I'm recalling a minor incident once. Was riding my bike to the store and noticed a car pulling over to the side of a busy highway just before an intersection. The driver didn't appear concerned and nothing seemed to be wrong, so I continued on my way. Coming home a couple hours later the car was still there, the driver was a young woman who now had a coat on. I rode up and asked her if she needed help. "YES!" she says, "All these people are driving by and no one is helping me and I don't know how they could just keep driving by..."

I let her borrow my cell phone to make a quick call and all was set to rights with a friend on their way to assist. If I recall correctly her phone had stopped working and she was lost and nearly out of gas.

Looking back I wonder if she might have found a sign helpful in that circumstance. Flagging down a car seems to be reserved for emergencies, and as she was a young woman I'm speculating that she may have been afraid that if she didn't appear to have it all together then a bad character might take advantage of the situation. Some sort of way to indicate in a dignified manner that you are requesting assitance just might have its place.

Looking back, I'm remembering she seemed to have had no plan for what to do and was instead rather paralyzed by the situation she found herself in. Afterwards I was perplexed because it was a very busy road, and just down the street were some businesses, and if she had walked towards the businesses within her sight she would have come to the police station where she could have got help. Instead she had sat in her car for at least 2 hours doing nothing except hoping that her cell phone began working again.