Medical emergency and ****wit motorists
Discussion
Yesterday my wife and I decided to nip into town for something to eat. She's pregnant and had been feeling rough so once she picked up we decided to make the most of it.
Approaching a set of lights across a 30mph but main road three lane DC (Muirhead Avenue / Queen's Drive for those local in Liverpool), I stopped in the centre lane behind a large box van (the NS lane is left turn). The lights went green and the inside and outside lanes moved forward but our lane didn't. Thinking a learner had stalled or similar I checked my mirrors but couldn't move out and around the obstruction until the light went red again and the light weekend traffic dried up.
As we pulled around the van we noted there was a significant space in front of him, where everyone else had pulled away but he hadn't. I pulled into the space in front of his van and my wife said the 60ish year old driver was slumped over the wheel. I secured the car, turned off the engine and put on my hazards while my wife ran to the cab. She came running back (I was removing my seatbelt and telling our little lad to stay put in the car) and said the guy was screaming and holding his arm. I ran over to the van and the driver had a strange smell (sweet, sickly) and was obviously highly delirious and he was screaming in pain.
I asked if he was OK and told him help was on the way, but he didn't acknowledge me. After a few seconds he opened his eyes and 'came to' and startled when he saw me. He screamed for me to go away, but the look in his eyes just didn't seem compos mentis. He said he had chest and arm pain and then passed in and out of consciousness again. I told my wife to dial 999 and ask for police and ambulance, and tried to calm the guy. I asked for him to turn off his engine but he said no and became very aggressive. He tried to punch me through his open window, but he wasn't in much of a state to actually do any damage as he could barely sit upright (plus I'm 6'5" and a brick outhouse lol).
He seemed immediately shocked at what he'd just done and said he was sorry, at which point I'm asking if he's breathing OK, is he epileptic (he was twitching like a dissected frog) or have any medical conditions. He just stared right through me and veered between passing out and startling awake and lashing out screaming at me to go away and that I was a 'nosey bar steward'.
The disappointing thing was that as this was occurring I've got traffic forcing their way around me beeping their horns. I had been consistently swapping between seeing to the fella and waving for the oncoming traffic to slow down and keep wide. Almost everyone just ignored me, beeped and swore, and two cars actually made contact with me while I'm trying to keep the guy calm and stop him driving away (which he was trying to do at this point in his confusion).
The police arrived on the wrong side of the crossroads and on the opposite side of the DC, so after I signalled for the outside lane of traffic to stop, I whistled over to attract the officer's attention and he came running. As I'm doing so, the lead car of the outside lane got bored and beeped, swore at me, and ran into me as he pushed past. The guy in the van is screaming at this point, and started pulling his van forward towards the car with my wife and lad in.
I ran over to stop him and told him to get to the side of the road and wait for the police, which he said he would do. I stopped the oncoming traffic in the NS lane then gestured for him to pull left, and he slowly mounted the kerb. At this point I thought things were starting to becoming sensible...
All this is happening while the police officer is running over two parts of the large junction to get to us, and again cars are beeping and driving into me trying to get past. As the police got to the central reservation I walked over to meet him and the van sped off over the pavement and on through a red light.
I confirmed I was the informant and that the red van was the guy in question, and that something was badly wrong with the driver. The officer radioed his colleagues and ran off back to his car. At this point I got back into my car, which was still in the centre lane (I had no time or ability to move it over to the kerb while dealing with the guy and the traffic) and made a safe exit from the junction.
When we caught up with the police and ambulances about 1/2 a mile down the road, I parked a safe distance away from them so as not to get in the way, until the officer I'd dealt with spotted us and came over. It turned out he'd just had a physical fight with the driver (again, aggressive and incoherent) and the ambulance crew managed to ascertain he was slipping in and out of a diabetic hypoglycaemic coma. If he'd been treated any later they said he'd have probably died, and it was the reason for his pain and incoherent aggression.
Now, in my eyes we did nothing special or out of the ordinary. We saw someone in need, made the scene as safe as possible to keep traffic flowing and away from the hazard, while ensuring the victim didn't deteriorate or cause an accident (to the best of my ability with my human person versus his moving truck, anyway). What DID shock and sadden me was the reaction of everyone else. There's two vehicles stopped in the centre of the carriageway, motorists being giving plenty of warning via hand signals to slow and keep wide, and by that point half a dozen police cars converging on our position which to anyone with their eyes open suggests this is a serious incident and not just a guy having a chat in the road for the fun of it.
So why, oh why, did not one person feel compelled to stop and help? Why do other motorists deem it satisfactory to not only make contact with a person in the carriageway to push through the scene (despite not knowing what it entailed or what was in front), but to give abuse to those offering first aid and assistance? I was honestly shocked at the way people reacted that day and if we hadn't made the decision to stop then the guy would have either died, or possibly ploughed into pedestrians (he was insisting on driving away at one point and obviously later did).
Faith in humanity -100 points. I wonder how they'd have reacted if it was their husband/dad/grandad needing aid and everyone just piled on past and left him to die in confusion and pain? No real point to this thread, I just wanted to share our experience in a place where some (generally) more aware motorists reside and may have similar stories to share.
Approaching a set of lights across a 30mph but main road three lane DC (Muirhead Avenue / Queen's Drive for those local in Liverpool), I stopped in the centre lane behind a large box van (the NS lane is left turn). The lights went green and the inside and outside lanes moved forward but our lane didn't. Thinking a learner had stalled or similar I checked my mirrors but couldn't move out and around the obstruction until the light went red again and the light weekend traffic dried up.
As we pulled around the van we noted there was a significant space in front of him, where everyone else had pulled away but he hadn't. I pulled into the space in front of his van and my wife said the 60ish year old driver was slumped over the wheel. I secured the car, turned off the engine and put on my hazards while my wife ran to the cab. She came running back (I was removing my seatbelt and telling our little lad to stay put in the car) and said the guy was screaming and holding his arm. I ran over to the van and the driver had a strange smell (sweet, sickly) and was obviously highly delirious and he was screaming in pain.
I asked if he was OK and told him help was on the way, but he didn't acknowledge me. After a few seconds he opened his eyes and 'came to' and startled when he saw me. He screamed for me to go away, but the look in his eyes just didn't seem compos mentis. He said he had chest and arm pain and then passed in and out of consciousness again. I told my wife to dial 999 and ask for police and ambulance, and tried to calm the guy. I asked for him to turn off his engine but he said no and became very aggressive. He tried to punch me through his open window, but he wasn't in much of a state to actually do any damage as he could barely sit upright (plus I'm 6'5" and a brick outhouse lol).
He seemed immediately shocked at what he'd just done and said he was sorry, at which point I'm asking if he's breathing OK, is he epileptic (he was twitching like a dissected frog) or have any medical conditions. He just stared right through me and veered between passing out and startling awake and lashing out screaming at me to go away and that I was a 'nosey bar steward'.
The disappointing thing was that as this was occurring I've got traffic forcing their way around me beeping their horns. I had been consistently swapping between seeing to the fella and waving for the oncoming traffic to slow down and keep wide. Almost everyone just ignored me, beeped and swore, and two cars actually made contact with me while I'm trying to keep the guy calm and stop him driving away (which he was trying to do at this point in his confusion).
The police arrived on the wrong side of the crossroads and on the opposite side of the DC, so after I signalled for the outside lane of traffic to stop, I whistled over to attract the officer's attention and he came running. As I'm doing so, the lead car of the outside lane got bored and beeped, swore at me, and ran into me as he pushed past. The guy in the van is screaming at this point, and started pulling his van forward towards the car with my wife and lad in.
I ran over to stop him and told him to get to the side of the road and wait for the police, which he said he would do. I stopped the oncoming traffic in the NS lane then gestured for him to pull left, and he slowly mounted the kerb. At this point I thought things were starting to becoming sensible...
All this is happening while the police officer is running over two parts of the large junction to get to us, and again cars are beeping and driving into me trying to get past. As the police got to the central reservation I walked over to meet him and the van sped off over the pavement and on through a red light.
I confirmed I was the informant and that the red van was the guy in question, and that something was badly wrong with the driver. The officer radioed his colleagues and ran off back to his car. At this point I got back into my car, which was still in the centre lane (I had no time or ability to move it over to the kerb while dealing with the guy and the traffic) and made a safe exit from the junction.
When we caught up with the police and ambulances about 1/2 a mile down the road, I parked a safe distance away from them so as not to get in the way, until the officer I'd dealt with spotted us and came over. It turned out he'd just had a physical fight with the driver (again, aggressive and incoherent) and the ambulance crew managed to ascertain he was slipping in and out of a diabetic hypoglycaemic coma. If he'd been treated any later they said he'd have probably died, and it was the reason for his pain and incoherent aggression.
Now, in my eyes we did nothing special or out of the ordinary. We saw someone in need, made the scene as safe as possible to keep traffic flowing and away from the hazard, while ensuring the victim didn't deteriorate or cause an accident (to the best of my ability with my human person versus his moving truck, anyway). What DID shock and sadden me was the reaction of everyone else. There's two vehicles stopped in the centre of the carriageway, motorists being giving plenty of warning via hand signals to slow and keep wide, and by that point half a dozen police cars converging on our position which to anyone with their eyes open suggests this is a serious incident and not just a guy having a chat in the road for the fun of it.
So why, oh why, did not one person feel compelled to stop and help? Why do other motorists deem it satisfactory to not only make contact with a person in the carriageway to push through the scene (despite not knowing what it entailed or what was in front), but to give abuse to those offering first aid and assistance? I was honestly shocked at the way people reacted that day and if we hadn't made the decision to stop then the guy would have either died, or possibly ploughed into pedestrians (he was insisting on driving away at one point and obviously later did).
Faith in humanity -100 points. I wonder how they'd have reacted if it was their husband/dad/grandad needing aid and everyone just piled on past and left him to die in confusion and pain? No real point to this thread, I just wanted to share our experience in a place where some (generally) more aware motorists reside and may have similar stories to share.
Fair play for stopping and helping as much as you could but as said it's that blame culture and everyone else being so self centred these days that they saw you and the guy in the van as holding them up. No one has time for anyone else these days as society crumbles around us.
Did you not see the bin men vides the other day and how people just cannot wait so risk the lives of the binmen by mounting pavements etc?
Did you not see the bin men vides the other day and how people just cannot wait so risk the lives of the binmen by mounting pavements etc?
Crikey - sounds like a pretty stressful event! Well done for sticking with it. I'm often amazed at how selfish and uncaring people are and I have a similar, although less dramatic story: A few years ago I was working within walking distance of home and was just popping back at lunchtime for something. After crossing a road, and when I was about 50 metres down the next road on my route, I heard a loud and sudden bang - the sort of bang you associate with a car crash, so I spun round to see what had happened. I couldn't see anything untoward, just the usual traffic going back and forth, and then I noticed a car stationary in an unusual place further up the road and then a pair of legs sticking out of a hedge - it had been a pedestrian who was hit. I sprinted back up to the road and across it to tend to the poor guy, who was still concious but bleeding from the back of his head and clearly in shock. Like you, what struck me was the number of drivers who passed a man lying in the recovery position on the pavement with blood everywhere and me knelt over him, but didn't slow to ask if they could help, or stop to offer help or anything of the sort. A couple about my age did stop actually after about a minute or two, but they were the only ones. They told me they stopped because they saw me sprinting across the road at an 'unusual speed' and thought something must be up, so my best guess is that most people are in their own little bubble when they're driving and don't tend to spot things like injured people at the side of the road etc. This pyschological bubble also explains their aggressiveness towards you - they feel emotionally removed from the outside world - a bit like internet trolls behind a keyboard (did you read the tweets made to the McCanns? horrifying).
Perhaps the chap in the van thought he was having a fit and didn't want his driving license taken away? If he was in a van it's likely he needs his license to keep his job and make a living.
Perhaps the chap in the van thought he was having a fit and didn't want his driving license taken away? If he was in a van it's likely he needs his license to keep his job and make a living.
Some studies suggest that many humans are overwhelmed in public and are incapable of relating to others on a humanitarian level. As a coping mechanism, the studies suggested that most people collapse into a state of subconsciously considering others (using road users as the example in the study write up I read) as something other than people, or at least just refusing to acknowledge that others they could see had feelings/emotuons/needs etc.
Well done is all I can say, you may well have saved more than one persons life! The drivers potential next step may well have been/be total collapse & a coma. A Very dangerous place to be.
Sod what others thought/didn't know about, you did the right thing.
That driver will be off the road now for sure until fixed, hard times maybe. I'd assume they'll be in hospital for a good period of time, perhaps a hospital visit might not be out of the question to resolve any anxiety over what you did.
Sod what others thought/didn't know about, you did the right thing.
That driver will be off the road now for sure until fixed, hard times maybe. I'd assume they'll be in hospital for a good period of time, perhaps a hospital visit might not be out of the question to resolve any anxiety over what you did.
DervHead said:
Faith in humanity -100 points. I wonder how they'd have reacted if it was their husband/dad/grandad needing aid and everyone just piled on past and left him to die in confusion and pain? No real point to this thread, I just wanted to share our experience in a place where some (generally) more aware motorists reside and may have similar stories to share.
that being said - well done you, my faith in humanity goes up 
The Moose said:
Remember that if one member of the public is helping, what is another and another and another etc going to be able to do?
Often several people can be good - I was first on the scene of a car accident a few years ago where two of us needed to control traffic around the wreckage whilst another person tended to the casualties etc. Even the police, who were the first emergency service to turn up, asked me and this other guy to continue controlling the traffic and thanked us for our help and it was only once the paramedics had arrived that the police relieved us of traffic control duties. I usually stop to offer help if I see something like that as some people may not have a working mobile phone, or they may need someone to contact a family member, or even someone just to stay with someone whilst waiting for an ambulance, especially if there are young children involved, or even pets (I once had to run down the road and catch a horse!).Doesn't suprise me in the slightest really. A few years ago someone ploughed head on into a tree in front of me on a country road, understeered straight off.
Woman on her own in a Clio, on a twisty road that is tiny but used as a rat run. I stopped my car at the last corner with hazards on to alert people coming up to the corner that there was an accident the other side of it. I nearly got run over 2 or 3 times before someone stopped. Most people just took the blind bend on the wrong side of the road at 60mph anyway, ignoring the hazards...
Eventually 1 guy stopped adn together we controlled traffic until the police and ambulance arrived (which took over half an hour). In that time I was spat at, swore at, nearly run over multiple times, the womans car was nearly collected a good few times and the people decent enough to wait had a few near misses too. 1 woman who was much too important to wait for the crashed car blocking half the road and the people helping get everyonme past (good old system of 5 1 way 5 the other to keep it flowing) She bombed past the stopped traffic at full pelt straight towards us. She must have then realised why all this was going on so swerved, nearly hit the crashed car with the woman still in it (possible spinal injury, complaining of numb legs) nearly hit me as she swerved and ended up nose first in a ditch.
We reported her for it and the police were very interested in why there was another car in the ditch not invovled in the original accident. Hope the cow lost her licence for dangerous driving. Needless to say no help was offered to her after she ended up in the ditch.
Most people though were understanding. Most asked if they could lend a hand but by the point it started to stack up, we had 2 people with the woman and 2 of us diverting traffic so we were on top of it. Still, nice for people to offer.
When I break down though, lots of people are really forth coming with trying to help. Broke down with the MR2 a lot and all sorts of people have stopped to offer help in lots of different ways when it does happen. Some other people with old Toyotas (so they know my pain!) with parts and tools to help bodge something to get me home, others just normal people offering a phone call or going to fetch water/petrol if needs be to help out.
Most people are very nice, the problem is the bad ones stick in your mind more than the good ones. I do also find the furhter south you go, the less helpful people get. People in the highlands are far more friendly and will go out of their way to help you out in a tight spot. Slower pace of life, less rush about time and a tighter knit community upbringing contributes to this I think.
Woman on her own in a Clio, on a twisty road that is tiny but used as a rat run. I stopped my car at the last corner with hazards on to alert people coming up to the corner that there was an accident the other side of it. I nearly got run over 2 or 3 times before someone stopped. Most people just took the blind bend on the wrong side of the road at 60mph anyway, ignoring the hazards...
Eventually 1 guy stopped adn together we controlled traffic until the police and ambulance arrived (which took over half an hour). In that time I was spat at, swore at, nearly run over multiple times, the womans car was nearly collected a good few times and the people decent enough to wait had a few near misses too. 1 woman who was much too important to wait for the crashed car blocking half the road and the people helping get everyonme past (good old system of 5 1 way 5 the other to keep it flowing) She bombed past the stopped traffic at full pelt straight towards us. She must have then realised why all this was going on so swerved, nearly hit the crashed car with the woman still in it (possible spinal injury, complaining of numb legs) nearly hit me as she swerved and ended up nose first in a ditch.
We reported her for it and the police were very interested in why there was another car in the ditch not invovled in the original accident. Hope the cow lost her licence for dangerous driving. Needless to say no help was offered to her after she ended up in the ditch.
Most people though were understanding. Most asked if they could lend a hand but by the point it started to stack up, we had 2 people with the woman and 2 of us diverting traffic so we were on top of it. Still, nice for people to offer.
When I break down though, lots of people are really forth coming with trying to help. Broke down with the MR2 a lot and all sorts of people have stopped to offer help in lots of different ways when it does happen. Some other people with old Toyotas (so they know my pain!) with parts and tools to help bodge something to get me home, others just normal people offering a phone call or going to fetch water/petrol if needs be to help out.
Most people are very nice, the problem is the bad ones stick in your mind more than the good ones. I do also find the furhter south you go, the less helpful people get. People in the highlands are far more friendly and will go out of their way to help you out in a tight spot. Slower pace of life, less rush about time and a tighter knit community upbringing contributes to this I think.
Edited by DottyMR2 on Monday 6th October 15:41
Fair play to you, it's great that there are people around that still help out like this, as you've said most people certainly don't.
I was involved in a head-on accident at a T-junction a few years ago in which my car and one other were written off (thankfully not my fault!). A lady waiting in the side road pulled out in front of the car coming the opposite way to me on the main road, and he instinctively swerved straight into my path. Given I was traveling ~30mph and he was traveling ~40mph it was a pretty big smack, easily enough to destroy the front end of both cars. There were vehicles following both of us along the main road, as well as a queue of at least 10 cars in the side road waiting to turn, all with a perfect view of the accident; not one car stopped.
Thankfully no major injuries other than a broken collar bone to the other driver, but I just couldn't believe that an accident as substantial and obvious as that could be ignored by some many people. Some of the drivers in the side road literally drove over broken glass and pieces of bumper just to barge through! Eventually one car stopped to call an ambulance, but my faith in other people probably took more of a knock that day than my body did- shocking.
I was involved in a head-on accident at a T-junction a few years ago in which my car and one other were written off (thankfully not my fault!). A lady waiting in the side road pulled out in front of the car coming the opposite way to me on the main road, and he instinctively swerved straight into my path. Given I was traveling ~30mph and he was traveling ~40mph it was a pretty big smack, easily enough to destroy the front end of both cars. There were vehicles following both of us along the main road, as well as a queue of at least 10 cars in the side road waiting to turn, all with a perfect view of the accident; not one car stopped.
Thankfully no major injuries other than a broken collar bone to the other driver, but I just couldn't believe that an accident as substantial and obvious as that could be ignored by some many people. Some of the drivers in the side road literally drove over broken glass and pieces of bumper just to barge through! Eventually one car stopped to call an ambulance, but my faith in other people probably took more of a knock that day than my body did- shocking.
Good on you for stopping and helping I'd like to think that people like the OP would be around should my dad ever go into a hypo.
As for my own anecdote, I was trundling along the inside lane of the A3 a year or two ago on the way to a bit of backroad to have a play on. I noticed a puff of smoke up front and then saw a Corsa in the middle of a spin on the hard shoulder, having impacted the crash barrier. It came to rest facing the correct way but was obviously undriveable (since a wheel had come off). I pulled over a bit further ahead, just before a junction and rushed back to see if I could help. Was a young girl and her friends, she'd obviously been texting and hadn't noticed she was drifting into the crash barrier. They were uninjured, the guy in the back was a bit winded as he'd been thrown around the car because he wasn't wearing a seatbelt, but otherwise fine. They got out of the car and I directed them over to the safe area behind the barrier, while I called 999 and asked for police and possibly an ambulance at mile marker xxx just before junction 13 etc.
It took the police about 15 minutes to arrive, which was fine. However while I was waiting and reasurring the driver, who was beside herself in shock, not a single person stopped to offer help. Everybody slowed down to have a look, seemed disappointed that the flashy car parked up wasn't damaged, and drove off. Even when the junction up ahead started backing up, nobody even bothered to roll a window down and ask if everything was alright. When the police turned up they took control and did request a paramedic as a precaution - they took my statement, I exchanged details with the driver in case she needed any further witness statements for insurance etc, and went on my way. By this point there was an enormous queue of traffic thanks to the rubberneckers, which I noticed as I decided to turn around and head home.
I'd like to think that people like the OP would be around should my dad ever go into a hypo.As for my own anecdote, I was trundling along the inside lane of the A3 a year or two ago on the way to a bit of backroad to have a play on. I noticed a puff of smoke up front and then saw a Corsa in the middle of a spin on the hard shoulder, having impacted the crash barrier. It came to rest facing the correct way but was obviously undriveable (since a wheel had come off). I pulled over a bit further ahead, just before a junction and rushed back to see if I could help. Was a young girl and her friends, she'd obviously been texting and hadn't noticed she was drifting into the crash barrier. They were uninjured, the guy in the back was a bit winded as he'd been thrown around the car because he wasn't wearing a seatbelt, but otherwise fine. They got out of the car and I directed them over to the safe area behind the barrier, while I called 999 and asked for police and possibly an ambulance at mile marker xxx just before junction 13 etc.
It took the police about 15 minutes to arrive, which was fine. However while I was waiting and reasurring the driver, who was beside herself in shock, not a single person stopped to offer help. Everybody slowed down to have a look, seemed disappointed that the flashy car parked up wasn't damaged, and drove off. Even when the junction up ahead started backing up, nobody even bothered to roll a window down and ask if everything was alright. When the police turned up they took control and did request a paramedic as a precaution - they took my statement, I exchanged details with the driver in case she needed any further witness statements for insurance etc, and went on my way. By this point there was an enormous queue of traffic thanks to the rubberneckers, which I noticed as I decided to turn around and head home.
I was on a large motorcycle in the centre of london stationary in a traffic queue on dual carriageway. When we started to pull away I got hit by the car behind who was trying to change lanes at the same time as using my space, and the bike was pushed over with me underneath.
My ankle had taken the full force of the bike falling over and I couldn't move.
Instead of anyone stopping behind me, they all tried to pull round me. Everytime a car pulled round me I had to pray the next car would see me rather than just running me over.
Seemed like a good ten minutes of cars doing that. and because they were funneling into a lane and a half wide some cars were squeezing together no more than a few cm from my legs. It must have been about thirty or forty cars gone passed before someone stopped their car put their hazard lights on and attempted to help me. HE lifted by bike by about 1cm before I could get my leg free and get outter there.
The overwhelming memory I have is of people yelling profanities at me while I was on the ground.
My ankle had taken the full force of the bike falling over and I couldn't move.
Instead of anyone stopping behind me, they all tried to pull round me. Everytime a car pulled round me I had to pray the next car would see me rather than just running me over.
Seemed like a good ten minutes of cars doing that. and because they were funneling into a lane and a half wide some cars were squeezing together no more than a few cm from my legs. It must have been about thirty or forty cars gone passed before someone stopped their car put their hazard lights on and attempted to help me. HE lifted by bike by about 1cm before I could get my leg free and get outter there.
The overwhelming memory I have is of people yelling profanities at me while I was on the ground.
I was first on scene at an early morning accident a few years ago, an car had been speeding down a local road with a few local lads in it, it hit a couple of parked cars and a lamp post and split in two, I watched it all happen in front of my eyes.
I got out of my car and ran to the smoking wreckage, I checked the back seat passenger and he had died instantly, three lads ran from the scene one didn't get far on his broken ankle, underneath the car was another lad who had been thrown out when the car split and dragged along underneath but he was in and out of consciousness I got under the car as best I could to offer him assistance, he wasn't a pretty side with his scalp, face and arm all torn from being dragged along the road surface.
By now as I'm lying underneath in a puddle of petrol and blood holding a piece of his skull in place, the local residents who heard the impact had come out amongst them I heard a few people saying "just leave him to it, He's just scum" now yes he might well have been but he was still someone's son. Anyway out of all these people there only one or two actually offered assistance, many did the usual thing of out with their mobiles and filming.
The police and fire service arrived and dealt with it as they do, road was closed all day as it was a fatal, I went into someone's house to wash my hands, spoke to a couple of officers and then went home no longer feeling like a day in work mattered much.
I was asked by the Family Liason Officer could I speak to the parents of the boy who died which was difficult, a few days later the mother of the lad who was under the car came to give me a card and chocolates as a thank you, apparently he told his mum in hospital that the last thing he heard was me telling him "You'll will be fine mate can you hear the sirens, its help on his way" his mum thanked me for saying such kind words whilst others were not being as nice, sadly he never learnt from this accident and died a few years later in a car crash.
I always remember the apathy and attitude of these people, to me it didn't matter if t was a stolen car or not it was about stepping up and doing the right thing to help someone, something I'm proud I did and that I was able to do so, unfortunately I had to do again within a few months at the scene of a motorbike fatality in Yorkshire.
I got out of my car and ran to the smoking wreckage, I checked the back seat passenger and he had died instantly, three lads ran from the scene one didn't get far on his broken ankle, underneath the car was another lad who had been thrown out when the car split and dragged along underneath but he was in and out of consciousness I got under the car as best I could to offer him assistance, he wasn't a pretty side with his scalp, face and arm all torn from being dragged along the road surface.
By now as I'm lying underneath in a puddle of petrol and blood holding a piece of his skull in place, the local residents who heard the impact had come out amongst them I heard a few people saying "just leave him to it, He's just scum" now yes he might well have been but he was still someone's son. Anyway out of all these people there only one or two actually offered assistance, many did the usual thing of out with their mobiles and filming.
The police and fire service arrived and dealt with it as they do, road was closed all day as it was a fatal, I went into someone's house to wash my hands, spoke to a couple of officers and then went home no longer feeling like a day in work mattered much.
I was asked by the Family Liason Officer could I speak to the parents of the boy who died which was difficult, a few days later the mother of the lad who was under the car came to give me a card and chocolates as a thank you, apparently he told his mum in hospital that the last thing he heard was me telling him "You'll will be fine mate can you hear the sirens, its help on his way" his mum thanked me for saying such kind words whilst others were not being as nice, sadly he never learnt from this accident and died a few years later in a car crash.
I always remember the apathy and attitude of these people, to me it didn't matter if t was a stolen car or not it was about stepping up and doing the right thing to help someone, something I'm proud I did and that I was able to do so, unfortunately I had to do again within a few months at the scene of a motorbike fatality in Yorkshire.
Some very interesting stories and responses guys. Thanks!
Regarding the necessity for more than one MoP to help: Given that I was veering between politely directing traffic and running back to see to the guy and keep encouraging him not to try to drive, extra hands would have been a godsend. I can appreciate the comments about potentially looking like a road rage situation, but it's very hard to convey the context of the incident in a few paragraphs of written text.
The guy spent most of his time doubled over/lying back and only swung for me twice in the 20 mins or so we were there. The rest of the time I was in the edge of the lane (to stop him being able to reach me) and politely asking traffic to slow and move around us. So really it would be hard to construe events as road rage as I was a distance away and helping traffic rather than brawling or anything equally ambiguous.
Either way, whether motorists thought it was an argument, a rear end bump, or something else, it was surely entirely the wrong thing to do to respond to my efforts by swearing, gesticulating and shouting at me while physically hitting me out of the way with their cars. I think something of the bystander apathy effect (as a few posters detailed above) is closer to the mark.
A rather unusual and unsettling turn of events for sure, and regardless of what people thought the other motorists' conduct was unwarranted and potentially dangerous.
Regarding the necessity for more than one MoP to help: Given that I was veering between politely directing traffic and running back to see to the guy and keep encouraging him not to try to drive, extra hands would have been a godsend. I can appreciate the comments about potentially looking like a road rage situation, but it's very hard to convey the context of the incident in a few paragraphs of written text.
The guy spent most of his time doubled over/lying back and only swung for me twice in the 20 mins or so we were there. The rest of the time I was in the edge of the lane (to stop him being able to reach me) and politely asking traffic to slow and move around us. So really it would be hard to construe events as road rage as I was a distance away and helping traffic rather than brawling or anything equally ambiguous.
Either way, whether motorists thought it was an argument, a rear end bump, or something else, it was surely entirely the wrong thing to do to respond to my efforts by swearing, gesticulating and shouting at me while physically hitting me out of the way with their cars. I think something of the bystander apathy effect (as a few posters detailed above) is closer to the mark.
A rather unusual and unsettling turn of events for sure, and regardless of what people thought the other motorists' conduct was unwarranted and potentially dangerous.
The Moose said:
Remember that if one member of the public is helping, what is another and another and another etc going to be able to do?
They could help by just not behaving like complete w
kers 
That's normally quite helpful.
The issue is that people don't think and tend to assume that if they are being held up it is because someone is doing something stupid and fair game for abuse. Not car related but there was a program about the London underground once and a station had to be closed because someone had fallen in front of a train. The abuse being levelled at the station staff was staggering to say the least, with a significant number of inconvenienced travellers looking for someone to blame. Even when they were told it was because there had been a fatality some still didn't seem to care. Their need to get to where they wanted to go took precendent over anything else and they couldn't see why anything should be allowed to get in the way of that.
Same thing in situations like the OP describes IMHO.
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