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?

Elspode · 12-03-2003, 11:39 PM

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.

zippyt · 12-03-2003, 11:45 PM

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 .

Sun_Sparkz · 12-03-2003, 11:47 PM

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

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

xoxoxoBruce · 12-03-2003, 11:52 PM

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

Sun_Sparkz · 12-03-2003, 11:57 PM

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.

zippyt · 12-04-2003, 12:09 AM

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

Whit · 12-04-2003, 12:24 AM

      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.

insoluble · 12-04-2003, 12:39 AM

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!

lumberjim · 12-04-2003, 12:52 AM

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.

Scopulus Argentarius · 12-04-2003, 06:35 AM

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.

Riddil · 12-04-2003, 08:17 AM

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).

FileNotFound · 12-04-2003, 08:28 AM

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...

BrianR · 12-04-2003, 09:15 AM

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

OnyxCougar · 12-04-2003, 09:30 AM

I am continually amazed by the politeness and feeling of goodwill that I have encountered in the 4 months I've been here. NC is more of the "northern south" but it's still "part of the confederacy" and I haven't met a person yet that wouldn't stop and ask if you need help.

View Poll Results: Would You Have Stopped?
Yes	19	82.61%
Only if no one else was around to help	3	13.04%
No	1	4.35%
I would slow to have a sticky beak	0	0%
Voters: 23. You may not vote on this poll

12-03-2003, 11:30 PM	#1
Sun_Sparkz Has Body Temperature Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: I come from a land downunder Posts: 1,105	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? __________________ We'll never be as young as we are right now

12-03-2003, 11:39 PM	#2
Elspode When Do I Get Virtual Unreality? Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Raytown, Missouri Posts: 12,719	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. __________________ "To those of you who are wearing ties, I think my dad would appreciate it if you took them off." - Robert Moog

12-03-2003, 11:45 PM	#3
zippyt LONG LIVE KING ZIPPY! per Feetz Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Arkansas Posts: 7,661	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 . __________________ "Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get. " Brother Dave Gardner

12-03-2003, 11:47 PM	#4
Sun_Sparkz Has Body Temperature Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: I come from a land downunder Posts: 1,105	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 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 __________________ We'll never be as young as we are right now

12-03-2003, 11:52 PM	#5
xoxoxoBruce The future is unwritten Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 71,105	Are you going to buy another car with wheelbarrow sized wheels? __________________ The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump.

12-03-2003, 11:57 PM	#6
Sun_Sparkz Has Body Temperature Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: I come from a land downunder Posts: 1,105	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. __________________ We'll never be as young as we are right now

12-04-2003, 12:09 AM	#7
zippyt LONG LIVE KING ZIPPY! per Feetz Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Arkansas Posts: 7,661	F*** the lancer , get a subaru WRX STI , http://subaru.com.au/explore/impreza...asp?item=23196 Attached Images __________________ "Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get. " Brother Dave Gardner

12-04-2003, 12:24 AM	#8
Whit Umm ... yeah. Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Arkansas, USA Posts: 949	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. __________________ A friend will help you move. A true friend will help you move a body.

12-04-2003, 12:39 AM	#9
insoluble developmentally disabled rear end headwear Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: syracuse, ny Posts: 207	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!

12-04-2003, 12:52 AM	#10
lumberjim I can hear my ears Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 25,571	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. __________________ This body holding me reminds me of my own mortality Embrace this moment, remember We are eternal, all this pain is an illusion ~MJKeenan

12-04-2003, 06:35 AM	#11
Scopulus Argentarius Your current user title is: Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: BTR Posts: 301	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.

12-04-2003, 08:17 AM	#12
Riddil Management Consultant Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 165	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).

12-04-2003, 08:28 AM	#13
FileNotFound Intouch with his inner sheep rider. Join Date: Nov 2003 Posts: 603	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... __________________ This is a rat. \|This is a hamster.\| This is a chipmunk.\| This is a Sheep Rider.

12-04-2003, 09:15 AM	#14
BrianR Cleverly disguised as a responsible adult Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Dallas, TX Posts: 3,338	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 __________________ Never be afraid to tell the world who you are. -- Anonymous

12-04-2003, 09:30 AM	#15
OnyxCougar Junior Master Dwellar Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Kingdom of Atlantia Posts: 2,979	I am continually amazed by the politeness and feeling of goodwill that I have encountered in the 4 months I've been here. NC is more of the "northern south" but it's still "part of the confederacy" and I haven't met a person yet that wouldn't stop and ask if you need help.

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