Thread: Helping other motorists in trouble

When I worked in Sydney we had a large storm water drain that ran past our workshop,one day a very old woman came in asking for help so thinking the worst 4 of us ran outside to find an equally old border collie in the drain.Because I was the youngest I had to jump down to lift up the dog and it rolled onto it's back as I picked it up and then it came to life,The bloody dog was exhausted not from the drain but from biting me,it even bit the top off the pen I had in my top pocket.Not one of the by now assembled crowd was not laughing.Damn Dog Pat

I have not read all the replys but its good to see the general idea of helping is the same.

I have luckily never had any bad situations but I generally jump out and push the car off the road. I dont offer to help if I have the kids in the car when someone is broken down in suburbia. I will also look to see if they are male or female, I have broken down loads of times (run out of fuel in my younger days too) and as a male I think its part of growing up with a car, wouldnt want to deprive an avid xbox player of the experience. I will always give a female a hand as I think they are more vunverable. I stereotype everyone.

PS if its a LR broken down I just yell, sucked in Jerk, buy a land cruiser next time, while ignoring the hypocrisy of my statement.

Reading all these posts I remember that I had forgotten stopping to help a couple south of Norseman last year. They were very grateful - just a flat tyre, but they had just found they had no jack or wheelbrace, and it was very hot.

The danger from stopping for someone is a real danger, but it is very, very low, and despite the occasional bad story, probably getting lower; despite what you see on television and read in the news, the statistics confirm that Australia is a safer place than in years past - violent crime statistics in almost all areas are down in absolute terms, and certainly in per capita terms are way down. (this assumes you smooth out the spikes of course - if you look month to month, or even year to year, of course there will be increases).

The perception that we live in a dangerous society is largely a product of better communications, so more of it shows up in the news, plus the domination of the entertainment industry by violence, mostly from the other side of the Pacific, and reflecting a grossly distorted view of an admittedly much more dangerous society than ours (around five times the murder rate per capita for example - down from ten times only a few years ago, mainly because of improvements in emergency treatment of gunshot wounds and ambulance services).

The vast majority of Australians will never be the victim of any violent crime in their lifetime. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about property crime - reminds me, just got a phone bill!

John

Well done Craig. It's reassuring to know that some people still stop to render aid.

Once though I came across a lady who had a flat tyre. I was surprised when my offer to help her was negative?

This hasn't stopped me though from offering assistance when I can.

I saw a P late girl broken down one day near Gunning and pulled over to offer assistance, my wife and kids in the car but she said no thanks, she had called the NRMA, this is quite reasonable as a girl broken down is every bit as vulnerable as you are stopping to assist. I said "It's moments like these you need mintees" and offered her one which she took and we said good luck and drove away.
Steve.

Originally Posted by Stuuu

You'd be surprised how many 2wd's do the trip. Goyder usually stops them or the Wilton before the bridge went in.



12V and 240V don't mix - especially in most sparkies heads. 'Tis rare to find a sparkie who knows 12v well.

Dale

S'pose he'd have to be a fan of AC/DC Dale ?

Originally Posted by Stuuu

12V and 240V don't mix - especially in most sparkies heads. 'Tis rare to find a sparkie who knows 12v well.

Dale

Actually, you're right, most don't

I don't know anything at all about 12V stuff

Some people are suitably grateful when assistance is rendered.

My FIL was working in his garden in St Ives when he saw a woman in a Mercedes with a flat tyre and obviously no idea how to deal with it.

He chhnged it for her and the next day she turned up and insisted he take a bottle of red wine as a token of her appreciation.

It was a bottle of Grange Hermitage. I forget the exact year, but it would have been worth somewhere between $500 and $1200.

We always wondered if she had just gone home and grabbed the nearest bottle of wine from her husband's cellar without even reading the label.