Midnight. Countryside. Car apparently broken down. Lady waves. Do you stop?

Tigger · 19-08-2015 02:39PM

i've stopped for loads of people it wouldn't occur to me to be afraid
i stopped for a Traveller man recently and he told me he'd been waving at traffic for an hour (on the n5 near castlebar so a busy road) he had no credit and was out of diesel and all he wanted was for me to ring someone for him
i drove him to the nearest petrol station for a bit of company and that was that

i also pick up hitch hikers and generally be nice to people on the roads and i would hope that the same would happen to me. as someone else said how many stories do we never hear about people helping each other with no bad ending

as for stepping in to stop a fight there is a difference between a mugging or beating and a straightener i'd stop a attack but if its just drunk lads fighting i'd leave them too it

Samaris · 19-08-2015 02:42PM

RDM_83 again wrote: »

Couples are in on scams because of exactly this reason of being considered "safer", had couple and child weirdly scoping out our site yesterday (urban context though)

Yup, I'm aware of it, which makes my reaction rather silly. It's a gut thing though on that. Tbh, if I was getting any warning feelings at all, I wouldn't stop.

VinLieger · 19-08-2015 03:14PM

During the day id stop no question, at night not a chance, call gardai and keep on moving

puppieperson · 19-08-2015 09:01PM

AS a woman i would stop for another woman and since i always have my dog in the car it would be ok would also stop for an elderly person too, but not a young man or a boy racer i love to see them broken down or in a hedge........ silly cnuts

DeadHand · 19-08-2015 09:26PM

puppieperson wrote: »

young man or a boy racer i love to see them broken down or in a hedge........ silly cnuts

Yeah, young men are uniformly horrible, undeserving of human decency and deserve hardship, injury and possible death while civilised people whizz past chortling merrily.

I think I know who's the real Cnut here.

DareGod · 19-08-2015 09:48PM

I would definitely stop, but I would also be pretty nervous about it. I'd rather risk it though, than risk leaving a woman left stranded in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night.

19-08-2015 10:28PM

I would be very very hesitant about stopping but the thought of driving past a person in difficulty like that doesn't sit well with me. So I would ring the guards. Maybe pull in a few feet away, shout "I've rang the guards"! Then drive off.

19-08-2015 10:29PM

puppieperson wrote: »

AS a woman i would stop for another woman and since i always have my dog in the car it would be ok would also stop for an elderly person too, but not a young man or a boy racer i love to see them broken down or in a hedge........ silly cnuts

How do you know they're boy racers if they're broken down?

19-08-2015 10:33PM

puppieperson wrote: »

AS a woman i would stop for another woman and since i always have my dog in the car it would be ok would also stop for an elderly person too, but not a young man or a boy racer i love to see them broken down or in a hedge........ silly cnuts

Ah no. Poor young men and boy racers. Sure they would need assistance to if they were in bother. I always feel for those broken down. I've been there myself standing at the side of the road waiting for the tow truck to come.

corner of hells · 19-08-2015 10:35PM

I dress up as a woman on the weekend , in fact on the weekend you can call me Mandy.

I've been trying for years to get motorists to stop for me , no one has ever stopped . Maybe its my beard or the tattoos on my legs .

Anyhow I'll be out next weekend as usual.

Agricola · 19-08-2015 10:36PM

In the day, no problem. Would probably think twice about it at night. Might try rolling down the passenger window a smige and asking them how I can assist them. If they want me to call a number or something, I might do that. If i get a vibe or am unsure, I will flea like a startled gazelle on the African Savannah.

Joeseph Balls · 19-08-2015 10:38PM

Of course I would. I seen the exact same thing on pornhub

Fox_In_Socks · 19-08-2015 11:18PM

corner of hells wrote: »

I dress up as a woman on the weekend , in fact on the weekend you can call me Mandy.

I've been trying for years to get motorists to stop for me , no one has ever stopped . Maybe its my beard or the tattoos on my legs .

Anyhow I'll be out next weekend as usual.

Get rid of the hammer and you'll be backing up traffic, faith

Ken. · 19-08-2015 11:33PM

I'd give a lift to anyone. Last year we were in Clare for a few days. On the day we we were coming home we took a scenic route. There was a guy hitching. He was walking from Doolin to Galway. We were meant to take a turn off 5 miles down the road but a quick fiddle with the sat nav and found another turn off 20 miles further on and dropped him off there.

I've also stopped to help a few people with punctures/flats.

crockholm · 19-08-2015 11:36PM

Would stop for a man before I would stop for a woman,because if I were stranded along a road it would be a long while before a woman would bother her arse to help.

Secondly,it may be presumptuous,but you know if a fellah is stranded-the car is genuinely fooked whereas with women it could be something as simple as changing a tyre,and if you cant be bothered to learn how to change a tyre,you can stay put,and hopefully learn your lesson.

19-08-2015 11:40PM

I can stop and have stopped.

If I ever pick up a hiker I text my wife. It sounds a bit stupid, but it fixes a time on the off chance that they make some accusation afterwards!

DeadHand · 20-08-2015 12:11AM

crockholm wrote: »

Would stop for a man before I would stop for a woman,because if I were stranded along a road it would be a long while before a woman would bother her arse to help

Well, the women of AH certainly seem uninterested in helping distressed male travellers.

One even expressed delight in seeing them. Managed to go a step further and cheerily announce pleasure in seeing them suffer accidents.

Smidge · 20-08-2015 12:25AM

Had a friend who was two weeks away from her due date, very heavily pregnant and her car broke down.

She pulled off to the side of the road which had cars passing regularly. Bonnet was up etc.

Not a single person stopped for her.
She had to wait for two hours until her sister could get off work to pick her up.

Broad daylight too.
Sad really when you think about it.

TomBtheGoat · 20-08-2015 12:30AM

blackcard wrote: »

You are driving your car on a quiet rural road at night. You see a car apparently broken down. A lady, seemingly on her own, waves at you for assistance. Would you stop to help her?

It depends on what she's waving. If she's waving a baseball bat then I'll keep on going. But if she's waving her knickers, I'll be out of the car before it even stops.

boobar · 20-08-2015 12:37AM

I recall hitching many years ago. I was just outside a town and the next town on the road was my homeplace, it was about 15 miles down the road.

Well, this woman drove by slowly and pulled in, she had a flat tyre and didn't appear to have any idea how to change the tyre. So I offered to change the tyre, and she readily accepted.

When the job was done I asked any chance of a lift. Sorry, she says I don't pick up hitchhikers.

To say I was sickened was an understatement.

OneOfThem · 20-08-2015 12:42AM

VinLieger wrote: »

Your incredibly naive
Ive lost count of the news reports and anecdotes where someone has stepped in to stop a fight on a night out and been seriously injured as a result by one or both parties.

How many news reports do you think are made about someone that stepped in to stop a fight and it stopped and everyone went on their way? Do you think that's because that tends to not happen? Or because it's not news worthy?

Oh... Who's being naive Kay?

PucaMama · 20-08-2015 12:52AM

boobar wrote: »

I recall hitching many years ago. I was just outside a town and the next town on the road was my homeplace, it was about 15 miles down the road.

Well, this woman drove by slowly and pulled in, she had a flat tyre and didn't appear to have any idea how to change the tyre. So I offered to change the tyre, and she readily accepted.

When the job was done I asked any chance of a lift. Sorry, she says I don't pick up hitchhikers.

To say I was sickened was an understatement.

thats heartless

id stop to help someone but id be terrified at the same time

LDN_Irish · 20-08-2015 01:21AM

I picked up a hitchhiker a few months back. It was mental. She got in and we talked for a while, and then she just got out and said bye when we got to her destination. One to tell the grandkids!

PizzamanIRL · 20-08-2015 01:56AM

Nope.

I was driving a shortcut from Twentynine Palms, CA to Albuquerque, NM. Twentynine Palms is located in the desolate high desert east of LA. The shortcut was all two lane road through total nothingness, except for passing through Amboy, CA. Amboy is a nearly abandoned town nearly as far below sea level as Death Valley, with a dormant volcano and lava field on one side and a salt flat on the other. It was also, at the time, a hotspot for satanic group activity.

So I was driving by myself in the afternoon. I stopped in Amboy and snapped a picture of the city sign, just to prove I was there to friends who dared me to take that route to I-40. I got back in my car and proceeded to drive up into the mountain range between Amboy and I-40.

Once I reach the top I am driving north through a canyon with high grass on both sides of the road. Up ahead I see some stuff in the middle of the road. As I approach I slow down to see a red Pontiac Fiero stopped sideways across both lanes, a suitcase open with clothes scattered everywhere and two bodies laying face down in the road, a man and a woman.

I stop a hundred feet or so away and the hair on the back of my neck is standing up. Being a Marine, I reach under the seat and pull out a 9mm pistol and chamber a round. Something seemed very wrong, it looked too perfect as if it were staged. An ambush? Was I being paranoid? Something was just wrong. Getting out of the car seemed unthinkable, it was the horror movie move.

As I scanned the road I saw a line I could drive. Pass the guy in the road on his left, swerve to the right side of the woman, behind the Fiero and I'd be on the other side. I dropped it into first gear, punched it and drove the line I planned.

I passed the back of the Fierro without hitting it or either of the bodies in the road. I continued forward a couple hundred feet and slowed down so I could breathe and let my heart slow down. As I looked up into the rearview mirror I saw that the two bodies had gotten up to their knees and twenty or so people emerged from the tall grass on either side of the road by the car and bodies.

At that moment my right foot smashed the gas pedal to the floor and did not let up until I had to slowdown for the I-40 east onramp.

I will never know what would have happened to me had I gotten out of the car to check on the bodies or stopped my car closer to them. Somehow I do not think it would have been good. Sometimes real life can be scarier than a movie.

Well if there was no bushes and it was out in the open I'd probably help her after I hold her up with my shotgun while I search her car.

After that though I'd gladly help her.

justchecked · 20-08-2015 02:44AM

osarusan wrote: »

Yes, I'd stop.

Incorrect.

Next question.

You awake in a dungeon, do you chew at the leather straps (Y/N)

Into The Blue · 20-08-2015 02:57AM

VinLieger wrote: »

During the day id stop no question, at night not a chance, call gardai and keep on moving

What's the difference?

Into The Blue · 20-08-2015 03:01AM

Smidge wrote: »

Had a friend who was two weeks away from her due date, very heavily pregnant and her car broke down.

She pulled off to the side of the road which had cars passing regularly. Bonnet was up etc.

Not a single person stopped for her.
She had to wait for two hours until her sister could get off work to pick her up.

Broad daylight too.
Sad really when you think about it.

2 weeks from due? Where was her partner?

ardle1 · 20-08-2015 03:13AM

Yeah Yeah all the BIG brave boys would stop,.... I would speak to her through a half closed window and get the 'jus' of what's going on, 99% of times she'll tell you someone is on the way, or it could be something that you might have to get involved in... Either way make sure your comfortable about what you are witnessing and then if you feel like getting involved then invite her to sit in or get out and see what you can do!?......... One scenario locally was 'a shopkeeper going home from work comes across a scooter that had 'apparently' just crashed, it was blocking the 'small' road so he got out to help........ Anyway he was robbed of the shops takings, there are loads of similar more innocent 'looking' stories from every part of the World......Ireland nowadays is no different!?

davetherave · 20-08-2015 08:51AM

puppieperson wrote: »

AS a woman i would stop for another woman and since i always have my dog in the car it would be ok would also stop for an elderly person too, but not a young man or a boy racer i love to see them broken down or in a hedge........ silly cnuts

So the silly bint who fills up with diesel instead of unleaded is fine, as is the granny who is standing beside a micra with bits of clutch, transmission and engine scattered across the road because she didnt want ro move up out of first, but me as the late twenties male who indicates on roundabouts, who if the sign says the limit is 50/60/80 does 50/60/80, who doesn't put the foot down approaching an amber light, if I find myself standing at the side of the road with a radiator hose that has come off or as you say the car ends upside down in the ditch due to oil on the road or black ice I can count on you to cackle to yourself as you drive on by?

KungPao · 20-08-2015 09:07AM

No way. Never again. I did this very thing 10 years ago on Friday the 13th and I was stabbed to death.

Be careful out there!

Midnight. Countryside. Car apparently broken down. Lady waves. Do you stop?

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