Witnessed a fairly bad accident last night on my way home from work. - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

Borla · 02-07-2006, 06:17 AM

I was leaving work yesterday a couple of minutes after 4PM. I was facing west and stopped at a four way intersection where I had a red light, there was about three cars in front of me at the light. Each direction at the light had one lane plus one lefthand turn lane, I was in the lane that was going to go straight west. I look down because my phone went off when I hear a BAM!!! and look up to see a Lincoln Town Car and a Ford Ranger spinning through the intersection, pieces going everywhere. Everyone just sits there, so I jump out of my car. I see that the guy right behind me gets out of his too, and he's dialing his cell phone. I was in the process of dialing 911 myself, but I ask him if he is as we jog over there. He says that he is calling the dispatch directly, as he works for the city. I shove my cell phone in my pocket and we each head to the cars, he to the Ranger, me to the Lincoln.

The Lincoln had been coming from the north at about 50-60mph. The Ranger was facing east in the lefthand turn lane, and was making his turn to the north when the Lincoln blew the red light and ran into him full speed. The truck was spun a little over 360* and pushed 30-40' back, the Lincoln had spun around and ended up hitting the car stopped at the red light facing north, but didn't hit it very hard. By the time I'd ran over there a girl about 20-22 years old had jumped out of that car and ran over to the driver's door of the Lincoln. As I get there I ask her if she is ok, and she says she is fine, just freaked out, and can't get the door open. I grab the door and force it open. The driver was an older woman, maybe late 60's. She was buckled up, but I immediately noticed her airbags had failed to deploy. She was buckled up though, and there were no visible injuries, and the car was off with no signs of fire or anything like that. I asked where she hurt, and she said her chest. I asked her if she had hit her head, she said she thought so, but I couldn't see any obvious cuts or marks. I told her to just stay still and that the ambulance would be here in a minute. She was mumbling that she had the green light (which she didn't). I left the girl with her and went to check on the other guy. He had gotten out of his truck, and the guy who worked for the city was talking to him. He was maybe 50-55 years old, and was obviously shaken up. He said his chest hurt, and I can believe it, as much of a tangled mess his truck was. We were only two blocks from the police station, so by this time officers were showing up. I stayed out of the way of the first 2-3 that showed up, and finally walked up to one of the later arriving ones. Myself and the city worker told him what we saw, gave our information, and then I left. I don't think any of the people were seriously hurt, but it'll be interesting to see whether I get a call or not.

I honestly couldn't believe the amount of people who just froze when the accident happened. There were at LEAST 8-10 cars stopped at the intersection when it happened. It was a very violent accident, hard enough that both cars were obviously totalled, and spun around 360*. Yet the only two people to get out were me and the other guy, who had been just behind me. Everyone else just stayed in their cars (except the girl and man who were actually in the accident), seemingly in disbelief or shock. I guess that's just not me. I immediately felt responsible to at least assess the situation to see if I could do SOMETHING. I've had enough first aid training (used to be Red Cross certified, but I've let it lapse) to know that the older woman was better off not moving around because of possible neck/back injuries, or even a risk of fainting, until better trained people were there. It just seems odd to me that out of the 10-20 other witnesses, only two of us moved into action.

maleficent · 02-07-2006, 06:23 AM

Some people don't have first aid training... Would you want them wandering around a confusing scene already -- adding to the confusion.. .perhaps making things worse?

Some people are just not good in a stressful situation.. trust me when i say you're better off having them in their cars...

If people are already up and helping... and unless I'm a doctor or I see someone doing something so completely stupid, I'm not going to get involved.. because there's not much i can do to help... if no one else is around - then yes, I would do something...

JustJess · 02-07-2006, 06:26 AM

I haven't ever witnessed anything like that, but I hope I am like you if that should ever happen. People get scared, I think- they worry themselves into inaction. "I don't know any first aid", "I should wait for the authorities", "it's too dangerous", etc.

I'm glad they weren't more seriously injured. This is why I believe in mandatory driver's tests for anyone over 65 (since you said she'd run her red light).

Borla · 02-07-2006, 06:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by maleficent

Some people don't have first aid training... Would you want them wandering around a confusing scene already -- adding to the confusion.. .perhaps making things worse?

Some people are just not good in a stressful situation.. trust me when i say you're better off having them in their cars...

If people are already up and helping... and unless I'm a doctor or I see someone doing something so completely stupid, I'm not going to get involved.. because there's not much i can do to help... if no one else is around - then yes, I would do something...

I understand what you are saying......at the very least though, I'd think a couple people would've gotten out, or rolled down their windows and asked if they could be of assistance.

I just think we've become too much of a society of bystanders.

ngdawg · 02-07-2006, 06:35 AM

Fear of getting involved, but everyone loves a good wreck. I tend to get involved if I see what happened. I had witnessed an accident, being directly behind the guy that got hit; this elderly woman went to her left then suddenly turned right to go into a bank lot(guess she thought she was towing a large trailer??) Since she went into the center turn lane, the young man kept going straight and she hit him. I stayed, gave my statement to the cop, but here's the PITA part:
An insurance man called me and recorded my statement verifying the lady went into the center turn lane, then made a hard right, hitting the man. I then got a form in the mail with a diagram to show what happened. Figure he's got a solid case against her, right? His father calls me a couple of weeks later telling me the insurance denied the claim as he was 'passing on the right', and asking me what did I tell them? I don't know how it ended up....isn't a center turn lane there for the purpose of allowing rightside passing???
I once called in an obviously drunk driver, but the desk cop was asking assinine questions, so I decided never again unless I myself am in danger.
I'd be willing to bet in your instance, probably half those onlookers could testify she ran the light but not one made a call to say so, thinking it's not their job to do so or that it's been covered. I just tend to act on the premise that if it were me in that situation, I'd want the help. Better to act and be declined than go home thinking maybe you should have done something.....

Carno · 02-07-2006, 06:42 AM

Man that's crazy.. I've seen it happen too, when I was in a wreck. My buddy was driving me home from school and we were doing about 45mph when some lady pulled out into our lane and we t-boned her. Not one person stopped their car to see if we were okay.

Borla · 02-07-2006, 06:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ngdawg

Fear of getting involved, but everyone loves a good wreck. I tend to get involved if I see what happened. I had witnessed an accident, being directly behind the guy that got hit; this elderly woman went to her left then suddenly turned right to go into a bank lot(guess she thought she was towing a large trailer??) Since she went into the center turn lane, the young man kept going straight and she hit him. I stayed, gave my statement to the cop, but here's the PITA part:
An insurance man called me and recorded my statement verifying the lady went into the center turn lane, then made a hard right, hitting the man. I then got a form in the mail with a diagram to show what happened. Figure he's got a solid case against her, right? His father calls me a couple of weeks later telling me the insurance denied the claim as he was 'passing on the right', and asking me what did I tell them? I don't know how it ended up....isn't a center turn lane there for the purpose of allowing rightside passing???
I once called in an obviously drunk driver, but the desk cop was asking assinine questions, so I decided never again unless I myself am in danger.
I'd be willing to bet in your instance, probably half those onlookers could testify she ran the light but not one made a call to say so, thinking it's not their job to do so or that it's been covered. I just tend to act on the premise that if it were me in that situation, I'd want the help. Better to act and be declined than go home thinking maybe you should have done something.....

I can see the hassle it could bring. Twice I've witnessed accidents that were clearly one person's fault, and I gave my information both times. So far it's never caused me any real trouble as far as being called to court or anything.

I guess I just do that because that's how I'd want someone to act if I was hit.

The_Jazz · 02-07-2006, 08:14 AM

As far as the getting involved question goes, I have something to contribute:

A few years ago, my wife and I were out with 5 or 6 friends for dinner. We were walking on the sidewalk on a one-way street back to someone's house when a guy going the wrong way up the street apparently fell asleep/passed out and sideswiped 4 or 5 cars. There was a considerable amount of damage done. The car kept veering farther and farther over until it got to the last car and then it went straight into a telephone pole. The driver didn't get out and just sat there for a minute. We just sort of stood there for a second, and then I started to walk over. I got within about 20' of the car when the guy put it in reverse and backed up into cars parked on the other side of the street. Something in the steering mechanism was broken, so he could only go backwards and forwards. He ended up ramming the car and the telephone pole 6 or 7 times before he gave it up.

The guy was bleeding pretty good from a head cut, and it turns out that one of the cars that he sideswipped had 4 very large guys in it. One of them got cut by some flying glass. One of my friends that was there that night is an ER doctor, and he sort of looked the guy over real quickly and told the guy to get some bandaids since it wasn't too bad and he didn't have glass in his eye. He (my doctor friend) wanted to leave before the cops showed up or anything else happened and didn't want to be involved at all as long as no innocent bystanders were hurt. We all had a long discussion that night on whether or not it was the right thing to get involved at all or to wait around for the cops (which we ended up doing). Basically, my doctor friend and I ended up on opposite ends of the spectrum since I always go towards the disturbance (whatever it is) to see if I can help. He always does the exact opposite because he says that he sees enough of it at work to every want to see things happen on the street.

Borla · 02-07-2006, 08:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The_Jazz

As far as the getting involved question goes, I have something to contribute:

A few years ago, my wife and I were out with 5 or 6 friends for dinner. We were walking on the sidewalk on a one-way street back to someone's house when a guy going the wrong way up the street apparently fell asleep/passed out and sideswiped 4 or 5 cars. There was a considerable amount of damage done. The car kept veering farther and farther over until it got to the last car and then it went straight into a telephone pole. The driver didn't get out and just sat there for a minute. We just sort of stood there for a second, and then I started to walk over. I got within about 20' of the car when the guy put it in reverse and backed up into cars parked on the other side of the street. Something in the steering mechanism was broken, so he could only go backwards and forwards. He ended up ramming the car and the telephone pole 6 or 7 times before he gave it up.

The guy was bleeding pretty good from a head cut, and it turns out that one of the cars that he sideswipped had 4 very large guys in it. One of them got cut by some flying glass. One of my friends that was there that night is an ER doctor, and he sort of looked the guy over real quickly and told the guy to get some bandaids since it wasn't too bad and he didn't have glass in his eye. He (my doctor friend) wanted to leave before the cops showed up or anything else happened and didn't want to be involved at all as long as no innocent bystanders were hurt. We all had a long discussion that night on whether or not it was the right thing to get involved at all or to wait around for the cops (which we ended up doing). Basically, my doctor friend and I ended up on opposite ends of the spectrum since I always go towards the disturbance (whatever it is) to see if I can help. He always does the exact opposite because he says that he sees enough of it at work to every want to see things happen on the street.

I believe the way the "Good Samaritan" laws are written, I fall am protected since I'm not trained medically. If I try to help in good faith, they can't sue me unless I do something VERY foolish. If I am correct in my understanding though, a doctor wouldn't have that luxury.

The main thing I was concerned about was if one of the people had an injury that was bleeding profusely that would need pressure put on it, or if the vehicles hadn't shut off and there was a danger of them being trapped in a burning car. I had basically decided on my way over to the cars that if there wasn't one of those two things going on I'd probably just try to make sure they stayed calm and still until people better trained were on site.

raeanna74 · 02-07-2006, 08:44 AM

If I had my kid or daycare kids with me in the car I would probably not get out but rather wait to give the scenerio I saw to the police. If I was alone I have gotten out or moved into action to help. With kids my first responsibility is to ensure their safety before assisting anyone else. Also if I was alone and saw two people immediately get out to help I may have gotten out but probably would have held back to wait and see if there was enough help. If there wasn't enough help then of course I would have and have pitched in during some situations where help was needed. Though I think the fact that I have also been CPR certified (lapsed also) helps boost my confidence in that area.

Borla · 02-07-2006, 08:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by raeanna74

If I had my kid or daycare kids with me in the car I would probably not get out but rather wait to give the scenerio I saw to the police. If I was alone I have gotten out or moved into action to help. With kids my first responsibility is to ensure their safety before assisting anyone else. Also if I was alone and saw two people immediately get out to help I may have gotten out but probably would have held back to wait and see if there was enough help. If there wasn't enough help then of course I would have and have pitched in during some situations where help was needed. Though I think the fact that I have also been CPR certified (lapsed also) helps boost my confidence in that area.

Having kids in the car with you makes it a totally different scenario in my mind.

I wouldn't expect people to bail on kids.

MSD · 02-07-2006, 01:07 PM

I've acted the same way in emergencies, and I was interested to see a study about a year ago indicating that people with ADD have a greater tendency to skip the panic reaction and immediately prepare mentally for crisis response/control. I've noticed the same in some of my freinds, we all jump to help and can remain very calm through an emergency. I know what I'm able to do, and I won't go overboard and try to provide medical help that I'm not qualified to give, for example, but while on the phone with the operator and running toward a crashed car, I've seen people just sitting there and wondering what to do.

Redjake · 02-08-2006, 01:15 PM

it basically boils down to reflexs and experience. if you've been through a lot of interesting scenarios in your life, including emergency and non-emergency situations, you are better prepared (in my opinion). the more "sheltered" type who have never had to go through anything traumatic have no idea what to do and just stand there in a daze. I remember my first car accident - at the beach on vacation with my mom. Me, my brother and sister were in the car with my mom. We plowed into a van because the person in FRONT of the van stopped in the middle of the intersection after the light had turned green. Everyone was accelerating (directly into each other apparently). Anyway, me nor my brother had seatbelts on. My brother got his face hurt pretty bad (fucked up his teeth) but I was ok, just hit my head sort of hard on the seat in front of me. I just sat there after it happened.

The NEXT car crash I had, I plowed into my best friend's car. He got out, started mumbling about how he was sorry (it was his fault, stopped on purpose in the road to scare me......scared me alright) and how he would fix it, attempted to even pull the bumper back out and stretch the *metal* quarter-panel back into it's original shape, etc. I just grabbed the pieces, through them in my car, and we left. I don't even think my heart rate when up.

same goes with reflexes on the highway and similar situations. if you are used to hydroplaning, driving in snow, sliding in snow, then you react calmly in those situations. like my business professor said, "firestone didn't kill people, people not knowing how to handle a blow-out killed people." it's all about experience.

Pip · 02-08-2006, 03:13 PM

My usual panic response to situations like that is actually to sit still and do nothing. Partially because I know I'm pretty useless - the few times I've got involved in emergency situations I've only done stupid useless things. There are emergencies I react very well to, but blood, violence, that sort of thing just turns my brain to mud.

KnifeMissile · 02-08-2006, 03:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Borla

...

The Lincoln had been coming from the north at about 50-60mph. The Ranger was facing east in the lefthand turn lane, and was making his turn to the north when the Lincoln blew the red light and ran into him full speed.

...

She was mumbling that she had the green light (which she didn't).

See, this is exactly why I scan every intersection before entering it. Some people think this is paranoid but I think it's just pragmatic, since people do run red lights and stop signs. This can be a whole other thread of its own...

Quote:

I honestly couldn't believe the amount of people who just froze when the accident happened. There were at LEAST 8-10 cars stopped at the intersection when it happened. It was a very violent accident, hard enough that both cars were obviously totalled, and spun around 360*. Yet the only two people to get out were me and the other guy, who had been just behind me. Everyone else just stayed in their cars (except the girl and man who were actually in the accident), seemingly in disbelief or shock. I guess that's just not me. I immediately felt responsible to at least assess the situation to see if I could do SOMETHING. I've had enough first aid training (used to be Red Cross certified, but I've let it lapse) to know that the older woman was better off not moving around because of possible neck/back injuries, or even a risk of fainting, until better trained people were there. It just seems odd to me that out of the 10-20 other witnesses, only two of us moved into action.

Well, don't underestimate the power of panic. When people are caught off guard and don't know what to do, a common reaction is to freeze like a deer caught in the headlights (in fact, that's probably what the deer is doing!). Strangely, it's probably for the best. If you don't know what to do, it's probably best that you do nothing. I hope people were, at least, making phone calls from their cars.

analog · 02-08-2006, 07:24 PM

It's called Bystander Apathy, a sociological theory that the more people who witness something, the less likely any one person is going to do anything about it. The theory goes that the more people present, each person is going to assume someone else will do something. This has been a very strong and demonstrable theory for some time.

Good for you, for being one of those who acts.

02-07-2006, 06:17 AM	#1 (permalink)
Borla Junkie	Witnessed a fairly bad accident last night on my way home from work. I was leaving work yesterday a couple of minutes after 4PM. I was facing west and stopped at a four way intersection where I had a red light, there was about three cars in front of me at the light. Each direction at the light had one lane plus one lefthand turn lane, I was in the lane that was going to go straight west. I look down because my phone went off when I hear a BAM!!! and look up to see a Lincoln Town Car and a Ford Ranger spinning through the intersection, pieces going everywhere. Everyone just sits there, so I jump out of my car. I see that the guy right behind me gets out of his too, and he's dialing his cell phone. I was in the process of dialing 911 myself, but I ask him if he is as we jog over there. He says that he is calling the dispatch directly, as he works for the city. I shove my cell phone in my pocket and we each head to the cars, he to the Ranger, me to the Lincoln. The Lincoln had been coming from the north at about 50-60mph. The Ranger was facing east in the lefthand turn lane, and was making his turn to the north when the Lincoln blew the red light and ran into him full speed. The truck was spun a little over 360* and pushed 30-40' back, the Lincoln had spun around and ended up hitting the car stopped at the red light facing north, but didn't hit it very hard. By the time I'd ran over there a girl about 20-22 years old had jumped out of that car and ran over to the driver's door of the Lincoln. As I get there I ask her if she is ok, and she says she is fine, just freaked out, and can't get the door open. I grab the door and force it open. The driver was an older woman, maybe late 60's. She was buckled up, but I immediately noticed her airbags had failed to deploy. She was buckled up though, and there were no visible injuries, and the car was off with no signs of fire or anything like that. I asked where she hurt, and she said her chest. I asked her if she had hit her head, she said she thought so, but I couldn't see any obvious cuts or marks. I told her to just stay still and that the ambulance would be here in a minute. She was mumbling that she had the green light (which she didn't). I left the girl with her and went to check on the other guy. He had gotten out of his truck, and the guy who worked for the city was talking to him. He was maybe 50-55 years old, and was obviously shaken up. He said his chest hurt, and I can believe it, as much of a tangled mess his truck was. We were only two blocks from the police station, so by this time officers were showing up. I stayed out of the way of the first 2-3 that showed up, and finally walked up to one of the later arriving ones. Myself and the city worker told him what we saw, gave our information, and then I left. I don't think any of the people were seriously hurt, but it'll be interesting to see whether I get a call or not. I honestly couldn't believe the amount of people who just froze when the accident happened. There were at LEAST 8-10 cars stopped at the intersection when it happened. It was a very violent accident, hard enough that both cars were obviously totalled, and spun around 360. Yet the only two people to get out were me and the other guy, who had been just behind me. Everyone else just stayed in their cars (except the girl and man who were actually in the accident), seemingly in disbelief or shock. I guess that's just not me. I immediately felt responsible to at least assess the situation to see if I could do SOMETHING. I've had enough first aid training (used to be Red Cross certified, but I've let it lapse) to know that the older woman was better off not moving around because of possible neck/back injuries, or even a risk of fainting, until better trained people were there. It just seems odd to me that out of the 10-20 other witnesses, only two of us moved into action. __________________ Coimhéad fearg fhear na foighde!!!!*

02-07-2006, 06:23 AM	#2 (permalink)
maleficent Junkie Moderator Emeritus Location: Chicago	Some people don't have first aid training... Would you want them wandering around a confusing scene already -- adding to the confusion.. .perhaps making things worse? Some people are just not good in a stressful situation.. trust me when i say you're better off having them in their cars... If people are already up and helping... and unless I'm a doctor or I see someone doing something so completely stupid, I'm not going to get involved.. because there's not much i can do to help... if no one else is around - then yes, I would do something... __________________ Free your heart from hatred. Free your mind from worries. Live simply. Give more. Expect less.

02-07-2006, 06:26 AM	#3 (permalink)
JustJess Unencapsulated Location: Kittyville	I haven't ever witnessed anything like that, but I hope I am like you if that should ever happen. People get scared, I think- they worry themselves into inaction. "I don't know any first aid", "I should wait for the authorities", "it's too dangerous", etc. I'm glad they weren't more seriously injured. This is why I believe in mandatory driver's tests for anyone over 65 (since you said she'd run her red light). __________________ My heart knows me better than I know myself, so I'm gonna let it do all the talkin'.

02-07-2006, 06:35 AM	#5 (permalink)
ngdawg peekaboo Location: on the back, bitch	Fear of getting involved, but everyone loves a good wreck. I tend to get involved if I see what happened. I had witnessed an accident, being directly behind the guy that got hit; this elderly woman went to her left then suddenly turned right to go into a bank lot(guess she thought she was towing a large trailer??) Since she went into the center turn lane, the young man kept going straight and she hit him. I stayed, gave my statement to the cop, but here's the PITA part: An insurance man called me and recorded my statement verifying the lady went into the center turn lane, then made a hard right, hitting the man. I then got a form in the mail with a diagram to show what happened. Figure he's got a solid case against her, right? His father calls me a couple of weeks later telling me the insurance denied the claim as he was 'passing on the right', and asking me what did I tell them? I don't know how it ended up....isn't a center turn lane there for the purpose of allowing rightside passing??? I once called in an obviously drunk driver, but the desk cop was asking assinine questions, so I decided never again unless I myself am in danger. I'd be willing to bet in your instance, probably half those onlookers could testify she ran the light but not one made a call to say so, thinking it's not their job to do so or that it's been covered. I just tend to act on the premise that if it were me in that situation, I'd want the help. Better to act and be declined than go home thinking maybe you should have done something..... __________________ Don't blame me. I didn't vote for either of'em.

02-07-2006, 06:42 AM	#6 (permalink)
Carno Junkie	Man that's crazy.. I've seen it happen too, when I was in a wreck. My buddy was driving me home from school and we were doing about 45mph when some lady pulled out into our lane and we t-boned her. Not one person stopped their car to see if we were okay. __________________ http://how-to-spell-ridiculous.com/

02-07-2006, 08:14 AM	#8 (permalink)
The_Jazz Asshole Administrator Location: Chicago	As far as the getting involved question goes, I have something to contribute: A few years ago, my wife and I were out with 5 or 6 friends for dinner. We were walking on the sidewalk on a one-way street back to someone's house when a guy going the wrong way up the street apparently fell asleep/passed out and sideswiped 4 or 5 cars. There was a considerable amount of damage done. The car kept veering farther and farther over until it got to the last car and then it went straight into a telephone pole. The driver didn't get out and just sat there for a minute. We just sort of stood there for a second, and then I started to walk over. I got within about 20' of the car when the guy put it in reverse and backed up into cars parked on the other side of the street. Something in the steering mechanism was broken, so he could only go backwards and forwards. He ended up ramming the car and the telephone pole 6 or 7 times before he gave it up. The guy was bleeding pretty good from a head cut, and it turns out that one of the cars that he sideswipped had 4 very large guys in it. One of them got cut by some flying glass. One of my friends that was there that night is an ER doctor, and he sort of looked the guy over real quickly and told the guy to get some bandaids since it wasn't too bad and he didn't have glass in his eye. He (my doctor friend) wanted to leave before the cops showed up or anything else happened and didn't want to be involved at all as long as no innocent bystanders were hurt. We all had a long discussion that night on whether or not it was the right thing to get involved at all or to wait around for the cops (which we ended up doing). Basically, my doctor friend and I ended up on opposite ends of the spectrum since I always go towards the disturbance (whatever it is) to see if I can help. He always does the exact opposite because he says that he sees enough of it at work to every want to see things happen on the street.

02-07-2006, 08:44 AM	#10 (permalink)
raeanna74 I'm not a blonde! I'm knot! I'm knot! I'm knot! Location: Upper Michigan	If I had my kid or daycare kids with me in the car I would probably not get out but rather wait to give the scenerio I saw to the police. If I was alone I have gotten out or moved into action to help. With kids my first responsibility is to ensure their safety before assisting anyone else. Also if I was alone and saw two people immediately get out to help I may have gotten out but probably would have held back to wait and see if there was enough help. If there wasn't enough help then of course I would have and have pitched in during some situations where help was needed. Though I think the fact that I have also been CPR certified (lapsed also) helps boost my confidence in that area. __________________ "Always learn the rules so that you can break them properly." Dalai Lama My Karma just ran over your Dogma.

02-07-2006, 01:07 PM	#12 (permalink)
MSD The sky calls to us ... Super Moderator Location: CT	I've acted the same way in emergencies, and I was interested to see a study about a year ago indicating that people with ADD have a greater tendency to skip the panic reaction and immediately prepare mentally for crisis response/control. I've noticed the same in some of my freinds, we all jump to help and can remain very calm through an emergency. I know what I'm able to do, and I won't go overboard and try to provide medical help that I'm not qualified to give, for example, but while on the phone with the operator and running toward a crashed car, I've seen people just sitting there and wondering what to do.

02-08-2006, 01:15 PM	#13 (permalink)
Redjake I'm a family man - I run a family business. Location: Wilson, NC	it basically boils down to reflexs and experience. if you've been through a lot of interesting scenarios in your life, including emergency and non-emergency situations, you are better prepared (in my opinion). the more "sheltered" type who have never had to go through anything traumatic have no idea what to do and just stand there in a daze. I remember my first car accident - at the beach on vacation with my mom. Me, my brother and sister were in the car with my mom. We plowed into a van because the person in FRONT of the van stopped in the middle of the intersection after the light had turned green. Everyone was accelerating (directly into each other apparently). Anyway, me nor my brother had seatbelts on. My brother got his face hurt pretty bad (fucked up his teeth) but I was ok, just hit my head sort of hard on the seat in front of me. I just sat there after it happened. The NEXT car crash I had, I plowed into my best friend's car. He got out, started mumbling about how he was sorry (it was his fault, stopped on purpose in the road to scare me......scared me alright) and how he would fix it, attempted to even pull the bumper back out and stretch the metal quarter-panel back into it's original shape, etc. I just grabbed the pieces, through them in my car, and we left. I don't even think my heart rate when up. same goes with reflexes on the highway and similar situations. if you are used to hydroplaning, driving in snow, sliding in snow, then you react calmly in those situations. like my business professor said, "firestone didn't kill people, people not knowing how to handle a blow-out killed people." it's all about experience. __________________ Off the record, on the q.t., and very hush-hush.

02-08-2006, 03:13 PM	#14 (permalink)
Pip Likes Hats Location: Stockholm, Sweden	My usual panic response to situations like that is actually to sit still and do nothing. Partially because I know I'm pretty useless - the few times I've got involved in emergency situations I've only done stupid useless things. There are emergencies I react very well to, but blood, violence, that sort of thing just turns my brain to mud.

02-08-2006, 07:24 PM	#16 (permalink)
analog Banned	It's called Bystander Apathy, a sociological theory that the more people who witness something, the less likely any one person is going to do anything about it. The theory goes that the more people present, each person is going to assume someone else will do something. This has been a very strong and demonstrable theory for some time. Good for you, for being one of those who acts.