Helping stranded motorists

I was reading a news story where a man stopped to help a car with it's hazard lights on and ended up getting a beating instead.

I have stopped many times to help stranded motorists and to date have had no problems. I will drive past the car first and circle back for another look then judge if it is safe enough to offer help.

I always have a pad and pen in the car and I write down the stranded car make/model, color and plate number then put this paper in my sock before getting out of the car to offer. The idea of putting this info in my sock is in case I get beaten, robbed, car-jacked etc. Chances are slim the perpetrators will make me remove my socks and hopefully this hidden info will allow the police to catch the pinheads.

How do you deal with stranded motorists and what precautions do you take?

Usually I will stay in my truck to ask them if they need me to call for assistance. If I need to get out and help then I will never turn my back on the person or persons (while helping hook up jumper cables, tow ropes etc) If someone does try something funny, then I always have my trusty folder and years of knife fighting training. A good pipe wrench never hurts to have on hand either.(lol ) you can tell usually if a person is sketchy just by their posture, attitude, appearance etc. Every situation will be different, and lots of info can be gained by sizing up the surroundings. If something looks out of place or I get that "feeling" that something is not right then I will ask if they need me to CALL for assistance but I will not get out of my truck. Rather I will take the plate # and location, keep driving and call help for them. If it is an elderly person, or a couple with small children and such Then I tend to feel better and will usually get out to assist. It’s sad to think that we live in such a world where we may be beaten trying to assist people, but that is just how it is. Any time you decide to do so it is a risk and the best thing to do is try and use good judgment.

I hate to sound heartless, but most of the time I never stop or ask if they need help. I usually just call the police and report the disabled vehicle, its information, and that of the occupants. There's just WAY too many idiots that live in my area, and I don't want to take any crazy risks...

I spent a lifetime (or 30+ years) helping stranded motorists as a part of my job (in addition to a lot of other stuff). Enough of them turned out to be stolen vehicles, wanted felons, etc, etc, etc, that I no longer do it. I will call in a vehicle description, location, etc, but will not stop. Call me heartless, or call me smart, call me a survivor...

My dad told me a story about how one day he passed by a car with it's hood up and a women trying to flag him down. He turned around and was slowing down to help when he looked over and saw a guy that was trying to hide in the bushes by the car he decided to haul butt outta there. He found a patrol car and told them what was up and where the women and the man was. What I took away from this little story is it's better to just report the stranded person cause you never know who you may be trying to help. Oh and something I learned many times since then is good deeds rarely go unpunished so be very careful out there.

I can tell you one thing, I wouldn't stop to help if I was alone. I'd want at least two other people with me. One to watch my back and one to stay in my car/truck.

i'd go one up on that, and say I'd want at least two ARMED people with me.

Generally, I think the need to stop has been negated by the availability of cell phones. I don't know many people who don't carry one when they travel, but I am sure there are exceptions.

I think it's situation and locations dependent. In many locations that I travel in (what most people call Northern Canada, but is really Central Canada) it would be considered ignorant not to stop and ask if you he/she/they need some help. This is especially true beyond the range of cell phones. But is is a difference between an urban and a rural mentality. There is still a world out there in which people will slow down and wave or just stop and say hello when they are passing another vehicle on a narrow gravel road. Its a way of life not yet forgotten, but often overshadowed by news reports of violence, TV program's, and looking to long at certain select areas of North America where their is a car jacking problem. It is correct that I would not stop to help someone on a south Florida highway or in East LA.

Second that.

Same here! I'll call it in, but not expose myself. If another is with me, and we are both armed, depending on the situation, but calling it in is safer.

When I hear things like this, it brings home how much things have changed. I've traveled over quite a lot of the U.S., from CA to ME, and if I had trouble, or was even stopped to let the dog out, someone would at least slow down and yell, "Are you okay?"

I read a book called Australian Adventure by an American naturalist who drove around Australia with her two teenaged daughters in the 1970s (before the Stuart Hwy was paved). In the outback, it was considered bad form to pass anyone who was stopped by the side of the road without checking on them. Everyone considered it their duty to watch out for each other.

The woman would see a vehicle under a tree or beside a tank, and they would stop and yell (in their newly-acquired Aussie accents), "Are you roight?" And the guys would wave and yell back, "Yeah, we're roight! Ta!"

It's a pity that we've reached a point in our 'civilized' society where almost all our decisions regarding other people are based on fear.

Sue

I don't mean to drag up old posts but this applies and I thought it would be worth mentioning. Where I work is a fairly isolated compound off the main road and assessable by dirt road only. There are long stretches up the main road before the turn off where there are no street lights etc and it is not uncommon to see vehicles skidded off the road at this time of year. Just about an hour ago I was traveling up this road on the way back to work when I saw a small car half way in the ditch after hitting a patch of ice. I slowed to a stop and took a look to see a small old woman in the car crying. She had skidded off the road trying to avoid an oncoming car that was too far over on her side of the road. thinking that there was a broad shoulder she tried to pull out of the way and the tires had hooked the snow covered edge. The snow proved deeper than it looked and her small front wheel drive was hopelessly stuck. As I approached a wave of relief came over her face. seeing me in uniform assured her that I wasn't any more of a nut than I may have thought she was. In 5 minutes flat I hooked up a tow strap and pulled her out. She had no cell phone as she had said she never really had any use for them, and thus could not call for help. Turns out she was paying a surprise visit to her Grandson who lives on base and who will be deploying overseas next week. After refusing her attempts at giving me money she would not let me leave without some banana bread (brought for her grandson) and a big hug (believe it or not). She explained to me that several people had passed without giving her even a glance. I drove away feeling very proud to have helped her out but sad at the same time. Canada is probably the friendliest place on earth,(most of the time) where people helping strangers is usually a common every day thing. After 911 people were taking in strangers off of flights into their own homes to eat and sleep for several days in my home province of Newfoundland, as all air traffic was suspended in and out of any airport. I was shocked that no one else stopped to help when even the slightest glance would have shown her to be an old woman by herself. I have been almost all over this globe and have seen the uncaring attitude people have for each other in other countries. I still am shocked when it happens here. Is this what it is all coming to I wonder? Its pretty sad.

Kudos to you Taurus.

Is the World coming to this? Too often, but that does not me when cannot fight it. We can and should fight it, and you just did.

I normally don't stop for people in cities or on heavily traveled roads. I figure in areas like that there are plenty of LEOs, cell phones, roadside assistance, etc which are all much better equipped to help out than I would be. Of coarse this excludes the situation where I see the incident happen and am the first on the scene.

However, I also spend a fair amount of time on less traveled back roads where there is no cell coverage, and have winched a fair number of vehicles out of ditches. I figure I'll at least check things out because who knows when the next car will go by? I normally approach the scene slowly, flip on my light rack, roll down my windows and ask if the stranded vehicle needs assistance.

I have been helped many times in my various travels, and I will help others out in the sticks. But I look the situation over very, very carefully. And when I need help, I keep my attention focused. I also tend to travel with largish wolfish-looking, dark-faced dogs, which may be an edge.

The two Scottish ladies (retired schoolteachers) who had a flat tire between Baker, CA and Las Vegas, NV, were a real hoot. They had forgotten to put a rock under the wheel and their jack got wedged under the car when it rolled. Being the Queen of Flat Tires that I am, I got it changed before my flare burned out. They said they had waited for two hours before they tried doing it themselves. Being visitors to the country, they didn't know what to do. (This was in the pre-cell days.)

I've only picked up hitchhikers twice. The woman turned out to be someone that I knew by phone, but had never met in person. What are the chances of that? The other one was a sick 14-yr-old boy I met in a campground in Wenatchee, WA, and spent the entire trip over the Cascades to Everett vomiting in a large cottage cheese container.

I tend to assume that men should be able to take care of themselves, and don't stop. The single exception was when a car had slid just a couple of feet off an icy road, and he needed to be dragged back just a little bit. A SP officer was slowing people, and was asking if anyone had a tow strap, which I did. I would think the SP would have one, but....?

I know many people refuse to stop under any circumstances. But if something happens and they need help, they expect someone to help them. It's hard for me to think like that.

Sue

Precautions???

I just survey the scene for suspicious characters. Last time I helped a lady get her van out of the snowy ditch and never really thought about needing to defend myself from a 50 year old woman. [Incidentally her husband was an American army ranger, who proudly displayed a special license plate on the vehicle.]

That said... a couple years ago, a native fellow, a little whacked on drugs and evading a crime scene took a stolen vehicle out of town. He ran into the ditch or something and "hitched" a ride with the next people to stop. He promptly robbed them of their vehicle and continued driving. He had problems with that vehicle and this time ran out of gas. A second set of good Samaritans stopped to help him out and he robbed them of their vehicle. He was eventually caught by the RCMP much to the chagrin of those who stopped to help him.

Also a couple of years ago, in a neighbourhood convenience store (2 blocks from me), a man tried to intervene in an argument the clerk was having with a group of teens. He was rewarded with a kitchen knife straight through the heart and passed away at the scene.

So yeah, now that you mention it, perhaps a person should exercise a bit of caution when being a Samaritan! Is that going to stop me from helping out a stranger - NO. But I will think 2x before doing so.

Yep, I do regular ride-alongs and am amazed at how careful the Highway Patrol is for requiring the presence of another officer for fairly mundane tasks. If one of their own troopers has a flat, another MUST come to assist, can't have a single officer in a crouched over position concentrating on putting a spare on...something about checking his sixes :-)

For me, I always follow the rule no good deed goes unpunished. When I was coming home from ROTC in college, I had my uniform on and it was snowy. There was a lady stuck in snow along the side of the road. I decided to stop and push her car out, hoping she would see an Army guy and not think I was insane.

I managed to get her car out and then went back to mine, only to find I was stuck! I eventually got out after about 5 solid minutes of trying. I had no survival bag or any warmer clothes than my ROTC stuff (basic BDUs). I was stupid, I know!

Today, I will not stop to help people. There is a caveat to it, though. If I feel that a woman (especially) or man is being threatened by another human, I feel it is my right and duty as a human to assist. I would want someone to do it for my daughter and wife, so I feel if I am ever faced with this, I would help. Bottom line, though, is it is better to dial 911 and let the pros do their work.

With the broken down car along the side of the road, you never know what you are getting into.

Good luck!

(30) A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
(31) And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
(32) And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.
(33) But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,
(34) And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

2000 years ago, Jesus was telling the same story. It isn't anything new, nor is it peculiar to this particular time and continent.