Would you stop if you saw an Accident?

cajonlardo

Having a difficult time getting my head around this.

I was cycling home this morning and came across a lad sitting by the side of the main road. He was cut and bruised badly and his bike was lying beside him. He had had a mechanical failure that had caused him to crash pretty heavily.

Many Drivers witnessed the accident but didn't stop.
Kind of makes me wonder. If this lad had had life threatening injuries he would have been left there on the road like an animal. If he hadn't been able to move himself into the edge I wouldn't like to think what might have happened.

This behaviour isn't new either.
In the early '90's I was hit very hard, while cycling to work, by a stolen car. I was thrown high into the air amidst heavy rush hour traffic. Dozens of motorists saw it happen and yet continued on driving around me as I lay on the road. More came on the scene and saw a man lying on the road and bleeding heavily but just drove around me.

Not everyone behaves like this obviously.
I was at the scene of a fatal accident and we were lucky enough to have the help of 2 drivers who stopped and they couldn't have been more help.

So, if you saw an accident where there were obviously injuries, would you stop or have you stopped in the past?

If you wouldn't stop , would you care to post why not?

Knasher

Sure, in the space of a week last year I was cycling home from work and I came across two old people who had fallen down on the same stretch of road. Stopped both times.

I was also in an accident with a truck that ran a red light. The truck driver didn't stop, but somebody in their car did and offered to take me to the hospital. I was grand though, just a bit dazed.

But hey, I've stopped when somebody just left a shopping trolley in the middle of the road and it was just holding up traffic.

smash

If I was a witness I'd stop. If I didn't witness it and there were others who'd stopped or police at the scene then obviously I wouldn't. If I didn't witness it and there was nobody else stopping then I don't know what I'd do but I certainly wouldn't drive around a person who's lying in the road on their own bleeding.

keithclancy

I was driving through Cork City one day and took off when the light turned green.

Just went through the junction and heard this massive bang behind me and saw the car behind spin a complete 360 and saw a van fishtailing all over the place going past.

I stopped immediately and got out to see what had happened, old man in his car looking completely out of it with blood all over the drivers window on where he'd banged his head, the van had t-boned the car at around 60-70km/h.

Queue some other people beeping their horns and shouting "You're blocking the road ya fúcking cúnt" revving his engine and edging his car forward closer to mine after seeing this happening.

Moved my car to the side of the road and the same guy pulled up asking what I was stopped for, why was I being a busy body cúnt, gave the finger and drove around the accident and tore off.

People can be assholes.

Luckily the old man was ok, a Van driver from up north was half asleep and driven through the lights, if I was a bit slower off the mark it would have been me rather than the old guy.

I was able to give a statement to the Gardai, I got called in 6 months later as the Van driver's memory of events had changed and he was saying the old guy had broken the lights, my statement cleared everything up in the end.

Was glad a stayed around rather than drove off.

mocha please!

Would definitely stop if I was one of the first on the scene, or of course if I'd witnessed the accident ... if there were plenty of people helping already though, I'd keep on going, because if I were the injured one the last thing I'd want would be a crowd of rubberneckers standing around doing nothing!

cajonlardo

keithclancy wrote: »

Queue some other people beeping their horns and shouting "You're blocking the road ya fúcking cúnt" revving his engine and edging his car forward closer to mine after seeing this happening.

Moved my car to the side of the road and the same guy pulled up asking what I was stopped for, why was I being a busy body cúnt, gave the finger and drove around the accident and tore off.

People can be assholes.

Wow! that is just evil.
Wonder when this started to happen and why? It s worrying that people can be that callous and so self absorbed

Turtyturd

Car, pedestrian, dog...yes.

Cyclists...nah.

Mr. CooL ICE

Was a passenger in a car, driving through Fermoy and saw an old man lying face down on the side of the road. Didn't see it happen, but we were obviously the first to actually stop, so had no idea how long he was there. From what we could gather, he was going to cross the road and stumbled walking off the kerb. It being pre-mobile phone days, I called in to a nearby house to phone for an ambulance, and the residents came out to help, but no further cars stopped at all.

Didn't even think about it tbh. Wouldn't be able to sleep soundly not knowing if this person was alive or dead if I didn't do anything about it.

anncoates

If I witnessed the accident I'd stop or obviously if nobody else was attending to the person.

Otherwise, I'd just drive on if I was just adding to numbers there and possibly causing an obstruction.

The Backwards Man

If it looks like your help is needed stop, if you'll only be in the way fcuk off on down the road. The amount of people that her this simple bit of common sense mixed up astonishes me sometimes.

roadrunner16

Turtyturd wrote: »

Car, pedestrian, dog...yes.

Cyclists...nah.

Two clicks away we have a great thread with motorist and cyclists at each others throats, best have a look there

A while ago one of my friends was involved in a bad bike accident, tore his knee to shreds on the pavements, and he was about 5 minutes knocking on peoples windows who were stopped at lights before someone let him borrow a phone, I remember when I saw the trousers he was wearing when it happened and there was blood everywhere.

ThinkProgress

cajonlardo wrote: »

So, if you saw an accident where there were obviously injuries, would you stop or have you stopped in the past?

If you wouldn't stop , would you care to post why not?

I have to say my experiences would be completely different to yours. I've seen many motorists stop to help people who have been injured or even just badly shaken up.

I've seen quite a few cyclists causing accidents through reckless stupidity. But people still stop to check if they're ok when they fall off their bike.

I don't think bikes should be allowed on certain roads. They're too vulnerable, and they often foolishly think motorists can see them all the time.

anncoates

To be fair, a lot of people are rubber necking under the guise of solicitude.

I hate accident scenes. I'd stop if nobody is there or I see it actually happen but I'm not going to crowd around having a gawk.

cajonlardo

Turtyturd wrote: »

Car, pedestrian, dog...yes.

Cyclists...nah.

Fortunately some good surgeons were able repair me.
I wonder can anyone fix the damage people like yourself and the people who thanked your post have suffered?

hmmm

If there's no-one else there I would. If there's one or two cars I wouldn't, no sense a load of untrained people milling around.

I stopped once to help a lad whose car had seized up/broken down in the middle of the road. As myself and him were trying to push it off the road there was a twat on the road beeping at us to get out of his way, as if we were pushing the car for the fun of it. There's lots of gob****es out there

Boom_Bap

MOD NOTE
This is not a cyclist -V- motorist -V- pedestrian -V- pilot -V- u-Boat Captain thread, so don't bring it down that *road*



*totally intentional

redbel05

Yes. I have stopped and would again.

Had a bad fall myself after a brake failure and had to walk 5miles home with a busted forehead and bad limp (I was had a bruise going down my whole right side). What makes it worse is that its a small community + many of the cars that passed would have known me to see if not known my family/ me personally.

Samaris

Yep, I've gotten involved in X-nasty thing happening to someone, and at the very least I'll ensure they're alright and coherent. If there's a gang of people there already and at least some of them seem to be being useful, I'll let them get on with it rather than add another body to the melee, if someone's on their own and looks to be in trouble/injured, I'll stop. A few years back, I remember seeing an old man on the ground in the middle of...must have been Cork, I think. It was raining, and the ground was slippery. People were just walking around him, so I crossed the road and doubled back to him to ensure he was alright.

'Course, as it turned out he was just out of his mind drunk, but eh!

I once stepped over a man who had just fallen down a flight of stairs in a metro station.

If I didn't catch that train I'd be even later for work, and there was already a woman on the telephone for an ambulance. It didn't look good for him though. He was unconscious and it seemed as though he'd broken his neck.

I wonder what happened to him. There was nothing I could have done, in fact I am invariably a hindrance in emergencies, but I felt like a right dickhead stepping over him.

LadyFenghuang

Of course I would stop. Someone stopped for me once. It's a day out of your life on possibly the worst day of someone else's life. It's nothing to you it could be everything to someone else.

And even in a crowd people can forget to call 999. So the more people who stop the better.

eviltwin

I once stopped at the scene of a fatal road accident. There was nothing to be done for the victim but we sat with his friend who was hysterical until emergency services came. It was traumatic enough. The victim was a child. I often think about him and his family.

eviltwin

eviltwin wrote: »

I once stopped at the scene of a fatal road accident. There was nothing to be done for the victim but we sat with his friend who was hysterical until emergency services came. It was traumatic enough. The victim was a child. I often think about him and his family.

Ah jeez. It's hard to put those kinds of things aside.

I had a homeless drug addict literally throw himself on my car while stopped at lights in the US. He slid off and to the ground, and I made sure he was ok and called the cops. I knew the cctv on the lights would show me as faultless, and I was afraid the guy was so out of his head he was going to kill himself on another, moving, car. The cops came very quickly and had him taken to hospital, and took a statement and checked the cctv. I was impressed with the compassion they showed for the poor guy, which was in complete contrast to the assumptions I would have held.

Buona Fortuna

Yes I've stopped in the past.

If I was walking or cycling - sure. If I was driving, in traffic maybe not.

Xaracatz

Bystander effect, where people reckon that somebody else will help - and they either don't come over because they don't want to interfere and become rubberneckers, or because they can't be bothered as someone else will help, or everything in between.

In my view, they're still better than the people who consider an accident to be a highlight in their day and something to be gossiped about later. It's obscene how some will crowd around an accident and even take pictures of some person who has been seriously hurt.

libelula

I've never had to stop at an accident, but I know that I 100% would.
Then again, I have some training in first aid/emergency situations, so wouldn't be squeamish or afraid of what I might see. I keep the head and act logically when there's chaos going on.

Like I said, I've had some training/experience of dealing with emergencies (of a slightly different nature to RTA's) so I can fully see why a person with zero first aid skills, who hates blood and is likely to be found hyperventilating by the ambulance crew would drive on

Bongalongherb

My previous thinking regarding this scenario was that No, I wouldn't stop and help. I found out the truth 3 months ago when I was driving home in my estate. You never really know until you are in this position.

A lady walked towards the path on the side of the road but tripped and fell hard right into the middle of the road. She struggled to get up and her shopping was spread on the road while 6 cars ahead of me just slowly drove by, not one of them stopped to see was she alright.

I just had the feeling that I should pull-over and see was she ok. She said her ankle was very sore and she did fall head-first onto the road and it looked like she might have hit her face as well. Well I stopped oncoming traffic so that I could pick up her shopping and broken phone.

Anyway I gave her a lift to her home and advised her to seek medical attention for her ankle.

Well I suppose I can say at this time that I would stop if I saw an accident. I suppose you have to be in this situation to really know whether you would or not. I did find it strange though that not one person stopped to help her up and to see was she ok.

Spanish Eyes

It wasn't an accident, but I was walking over Capel Street Bridge early on my way to work, and a guy was climbing up on the parapet ready to throw himself off. He was out of it.

I spoke to him (everyone else moved swiftly on to their destinations, no one else stopped), and he was incoherent. I called Pearse Street Garda Station, (quick google on the phone) and within five minutes they were there. Me holding on to the guy for dear life too, I was a bit embarrassed I'm going to be honest, because people passing thought I was with him. But never mind.

He was taken away, and I felt relieved, that for then at least I prevented him killing or seriously injuring himself.

TBH at tea break around 11oc, I got the shakes, delayed shock. But I was ok, and yer man lived another day.

cajonlardo

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

It wasn't an accident, but I was walking over Capel Street Bridge early on my way to work, and a guy was climbing up on the parapet ready to throw himself off. He was out of it.

I spoke to him (everyone else moved swiftly on to their destinations, no one else stopped), and he was incoherent. I called Pearse Street Garda Station, (quick google on the phone) and within five minutes they were there. Me holding on to the guy for dear life too, I was a bit embarrassed I'm going to be honest, because people passing thought I was with him. But never mind.

He was taken away, and I felt relieved, that for then at least I prevented him killing or seriously injuring himself.

TBH at tea break around 11oc, I got the shakes, delayed shock. But I was ok, and yer man lived another day.

Good to hear that. You'd think someone else would have helped after they saw you

Spanish Eyes

cajonlardo wrote: »

Good to hear that. You'd think someone else would have helped after they saw you

People were rubbernecking the incident alright, but scurrying on to their places of work at the same time. I must have looked like his pal or something, so maybe they thought the situation was in hand with me there. The guy was in a suit and tie. That was the unusual thing for me. Poor lad.

But he was sorted out. The guards were brilliant I have to say, treated him with such respect and dignity. Will never forget it.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

Hitchens

Yes I would.

I was the first to arrive at a motor accident some years ago and you just get stuck in to help.

I would hope someone would stop if it was me.

cajonlardo

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

People were rubbernecking the incident alright, but scurrying on to their places of work at the same time. I must have looked like his pal or something, so maybe they thought the situation was in hand with me there. The guy was in a suit and tie. That was the unusual thing for me. Poor lad.

But he was sorted out. The guards were brilliant I have to say, treated him with such respect and dignity. Will never forget it.

Nearly the same place, over at the Franciscan's back in the '80's I helped an old lad who fell down in the middle of the road. Turned out he was not drunk like everyone thought.He was starving to death. I got him into the Franciscan 's and one of the brothers helped until the ambulance arrived

Spanish Eyes

cajonlardo wrote: »

Nearly the same place, over at the Franciscan's back in the '80's I helped an old lad who fell down in the middle of the road. Turned out he was not drunk like everyone thought.He was starving to death. I got him into the Franciscan 's and one of the brothers helped until the ambulance arrived

Good on you. Sometimes people WANT to help but are unsure how safe it is for them to do so these days.

cajonlardo

cajonlardo wrote: »

Nearly the same place, over at the Franciscan's back in the '80's I helped an old lad who fell down in the middle of the road. Turned out he was not drunk like everyone thought.He was starving to death. I got him into the Franciscan 's and one of the brothers helped until the ambulance arrived

You just reminded me of something else. About seven years ago there was a guy of about 19 weaving around the platform at Oxford train station, like he was really legless drunk or high, and I thought he'd fall onto the tracks. There were maybe 40 people watching him and only me and a middle aged woman went up to him.

Anyway, it transpired that he was diabetic and missing his jabs or something (forgive me if I have that all wrong, I don't know anything about it), not drunk, and not high. We got an ambulance and off he went and I'm sure he's ok, but there were a lot of people willing to watch him fall on the tracks.

Summer wind

Yes I would stop. I've been one of the first people to arrive at the scene of a few accidents. One of them was a fatal accident. It's a terrible thing to see but I believe you should always try to help.

ThinkProgress

Candie wrote: »

but there were a lot of people willing to watch him fall on the tracks.

Can be a bit boring waiting for a train... can't really blame people for wanting a little entertainment!

ThinkProgress

ThinkProgress wrote: »

Can be a bit boring waiting for a train... can't really blame people for wanting a little entertainment!

Bad, bad, man!

cajonlardo

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

Good on you. Sometimes people WANT to help but are unsure how safe it is for them to do so these days.

Yeah I'd understand that and I'd understand if people just couldn't cope.
I have a friend who can't cope with casualties. But just about ANYONE can stop and call the emergency services and nobody did that this morning. That bothers me because as said, you don't leave a dog in pain on the road.

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

I've posted this before but years ago, one night I was driving back down to college, tipping along late enough on a Sunday night (like 1am) when as I was driving through a small village, there is this man laying on the road. Panned out. Not another living soul around the place, or so I thought.

I would like to say oh I stopped to make sure he was alright. I didn't though. I panicked. Such a fright to get. I didn't know what to do. Get out, drive on, turn around and go back and see if I could get someone to help. My mind was racing.

As I was stopped in the middle of the road, debating on what to do, the lad got up off the road and walked onto the footpath. So, slowly I drove on. Passed him, but got a bad feeling, and as I drove a little bit passed where he had been, noticed his group of friends standing in on the side.

So, I just called the guards, explained what happened and I have no idea what ever happened to them after that.

If it was broad daylight, I don't know. I'm terrible in emergency situations, I'd panic. If I thought someone was dead I would freak out. I probably wouldn't stop to be honest, but I would 100% contact ambulance or gardai. I wouldn't ignore it. If it was something clearly not too serious like someone falling off their bike or tripping up, I'd stop and help. But not if there was lots of blood/someone unconscious or dead

Sir Osis of Liver.

I was walking through Dunnes carpark last week when I walked past an old man,in his 80's id say, leaning on a bin for support.

Im not usually a do-gooder but my conscience got the better of me.I turned back to check on him in case he had a fall or was having a heart attack.
Here's how the conversation went.

Me:Excuse me,are you ok?

Old Man:What?

Me:Are you ok Sir?Do you need assistance?

Old Man:Fu ck off

Me:What?

Old Man:Fu ck off



I fcuked off and learned my lesson that day,stay away from contrary ould bollixes in carparks.

Just bumping this as I'm not long past an accident where I didn't stop.

I was driving down a country road when I saw someone ahead telling me to slow down, which I did obviously. Passed two more people all slowing cars down. Went around the last bend and there were two cars pretty smashed up. There were no emergency services on the scene yet but there were lots of people there so I make a split second decision to keep going. I rang the ambulance service just in case someone else hadn't already - unlikely but you never know, they knew about the crash and asked me some things about the accident. I told them I didn't stop as I didn't want to get in the way.

Now I feel bad that I didn't stop, but i don't think I could have helped but maybe I could have helped with traffic or something, I dunno.

So Yeh, not sure if I did the right thing but it's done now. Hopefully no one too seriously injured but the cars looked pretty wrecked

The Backwards Man

Deleted User wrote: »

Just bumping this as I'm not long past an accident where I didn't stop.

I was driving down a country road when I saw someone ahead telling me to slow down, which I did obviously. Passed two more people all slowing cars down. Went around the last bend and there were two cars pretty smashed up. There were no emergency services on the scene yet but there were lots of people there so I make a split second decision to keep going. I rang the ambulance service just in case someone else hadn't already - unlikely but you never know, they knew about the crash and asked me some things about the accident. I told them I didn't stop as I didn't want to get in the way.

Now I feel bad that I didn't stop, but i don't think I could have helped but maybe I could have helped with traffic or something, I dunno.

So Yeh, not sure if I did the right thing but it's done now. Hopefully no one too seriously injured but the cars looked pretty wrecked

Aye you did the right thing. Funnily enough I was in a similar situation last night, head on collision on a corner, I was the first vehicle on scene but there was plenty from the houses where it happened already there, I just stayed to stop the traffic until the guards came and left as soon they arrived. If there's nothing you can do to help, it's the best thing to do

Señor Fancy Pants

Yep, if you can't help then you might get in the way of the people who can.

An extra car on a small country road could mean the difference of a few minutes reaching the scene.

In that situation, you did the right thing.

nc19

I won't stop if there is already someone there. I have no 1st aid knowledge

somefeen

Im one of them painful good samaritans types. Always stop unless theres obviously a big crowd of people to help already.

Its embarassing sometimes, drove over a bridge in Scotland late one night and saw a woman standing there looking nervous. Thought she was planning on jumping.
Turned around and pulled up next to her like a pure creep and asked her if she was alright. She was waiting for a bus, I still cringe when I think of it

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

eviltwin

Patww79 wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

That would be the least of my worries. If someone is in danger of dying you won't make it worse by helping and may save a life.

Hammer89

I personally would offer some help, because I've been in a similar situation before, but I can understand why people don't: if nobody is assigned to help, then, for whatever reason, they generally won't.

There's a famous experiment where you put somebody in a room to fill out a questionnaire and let smoke emanate from under the door of a nearby room. The other people in the room are instructed to blatantly ignore the smoke, and the majority of subjects will report the smoke - but only after two minutes of doing nothing, or waiting for somebody else to do something first.

It's weird, and I could be very wrong, but it sounds like ignoring an accident could be the same kinda thing.

brightspark

Patww79 wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

How long ago was that? As long as you perform it according to the method you were taught you wont be sued.

http://www.slansabhailte.ie/downloads/3364/good_samaritan.pdf

For those who happen to be abroad at anytime, in some countries it's a crime if you don't stop and offer help!