It's about 8PM, dark, no moonlight, and you're driving on a very rural asphalt road. The only light you have is your headlights, you haven't seen headlights or tall lights for miles. As you are braking for a stop sign, you notice a dark vehicle, stationary in the intersection with no lights on and you don't see any people. Make a decision w/i about 2 seconds as to what you would do next. I'll post later of the Mrs (she's old) plan of action.
Real life decision making
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CopperClad
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Doors locked, window(s) up, Take turn into direction their not pointed in. After clear, call it in.
Armored farmer
Member
I'm probably backing up 100yds and leave my lights on the car until I see what's up.
On a deserted road like that, someone likely saw you approaching and may have position beside your car door.
....you're not a cop....but you might be a good Samaritan.
Your call.
On a deserted road like that, someone likely saw you approaching and may have position beside your car door.
....you're not a cop....but you might be a good Samaritan.
Your call.
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I'm going to answer honestly, and it's probably the wrong answer for this forum. I would just go around it and keep driving. If it's sitting where it might a danger to other traffic, I'd call the police non emergency number to let them know it's a dark vehicle blocking the road at night.
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I'd back up and find another way around. Then call it in.
Had the same thing happen to me but on a tight gravel road out in the sticks. Car parked right in the middle of the road, blocking both lanes, engine turned off. Seem sketchy to me and I backed up and left the area.
Probably a drunk passed out at the wheel. I'm not wearing body armor and am not going to walk up and find out what the deal is.
Had the same thing happen to me but on a tight gravel road out in the sticks. Car parked right in the middle of the road, blocking both lanes, engine turned off. Seem sketchy to me and I backed up and left the area.
Probably a drunk passed out at the wheel. I'm not wearing body armor and am not going to walk up and find out what the deal is.
dweis
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Keep driving directly to you destination.
The Night Rider
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I want to clarify whether or not it's in the middle of the intersection and blocking the road.
No matter what I'm not approaching the car. No matter what I'm not staying in the area. If the car is a hazard to navigation I'm going to call it in. If it's not, not my circus not my monkeys
No matter what I'm not approaching the car. No matter what I'm not staying in the area. If the car is a hazard to navigation I'm going to call it in. If it's not, not my circus not my monkeys
TomJ
Contributing Member
I'd call 911 to report it and would leave. The police are equipped to handle this situation. I'm most likely not.
If it's on the side of the road I'll slow to a roll and light it up as I go by. Then call it in with whatever info I can provide.
If it's blocking an intersection I'll stand by with hazard lights on. Could be a crash, drunk, overdose, or who knows what but I'm not going to leave a road blocked for someone to come smash into.
This is for my area. If someone lived in an area with frequent hijackings I may do things differently but where I'm at it's most likely a drunk.
If it's blocking an intersection I'll stand by with hazard lights on. Could be a crash, drunk, overdose, or who knows what but I'm not going to leave a road blocked for someone to come smash into.
This is for my area. If someone lived in an area with frequent hijackings I may do things differently but where I'm at it's most likely a drunk.
Good point. If the road gets some traffic, I usually stop and put on my flashers for a hazard until the cops get there.
Without a to-scale diagram and a map showing alternate routes, I think this is the best answer that one can give.
This happened in Cochise County, Arizona, a border county. Alternate routes where it happened are measured by sections, 640 acres = 1 square mile, even then, there's no assurance the alternate dirt road has any connecting roads, or houses, a dead end. The reason why I mentioned 'asphalt' is that many roads here are all season dirt roads. This is a very rural area, many roads have large burrow pit landscaping on each side for rain runoff, during heavy monsoon rains, some asphalt roads become impossible to drive through, this is not one of those intersections; however, if one drives too far into the range grass, they get stuck on a steep incline and can't drive out.
A few days before this incident happened, we had a discussion, I stated there's a trending issue nationally, like this one, when multiple people will converge upon a vehicle, ultimately taking control of the vehicle, driver/passengers, hijacking is another term. Her strategy upon seeing this vehicle with no lights on, or reflectors, was to drive through the stop sign and leave the area. Cochise County's land area is about the size of Connecticut and Rhode Island combined, there are ~99 deputies, the county population is ~130,000 residents. The number of vehicle pursuits here is out of control, including fatalities, the Mrs was nearly one of those statistics, very close.
Driver's (typically from out of state and American citizens) transporting illegals are paid $1,000 per individual, an enticing way to potentially make large sums of money for each transport run, what an incentive. Add enough vehicles (stolen enterprise), one can do the math.
A few days before this incident happened, we had a discussion, I stated there's a trending issue nationally, like this one, when multiple people will converge upon a vehicle, ultimately taking control of the vehicle, driver/passengers, hijacking is another term. Her strategy upon seeing this vehicle with no lights on, or reflectors, was to drive through the stop sign and leave the area. Cochise County's land area is about the size of Connecticut and Rhode Island combined, there are ~99 deputies, the county population is ~130,000 residents. The number of vehicle pursuits here is out of control, including fatalities, the Mrs was nearly one of those statistics, very close.
Driver's (typically from out of state and American citizens) transporting illegals are paid $1,000 per individual, an enticing way to potentially make large sums of money for each transport run, what an incentive. Add enough vehicles (stolen enterprise), one can do the math.
Was the stopped vehicle blocking the intersection or was there room around it?
Are you saying she didn't slow down and went through the intersection without stopping? Did she have to swerve around the vehicle?
She first noticed a dark, not moving vehicle as she was braking/slowing to a stop sign (which is located about 20 feet away from the cross road, there's a borrow pit in between), there were no other vehicles on the road that had lights on, you can see lights for miles in all four directions, north, east, south and west. It's a wide intersection, and she drove around the dark vehicle, making a left turn. Another way of saying in a very rural area is, out in the middle of nowhere.
I remember a time driving down from a mountain pass at night, there's about a 10-mile by 15-mile area of land where there were zero visible head/tail lights on those all dirt roads.
I've diagrammed enough auto accidents to understand your point of view to analyze the situation, however, this was a real time occurrence requiring an immediate response/reaction/strategy plan. In this situation, the known driver chose avoidance and egress from the unknown vehicle. This is a N-S, E-W intersection, E-W is a wide road, I haven't measured the intersection, the dark vehicle was in the intersection, not blocking the intersection, position/angle of the vehicle is not known, this dark vehicle (on dark asphalt) did not have illumination, or reflection. Since license plates reflect, it is expected to see this type of reflection, plus marker reflections, from a driver's perspective/point of view.
scaatylobo
Member
By "in the intersection" to me that means he/she is blocking part or all of the intersection.
If that is your meaning,I would not approach and I would call ASAP for a marked car.
Retired LEO and I would try to withdraw and wait to assist if that were needed.
In a very remote area,that might be his/her only backup.
Since you asked.
People can drive around accidents in intersections here, when intersections are blocked, no vehicles can drive through.
As written above is the vastness of this area and very sporadic, limited LE assets/presence. As a retired LEO, imagine being a deputy with a patrol area measured in the hundreds of square miles, given increased current crime rates in this border county, it's very doubtful a deputy, going from call to call, would be dispatched to a stopped vehicle in an intersection as a priority.
Compared to the Northeast, this part of Arizona would be a culture shock to outsiders, including LEOs.
I spent my entire career working in a rural area. We lived by Mutual Aid Agreement. If the 2 deputies (normal night shift in this large rural county) were busy the closest officer from another jurisdiction responded. I checked plenty of disabled vehicles outside of my jurisdiction, even on the interstate if there wasn't a trooper working in the county. This might not be practical in parts of the West where there might be 100 or more miles between towns but it worked here.
LimaCharlie
Member.
Many of the rural counties in Oregon have no law enforcement on duty at night. That includes the State Police and the County Sheriffs. They have to call someone out as necessary.
fastbolt
Member
Just a dark veh stopped, and which can easily be passed?
I'm retired. I'm no longer paid to be concerned, and Unoccupied/Susp Veh's are no longer my concern unless they end up on my property. Carefully and quickly drive on, and then call the local SO or CHP to see if they're interested. The potential to unwittingly bite on 'bait' put there by someone of criminal inclination isn't an unreasonable possibility, I'd think, and certainly not something I'd wish to do.
I'm retired. I'm no longer paid to be concerned, and Unoccupied/Susp Veh's are no longer my concern unless they end up on my property. Carefully and quickly drive on, and then call the local SO or CHP to see if they're interested. The potential to unwittingly bite on 'bait' put there by someone of criminal inclination isn't an unreasonable possibility, I'd think, and certainly not something I'd wish to do.
Thank you for your service.
Same here, the nearest town is a half-hour drive. DPS, SO, Border Patrol and city police have a very close working relationship with each other. Back in the day of issued .357mags, I once worked in a very large area county (about the same land area as Massachusetts, ~20 LEOs including Port of Entry), two adjoining Sheriffs representing two different states had a handshake agreement assisting each other across state lines when needed. 
Glockpride
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Hand on pistol, (probably drawn and at the ready) and drive on if possible.
If I can get to a shotgun/rifle in the vehicle without stopping, then get that ready too.
But escape is of first and foremost importance. We win 100% of the gunfights we avoid. However, sometimes it’s go time.
Sounds like alls well that ends well in this one.
If I can get to a shotgun/rifle in the vehicle without stopping, then get that ready too.
But escape is of first and foremost importance. We win 100% of the gunfights we avoid. However, sometimes it’s go time.
Sounds like alls well that ends well in this one.
How much training do you have in firing from a moving vehicle while driving. I know it looked really cool when Robert Deniro did it in HEAT but that's not real life.
You're going to do this while driving in the confines of a vehicle. I carried a shotgun and later an AR in an electronically locked mount in my squad care and accessing it while moving would have been easy if I had been stupid enough to try.
So your plan is to stop and engage in a gunfight when you could just drive away? There is a huge difference between a roadblock and a car with no lights in the road that might possibly be bait to lure someone into stopping so they can be robbed or car jacked.
I'm with you, things are rather chaotic in this part of the world at present.
Dispatch was phoned, unknown if the vehicle was unoccupied or not, or even if there was a response.
To illustrate the situation, a few years ago a man driving to work, ~5AM, stopped to assist a stranded vehicle in the middle of nowhere on US 191, he was shot and killed, his vehicle stolen.
Another incident involved a DPS officer who was ambushed on the Interstate, a passing citizen witnessed the assault and ultimately ended up shooting the assailant dead.
In another incident recently, a DPS officer was shot and wounded by a driver from Georgia during a traffic stop, I-10 near the New Mexico border. During the resulting pursuit, the nearest city PD officers some miles down the Interstate, successfully employed spikes on the fleeing vehicle, disabling it, the assailant engaged the wounded DPS and the assailant was fatally shot during the exchange of gunfire.
Cochise County sheriff says deputy getting better after 15-foot fall
The Arizona deputy who was seriously injured when he fell off a bridge last month is making significant improvements.
ktar.com
I'm linking to this story for two reasons, one of which is because these situations are now too common. Second for the quote, which relates to the OP's first post.
Three people killed and multiple injured in Douglas crash
Three people were killed and three injured in a car crash in Douglas on Thursday morning, September 7.
As the Mrs and I are driving to town and approaching the intersection in #1 post, we are passed by a pickup driving at a very high rate of speed, 80-90mph in a 55mph zone, the bed of the pickup is overloaded because the suspension bump stops are resting on the axle, "Gee, I wonder what the cargo is?"
A question to pose, if one's petite grandmother, great-grandmother was the known female driver in the OP's first post living in this environment, what would you advise she should have done?
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