Zeraph

I drove by a car accident on my way home from school this morning. It was pretty bad, one car in the middle of an intersection all smashed up. I'm guessing someone ran a red and then took off after they hit someone. The police/ambulance hadn't arrived yet but some people were stoping to help (most had to though as it blocked a lot of lanes). I didn't see anyone in the smashed up car. I only got a glimpse though since as I went by in the right hand lane the left and turning lane cars blocked my view as I approached.

Should I have pulled over and walked back to see if I could help? You arn't supposed to move someone who has been in an accident though, right? What is my obligation? I feel bad even though I'm not sure there was anything I could do. Remember I didn't see the accident, so there was no reason to stay for a police report. Is there anything, besides calling 911, I could/should have done?

Bill O'Rights

Morally...or legally?

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Gatorade Frost

I'd say in this case where there were already a lot of people, there wasn't any moral or legal obligation to stay. You didn't witness the crash and they didn't seem to need anymore help.

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I got in a fight one time with a really big guy, and he said, "I'm going to mop the floor with your face." I said, "You'll be sorry." He said, "Oh, yeah? Why?" I said, "Well, you won't be able to get into the corners very well."
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BigBen

The Good Samaritan Law protects you from civil liability when you are rendering aid "that a reasonable person with the same training under similar circumstances would have done"

In Quebec, if you have First Aid training, you must stop and provide aid. It is the law.

And the Hippocratic Oath that physicians take requires them to also provide aid to the injured. They can get their liscence pulled if it is reported that they didn't help, but had the means and opportunity.

What should you have done? Something, if there was noone else around. If aid was already being provided, then I think you are okay!

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3.141592654
Hey, if you are impressed with my memorizing pi to 10 digits, you should see the size of my penis.

maleficent

If there are already people on the scene to help, and you don't have any medical expertise to add, then you're better off leaving and not adding to the confusion... It's one more car blocking the way for emergency services people to have to navigate around.

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billege

Ya done good kid.

If there are people there, it's a reasonably safe assumption that one of them had a cell phone and emergency services has been summoned. If you have no special skills you can add to help the situation, and you did choose to stop, you're just one more person for EMS to deal with when they arrive.

On the other hand, if no one was stopped, you might be a bit of a bugger for not stopping to at least make the 911 call. Or, perhaps you're an ER doctor on his day off. It might behoove you to stop then.

From what you described though, you've just showed you're a decent human being for wanting to stop, and wondering if you did the right thing.

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I can sum up the clash of religion in one sentence:
"My Invisible Friend is better than your Invisible Friend."

ratbastid

Yeah, if there are already enough responders, and unless you have something unique to provide, it's best not to get underfoot.

cyrnel

If the crowd hasn't built yet I make it a practice to stop and offer to retrieve someone, make a call, etc. That started going out of style ten years ago when cell phones reached saturation. It's still worth asking but I haven't had to do more than make the obligatory redundant 911 call in years.

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There are a vast number of people who are uninformed and heavily propagandized, but fundamentally decent. The propaganda that inundates them is effective when unchallenged, but much of it goes only skin deep. If they can be brought to raise questions and apply their decent instincts and basic intelligence, many people quickly escape the confines of the doctrinal system and are willing to do something to help others who are really suffering and oppressed." -Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media, p. 195

Zeraph

Thanks, cleared things up.

"The Good Samaritan Law protects you from civil liability when you are rendering aid "that a reasonable person with the same training under similar circumstances would have done""

That's good to know.

meembo

From personal experience, I can tell you that stopping to make sure someone has a phone and has called the police/ambulance, etc., is a good idea. I have stopped for many accidents, and I'd say in about one in five I was the first to pull out a phone a make a call, to the best of my knowledge. Many people assume this happens automatically, but it doesn't. If a family member of mine was in the car, I'd be very grateful to the one person who MADE SURE help was on the way. Very sad stories are made from making assumptions that our actions are meaningless.

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less I say, smarter I am