Do you help stranded motorists?

I have many times in the past, with never an ounce of trouble, and normally much gratitude. However, in the past couple of years, I've noticed that most people with car trouble are already on their cell phones calling for assistance on their own.

If I actually see an accident happen, then I stop without hesitation. I don't really stop for break-downs, although I may call them into the state police. However, if there appears to be the potential for an injury, and emergency personnel aren't on scene, then I'll stop.

Who knows... one of these days I might run into a set-up or a nutcase, but personally I'd rather err on the side of helping.

I almost always stop, but I should have voted "depends on the situation." Unless it was an obviously "iffy" situation, the only reason I wouldn't stop would be if I was late for something...

On a related note, I recently helped two separate folks who were stranded on I-45 on a recent trip back to Houston from Dallas. That's only interesting because, after I started counting, there were 23 vehicles pulled over by the DPS along the 200 mile trip. Both of the folks I helped complained they'd been passed by by black and whites numerous times before I stopped. I love the cops, but whatever happened to "protect and serve?"

About 20 years ago or so I was returning home from grocery shopping in the next town over. It was about 0230 ( no crowds in the store then) and just before I reached the river bridge a couple of miles south of the big town city limits I saw a car stopped crossways in the median of the divided highway, with at least 2 persons running past the headlights of the car. It looked like they were trying to catch something...calf, dog...and I pulled up, turned so my lights were toward them. A man and a woman were trying to subdue a much younger female, maybe early 20's, late teens. They had her down on the ground and were trying to beat her. I turned on my high beams, hit the horn, and jumped out with my BHP in hand shouting for them to back off. They looked up, hesitated, then jumped into their car and left at a high rate of speed. As soon as they released the girl she ran screaming toward my car and clawed her way into the back through my open door.

My wife and I managed to calm her down enough to get that she had been at a bar with these folks and left with them. She had been waiting with them for her husband (newlywed that week) to show up and the others had offered her a ride to the hotel they were living in. The couple evidently had decided to make her a participant in a little tryst to which she was an unwilling participant and she had tried to jump out of their car. We took her to the motel she said she lived at, and made sure she was inside (a) room safely. We passed back by the location we picked her up and found her purse which appeared to be grossly intact as far as ID and all and drove back to the motel where I knocked on the door she had gone into and gave it to what appeared to be a grateful young man. She was in the room and did seem a little more composed.

I imagine there would have been a body found in the river later if I hadn't stopped.

Regards,
Rabbit.

I've helped stranded motorist on a few occaisions and kept driving on others,depends on how things look and where I'm at.

The instances I helped out with were more or less obvious problems where I could see someone needed help....

1) Car fire
2)Car stalled in traffic
3)Car stuck in ice midway up a hill(pushed it with Jeep)

all these situations were in the presence of other motorist and the odds of a setup were not likely.I don't carry a cell phone,but if things looked fishy,I might offer to call for help instead if not keep driving.

It does depend on situation I think .... and I mean that broadly.

I am by nature sympathetic to road-side predicaments .... and would choose to help .... but sometimes I have a schedule just too tight to feel able to delay my journey.

It is also necessary to think real fast to make the decision if stopping. I know of a case where once someone had stopped to help an apparent ''damsel in distress'', when a coupla big guys emerged from cover to attack and rob.... successfully.

If stopping and carrying (as normal here) then I would go to at least orange so as to guard against possible threat ... and again ... fast assessment is essential. The inclination to avoid ''trouble'' gets stronger with age too!

In years gone by I have helped - and been helped ..... much of which seems like the old ''what goes around comes around'' ... give help one time - receive another. But regretably in some parts these days .... it is not too tempting to stop any more.

I am more likely to stop and help since I carry. I don't think that's false bravery--"I can shoot my way out if needed". I think its more like "I can assess the situation in stages as I approach, and have some options if it looks like a bad situation."

I stop for cute gals

and sometimes others if they look like upstanding citizens.
Onetime in Marin County outside of Frisco,CA
There was an elderly black guy and his two teenage sons
franticly flagging down cars on 101 north, I stopped
and made a call for them. They had no cell phone
and had been stranded in the cold for over an 2 hours
They were extremly happy to see me stop.

They also got a lesson on Marin politics, the liberals were
content to let them stay there and not even lift a cell phone to help.
The guy with the NRA hat and elect Bush button stopped to help

In general I don't. I usually have the three kids with me while I'm out & about, my first duty is to protect them. I have called the local police a few times to give them the heads up that someone needs help (usually they tell me that they already knew about it). Here (Cincinnati metro area) there are vans sponsored by local stores who patrol the local interstates during high travel hours for the specific purpose of helping stranded motorists (broken down, helping change a tire, gallon or two of gas, etc).

It also depends on if I am north of the river (in Ohio) or south (in Kentucky). I am more inclined to stop while in Ky as there is a very good chance that my USP is on my hip for that one in a million chance where it may be needed more than the help that was offered. By law (for now but not much longer ) it isn't there when I'm in Ohio so my willingness to help others when my ability to protect myself has been reduced is similarly reduced.

I guess it all boils down to - it depends .

Greg

I'm one of the "depends upon the situation" types. If they are safely off the road, or pulled to the side with flares, and they have a cell phone there isn't much I can do that they can't (I'm terribly bad at mechanical type stuff). I'll stop to let someone use my cell phone if needed. Also, this sounds strange, but I'm more likely to help in a busy area. Two reasons: 1) less likely to be an ambush, 2) basic social psychology- when something happens in a busy area there are fewer people willing to get involved because their conscious is soothed by thinking that so many people pass by that someone will help, they feel they don't need to, while in a more deserted area people feel more responsibility to help because there are fewer other people who can. Thus, in a busier area there are usually fewer people who will stop to help, thus it is more important to stop and help (the exact opposite of the reason most people won't- and the same reason most/many people will stop in a more deserted area).

If it looked like someone was under attack it would also depend upon the situation. How likely do I think I would prevail? No use simply having two victims instead of one. How dangerous does the situation look for the victim? If someone is about to be killed (or it appears likely) then all other bets are off. Basically, I'd have to see what the situation is, no way to say for sure. However, in all cases I'd call the police immediately.

A few yrs ago, my family and I were driving to Myrtle Beach for vacation and I had the pleasure of assisting 4 elderly black ladies. They had a flat tire while driving to a prayer breakfast. They were very appreciative and wanted to give me $20. I told them to give it to the Lord. Oh yeah, I was carrying at the time, though it wasnt needed!

On the other hand, I dont pick up hitch hikers!

Situational. I'll always stop if I think there's a real need. Last time was Xmas eve a few years back and I saw a car deep in a snow drift with a trail showing how they lost control. Was an elderly couple who had no cell phone so I saved the day for them. I've never encountered weirdness like you described and, like others said, if I see 'em on a cell phone or obviously waiting patiently I move on.

Addition to above post:

After reading some of the others, and thinking further I want to add:

Other factors "it depends" upon:
-Weather. If it is fairly clear that it isn't a set up (someone who truly appears stranded in the snow/ice) I'll help. I've pushed cars, helped shovel, even scraped off windows for people who didn't bring brushes/scrapers.
-The time of day. Sure, late at night they may be more likely to need help, but it is the time of day that an ambush is more likely. During the day, especially with passing traffic, I'm a little less nervous to help people.
-Unknown and intangible factors. Yes, I go with my gut sometimes- if it says something doesn't look right then I'm less likely to stop. Also, "I know it when I see it" applies here.


Note: My personality is basically a "helper" type. I like helping people and I feel guilty if I could but didn't. I actually seem to have a psychological need to help and to protect others (part of why I used to want to work with children). If carry was legal here so I had at least that further protection/option if things went bad then I'd probably be more inclined to act on my basic instincts and help people out who appeared to need it.

Babes(<30=babe): Yes.

Men: I slow down to watch the flames.

I've helped lots of people--changed flat tires, jump-started batteries, fixed fuel lines, or just called for a tow truck. But I limit my help to women and the elderly. While a situation such as the one Balog describes could happen again, I don't see it as likely. Besides, I generally have a little protection when I'm in those circumstances.

days are gone when

1. We could hitch-hike, or pick up hitchhikers with relative impugnity.

In June '64 I stepped out onto Lyndale near 45th in South Minneapolis, wearing a sports coat, tie, and carrying a (Samsonite) suitcase and a sign that said "St. Louis: college student--witty, intelligent conversation" or something like that.

That first day I was on the road for fourteen hours--had 13 rides, ranging from 5 miles (to get me on the freeway) from a local female / motherly commuter, to a black kid that picked me up under a freeway bridge waiting out the storm (and just ahead of the IHP, who didn't stop for me as a hitchhiker or for the black kid stopping on the freeway), to the proverbial travelling salesman (who propositioned me), to the two MO farm hands with a hayload so far back they wanted more weight in the cab (we rode together five hours, refused my offer of a beer).

2. Or, in the BC mountains in the Seventies, when hitchikers could be just the local people (Indians coming to town from the reserve), or young 'Americans' hitch-hiking through Canada--

I don't pick up hitchhikers any more, I use a cel phone for sidelined cars--but I ALWAYS stop at an accident if it looks like PI.

i've changed tires, pushed stuck cars out of snowbanks, pushed broken down vehicles off the road, but the one thing i will not do is stop for someone who ran out of gas. that is the one preventable scenario that no one should ever get into.


now that i think about it, the ones i've helped have either been women (babes and older-than-babes) and the elderly.

It really does depend. I've stopped once or twice, but I am always hesitant.

A guy my Dad knew (I'd met him a time or two) worked at a concrete company as a driver. He told my Dad that previously he was a trucker. He was on one of the long, straight, lonely highways in southern Utah in his semi when he saw an old lady who had pulled over with her hood up. He decided to pull his rig over and help. He walked up to the lady, exchanged words, and began looking in the engine compartment, when a man with a gun rose from the sagebrush. He shot him in the stomach, sort of to the side, and my Dad's friend went down. The couple went over him for any money or valuables, and left him for dead.

He took his t-shirt, rolled it up like a towel you are about to whip someone with, and stuck one end in the entry wound and the other end in the exit wound. I don't know how long he layed there, but he was very late to his destination. Eventually the outfit he worked for sent a driver to look for him. He found the rig and found him on death's doorstep nearby. I don't recall if he just sped to the nearest ER or if he called the police, but he survived.

Sadly, there ARE risks you take when you try to help someone on the side of the road. I'm sure there are plenty of con artists that would love to come across a Dudley Do-Right.

I'm not saying you should never stop to help someone, but you should always be cautious.

Wes

I've towed a lot of people out of mudholes out in the deep woods. I'm sure they had guns.. But then so did I. An armed society is a polite society I guess. Never had any freaky situations doing that.

I usually drive by once to survey the situation before I stop to help. Once had a stranded motorist draw on me when I got out to help her change a tire. I just smiled, and complimented her on her presentation and offered to help. She smiled back and apologized. Now I have to admit, it took a lot of willpower to fight off my instincts to draw and fire in that case, but fortunately I recognized the look of fear (as opposed to aggression) on her face quickly enough to avoid escalation.

Just something to consider when stopping to help.

Not anymore.

I always have my son with me and I can't have him wandering around the side of a road or sitting in the vehicle without me.

I used to stop for anyone who did not look able-bodied but now I just call
the courtesy partol or cops whenever I see someone stranded.

Use to have an employee (forced on me by some hire a heroin addict convict program my work participated in)

He used to brag about sitting on the side of the road with his hood up
and whenever someone would stop to help he would rob, pistol whip the good samaritan shooting them if they resisted.

Luckily he was put back in prison after a short time.

Not any more unless their has been a obvious accident , Otherwise I will call for help on a cell phone . several years ago in my area a college kid stopped to help a young girl that appeared to be broken down on the side of a remote 4 lane at night , as he got out to help, her friends came out of the woods and almost beat him to death , stole the car and left him
to die, fortunately he survive and they got the thieves , that event changed my mind to not stopping.

If I'm with untactical friends, I won't stop, but if I'm alone, I'll do a drive-by (assessment, not shooting!) and see.

Saw what appeared to be middle-age to elderly lady by the side of the side road on the way home, late at night last week. I drove by to assess the situation, turned around and was going to pull over to see if she needed me to dial the popo, but by then a member of our fine constabulary had already arrived.

If there's more of them than Grace and I can handle, I won't stop.