Would you stop to help?

Ay Cee

Was driving down the M7 this morning when I stopped to help a woman who was flagging down the traffic for help to change a tyre.

I was changing the tyre for her and was making chit chat. I asked her how long she was trying and she said "ah just about 5 minutes". I thought that wasn't too bad but later I thought; 5 minutes on the M7. That must be well over 100 hundred cars that didn't stop!

Is that the way things are now? Do we not stop to help people?

miamee

If I was able to change a tyre then yeah I'd stop & help!

Few weeks ago though coming home from a friends there was a guy sitting head in hands on an island in the middle of the road with his legs sticking out into the road. I considered stopping to see if he was ok but then considered that it was 2.30am, I was alone in my car, there was no one else around & he looked way bigger than me...so I kept driving. Felt guilty about it though for a while. I guess he was ok as I didn;t hear of anyone having their legs run over there !

Lump

Maybe everyone was in a rush. Also when I worked in Statoil, we weren't allowed to change tyres for safety reasons. I don't want some randomer sueing my ass if the wheel falls off down the road

John

Bluetonic

Why risk picking up penalty points by driving/stopping on the hard shoulder of a motorway?

It's too dangerous to be stopping to assist others. The woman should have secured her car, put up a hazard indiciator and get well up the embankment and called for assistence or walked to the nearest service phone. There is a current saftey campagain in NI based on this.

Mind you she should have just changed it herself.

Ay Cee

Lump wrote:

Maybe everyone was in a rush. Also when I worked in Statoil, we weren't allowed to change tyres for safety reasons. I don't want some randomer sueing my ass if the wheel falls off down the road

John

It only takes 10 minutes to change a wheel. I tightened the nuts good and tight. Well as best as I could. She was on her way to Templemore from Dublin, probably "5-0" in the making, hope she didn't take my licence number :eek:

Trinity

On 98fm this morning they read out a text message sent in by a girl asking them to thank the guy that stopped and helped her change her tyre. I didnt hear where but i though the Motorway somewhere

If it wasnt you there was some other guy changing a girls tyre somewhere this morning - well done

Pherekydes

A friend of mine stopped to help another motorist whose car had broken down and was struck by a van and killed. You'd need to be extremely careful when helping another motorist these days.

I think you shouldn't be driving a car if you can't change a wheel...

Mr Magnolia

I have stopped on a couple of occasions and helped a lady change her wheel.
Edit: not on a motorway

Slow coach wrote:

I think you shouldn't be driving a car if you can't change a wheel...

Good point, although I'd like to think someone would help my missus if she had a problem, in saying that we both have breakdown assistance through hibernian, they'll come out and change a wheel if you call them.

stovelid

My wife has changed a tyre but claims that she sometimes just cannot unscrew the wheel nuts. Could also be a ruse to avoid changing tyres when I'm around of course...

Slow coach wrote:

I think you shouldn't be driving a car if you can't change a wheel...

Ay Cee

Trinity1 wrote:

On 98fm this morning they read out a text message sent in by a girl asking them to thank the guy that stopped and helped her change her tyre. I didnt hear where but i though the Motorway somewhere

If it wasnt you there was some other guy changing a girls tyre somewhere this morning - well done

Well if she did that, that's very nice. Fair play to her.

She offered me money for doing it but I wouldn't accept it. Some times it's just nice to be nice and help when you're in a position to.

BendiBus

Bluetonic wrote:

It's too dangerous to be stopping to assist others. The woman should have secured her car, put up a hazard indiciator and get well up the embankment and called for assistence or walked to the nearest service phone. There is a current saftey campagain in NI based on this.

Right answer.

I can't drive, but I'd honestly say that I wouldn't stop and help. Not on a motorway anyway. That would just be stupid and dangerous.

Gotta agree with what people are saying, they should call for assistence.

robinph

On any road other than a motorway then I might consider stopping to help. On a motorway though the only reason you should be stopping in the hard shoulder is if you are broken down yourself or you are the Garda or AA man on duty. She should not have been trying to distract other drivers either.

miamee

Slow coach wrote:

A friend of mine stopped to help another motorist whose car had broken down and was struck by a van and killed. You'd need to be extremely careful when helping another motorist these days.

I think you shouldn't be driving a car if you can't change a wheel...

I'm sorry to hear about your friend but in fairness that could have happened had he been changing his own tyre either

Black Swan

Overseas in the USA I've discovered that in some parts of the country, people will help a disabled motorist (Mid-West rural areas for example). But in other parts, you might get robbed at night by the helper (many of the large metros).:eek:

Rb

Despite the dangers, I'd almost definately stop and help.

lasair

i defo would stop no bother use wonem need to look out for each other.
hell i was in shoppin yesterday where some old guy put €19 worth of desiel into a petrol car and i showed him how to drain it and helped him.. felt sorry on him, his family jkust stood there looking at their watches.

Nala

Slow coach wrote:

A friend of mine stopped to help another motorist whose car had broken down and was struck by a van and killed. You'd need to be extremely careful when helping another motorist these days.

I think you shouldn't be driving a car if you can't change a wheel...

If this happened a couple of weeks ago, the guy in question taught me physics in college, was a horrible thing to happen. Everyone I know that he taught is gutted about it.

Ay Cee

Both cars were pulled in on the hard shoulder, extremely so. Almost on the embankment, with hazards on. The wheel I was changing was the rear left. I.e. not the side nearest the road. When I said the lady was flagging traffic. I don't mean jumping up and down, distracting drivers. But it was enough to catch my notice.

Good to know people don't stop because they're so law abiding : /

Hopefully, no one will have a girlfriend/ sister/ mother broke down on the side of the road because no fellow motorist won't stop to offer assistance.

jester77

I know this is a little different to changing a tyre but there was a message from the police read out on the radio at the weekend here asking for motorists who provided first aid at the scene of an accident to contact a doctor or hospital urgently as the person they helped had something contagious.

Scary to think that you stop to help someone and end up catching something, sort of make you think twice about it!

Ruu_Old

I have stopped to help out before but othertimes I would just drive and not stop.

Femelade

one night i was driving out he road (main cork/killarney road) and there was a guy out on the road waving at me, he was wearing all dark clothes and tbh it was kinda hard to see him until i was right up to where he was..needless to say i didnt stop.

He could have been in genuine trouble..but tbh, a girl on her own would be an idiot to stop the car to someone like him late at night...

Bluetonic

Ay Cee wrote:

Hopefully, no one will have a girlfriend/ sister/ mother broke down on the side of the road because no fellow motorist won't stop to offer assistance.

Regardless of their car breaking down, they shouldn't actually break down themselves, women and emotions, eh. :rolleyes:

monkey tennis

Slow coach wrote:

I think you shouldn't be driving a car if you can't change a wheel...

Exactly what I was about to post. Either learn to change a wheel, or have the number of AA or whatever. If anyone can't manage either of those, I don't see how they could be capable of driving a car (unless they're a mute geriatric?).

robinph

Ay Cee wrote:

Hopefully, no one will have a girlfriend/ sister/ mother broke down on the side of the road because no fellow motorist won't stop to offer assistance.

Hopefully they would have a mobile on them and call the AA for assistance, any other road is OK but not on a motorway.

I was in the car with my parents on christmas day a couple of years ago driving back from the grandparents around the M25 round London late at night. We got a puncture on the right rear tyre and we had a spare but there was no way I or any one else was going round that side of the car to stick our arses out in the road and get hit. So we called up the bloke with the big yellow truck and lots of flashing lights and let him do it, that is what they are there for after all.

Trinity

jester77 wrote:

I know this is a little different to changing a tyre but there was a message from the police read out on the radio at the weekend here asking for motorists who provided first aid at the scene of an accident to contact a doctor or hospital urgently as the person they helped had something contagious.

Scary to think that you stop to help someone and end up catching something, sort of make you think twice about it!

i went to a mans aid at the side of the road recently, yes i pulled over and put my hazards on - i had to he was lying in the middle of the road he would have been run over!!

i guess these days though you have to be careful touching open wounds and blood and that

dr.bollocko

Well if u r gonna show up and swap bodily fluids with me in the event that I am comatose on the side of the road, then you arent the kind of person I want giving first aid in the first place!

Trinity

dr.bollocko wrote:

Well if u r gonna show up and swap bodily fluids with me in the event that I am comatose on the side of the road, then you arent the kind of person I want giving first aid in the first place!

Well i Gotta get my kicks somehow :rolleyes:

Seriously though the last thing i would be thinking about when helping someone is will i catch something etc - just when i saw jesters post got me thinking.

but no it wouldnt stop me from helping again!!

Lump

robinph wrote:

Hopefully they would have a mobile on them and call the AA for assistance, any other road is OK but not on a motorway.

I was in the car with my parents on christmas day a couple of years ago driving back from the grandparents around the M25 round London late at night. We got a puncture on the right rear tyre and we had a spare but there was no way I or any one else was going round that side of the car to stick our arses out in the road and get hit. So we called up the bloke with the big yellow truck and lots of flashing lights and let him do it, that is what they are there for after all.

Pfff, you have to pay for people like that, I'd just stick on me hazards, get a triangle thingy, maybe drive up a little into the embankment and bust the tyre off myself.

John

Del2005

TBH people who stop on motorways for a puncture are just silly. Stopping a car on the side of a road with HGVs and cars flying past at 80-120+kph is very dangerous.
No wheel is worth someones life. Drive off the motorway to a slip road and then change the wheel.

nuttz

Is it not illegal to stop on a motorway?, I cant believe nobody else has mentioned this. It's up to the person with the puncture/flat to go to one of the emergency phones on the motorway and call for help. How typical that no-one here knows the correct procedure, no-one was educated on it!!! That's part of the problem on the roads today!!!

Delilah

nuttz wrote:

Is it not illegal to stop on a motorway?, I cant believe nobody else has mentioned this. It's up to the person with the puncture/flat to go to one of the emergency phones on the motorway and call for help. How typical that no-one here knows the correct procedure, no-one was educated on it!!! That's part of the problem on the roads today!!!

i agree! you could just give the person a lift to the nearest emergency phone and that's alaready a help.

Bluetonic

nuttz wrote:

Is it not illegal to stop on a motorway?, I cant believe nobody else has mentioned this. It's up to the person with the puncture/flat to go to one of the emergency phones on the motorway and call for help. How typical that no-one here knows the correct procedure, no-one was educated on it!!! That's part of the problem on the roads today!!!

Try reading the full thread before you start commenting on how no one knows the correct procedure.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=52103606&postcount=4

Lump

nuttz wrote:

Is it not illegal to stop on a motorway?, I cant believe nobody else has mentioned this. It's up to the person with the puncture/flat to go to one of the emergency phones on the motorway and call for help. How typical that no-one here knows the correct procedure, no-one was educated on it!!! That's part of the problem on the roads today!!!

Lots of people commented that it's illegal.

Mr Magnolia

nuttz wrote:

Is it not illegal to stop on a motorway?!!!

No, exceptions:
• If your car breaks down
• When you are signaled to do so by a Garda,
• In emergency situations (accident etc.)
Driving on a flat is not even an option there's little or no control of a car with a flat. Also it is illegal to drive on the hard-shoulder of a motorway, punishable by a fine and penalty points.

nuttz wrote:

I cant believe nobody else has mentioned this.

It has been mentioned

nuttz wrote:

It's up to the person with the puncture/flat to go to one of the emergency phones on the motorway and call for help

How do you propose doing this if as you said/asked it's illegal to stop on a motorway? (which it's not!)

nuttz wrote:

How typical that no-one here knows the correct procedure!!!

When you say " no-one here knows", did you mean to say "I don't know"

SmoothyG

I'd stop any time to help a woman change a tyre. I think everyone should, and for those that would'nt based on the chances of being sued i say that is what is wrong with USA, the benifits of comming away knowing that you did something good today far out way the risks.

On the motor way is dodgy, I might pull in to lend her my phone to call the AA if the flat was on the right side of the car. but on the left i would do it. I know it is still a bit risky but i belive it is the right thing to do. the right thing by moral standards, possibly not by the law.

robinph

Sparks400 wrote:

How do you propose doing this if as you said/asked it's illegal to stop on a motorway? (which it's not!)

It was not illegal for the person with the flat tyre to stop, it was illegal for the other person to stop and change the tyre for them though.

Lump wrote:

Pfff, you have to pay for people like that, I'd just stick on me hazards, get a triangle thingy, maybe drive up a little into the embankment and bust the tyre off myself.

This bit of the road had no where else that you could have moved further onto though to give yourself more space between the traffic. I think the AA bloke had been having a quiet day though so it was good to give him something to do.

koneko

I agree with some of the other posters. Either learn to change tyres (it's not rocket science), or call assistance (AA, etc).

fightin irish

Don't you have to changer a tyre for your driving test now? Or was that only a suggestion?

koneko

You have to show them where you top up oil, washer, stuff like that, I think.

They might ask you how would you change a tyre (as in, what do you do), but they wouldn't ask you to actually do it.

greg678

Bluetonic wrote:

Why risk picking up penalty points by driving/stopping on the hard shoulder of a motorway?

It's too dangerous to be stopping to assist others. The woman should have secured her car, put up a hazard indiciator and get well up the embankment and called for assistence or walked to the nearest service phone. There is a current saftey campagain in NI based on this.

Mind you she should have just changed it herself.

The Hard Shoulder is there for this reason, it is there if you need to pull in off the road for an emergency ect


You will only get points if you are driving on the hard Shoulder

Mr Magnolia

robinph wrote:

It was not illegal for the person with the flat tyre to stop, it was illegal for the other person to stop and change the tyre for them though.

Read the question I quoted then the first word of my post.