Why don't people stop to help anymore?

[WrendaleCountryDogs]

I've just been driving and came to a set of cross roads on narrowish roads. A car was stopped with it's hazards on. Other cars mounting pavement to get passed. As I get closer I realise the driver, a young early 20s woman was stood outside the car visibly upset. I put my hazards on behind her and ask if I can help. Car stalled and now won't start. She doesn't have break down. She's got baby in the back. She's tried ringing 3 different family members and nobody answering.
Now I'm 35, female, and recovering from a slipped disc in my back.
I quickly manoeuvre my car more safely behind hers so other cars can pass, tell her to get back in her car and release the hand break and I'll try to push the car across the cross roads to a grassy area . This means pushing the car across traffic. Thankfully it'd a 30mph road going through a village. Fair amount of cars around though as its just been school drop off time and another road is flooded meaning cars are diverting to this road.

Anyway to cut a long story short, I struggled to push the car on my own. So so so many cars drove past, still mounting pavement to get past, people looking at us (I realise it possibly looked like we'd had a bump with me being behind her car). I'm not sexist at all but so many men looked and didn't help.
Eventually a man with a dog out walking saw us and came over to help and we got the car safely onto the grass.

It took a good 10 minutes from me pulling up to us getting her safely across the road. My back is hurting a lot again now. But I couldn't just leave somebody. Certainly not a young woman.

Why don't people help any more? I get it was school time, people have to get to work etc but there could easily have been an accident.

I didn't complain about it though did I. Most people don't. They just wait, go round then get on with their life.

@GinoVino Many do complain. I have been stuck blocking the road as cars beep and drivers shout abuse. They do not sit there patiently waiting for breakdown to come.

This car wasn't a hazard. It wasn't in the middle of the road or in middle of the cross road. The driver still had to wait for recovery or a mechanic to come after the car was moved elsewhere. If people think it's safer stopping your own car, thus creating an extra vehicle hazard, then pushing an immobile car, across the cross road, not only risking injury to yourself as well as potentially causing a crash, then you need to brush up on your motoring and road safety. Not forgetting there was still a child inside this car being pushed over a cross road!

Then you act like the adult, ignore them and wait for recovery. It's not your fault the car broke down. It's not their fault either. It's not your fault they're annoyed and you can't solve that in the moment. It is 100% your responsibility to sort out your broken down car however.

@GinoVino I am not expecting a mechanic to jump out of a passing car you know.
Although I did have a stranger change my tyre which I was very grateful for. He was obviously not from this country though, which is why he may have been willing to actually help strangers.
I hate the way this country is now.

Okie dokie.

People are concerned that they may be accused of all things with the associated legal fall out

Sad fact of our times 😔

Some local garages run a breakdown/recovery service, no idea what they charge but I know Green Flag charged my daughter £150 for a one-off call-out and used a local garage.

Given how rarely we need to call on breakdown services, maybe we'd be better off googling 'car recovery near me' and just paying for it as and when needed??

What legal fall out could there be from helping someone push their car?

Yup to this. I once found myself sitting at the side of a road, cradling an injured baby deer, (hit by the car in front, who drove off), my car tucked into the side with it's hazards on. The amount of beeping and abuse I got from, (mainly male), drivers, who had to wait probably 3-4 seconds to pull round me, was sickening. The only person who stopped to help was a lovely young woman.

(The deer was ok, the wonderful Wildlife Aid came and rescued it)

Selfishness.

Different situation but the other day, in an unexpected situation but to keep it short, my teenager had to cross a busy road. Whilst the driver on his side stopped to let him cross, he was stuck in the middle while cars sped past him. It was bad weather and if left much longer would have been dark.

People simply can't be bothered to help. Half the time they're not even having to go out of their way.

I blew a tyre on a country road and had to pull in with my hazards on whilst I waited for the RAC. 3 different cars stopped to ask if I was ok!

It's unfair to label the whole of society because of one incident. People do stop to help , it's just that those people in your example didn't

I fell over while crossing the road a few weeks ago. Couldn't get up, my knee was damaged. Within seconds, two men ( not together) drove over and parked near where I was, and literally picked me up and carried me to a seat nearby. Then one of them got my phone and rang my husband to tell him what had happened , since I was in some kind of shock. So yes, people do stop to help .

I agree OP.
I've stopped on three different occasions to help stranded people who were clearly upset but everyone was just driving past beeping their horns. Me being a woman with two small children.

My DH will always help too. He has been the first on the scene on couple of occasions where there are lone females. A slight risk of him being accused of something, but a higher risk of something happening to them if he didn't help!

We have also helped out when someone had a medical incident in a shop and people were stepping over him to carry on browsing, and when a police officer was struggling to restrain a violent person.

I just cannot fathom why more people don't feel the need to help others.

Why did you attempt to push a car alone across traffic with a slipped disk? No I wouldn’t do that and risk my own health and safety for the convenience of other drivers. The driver should have called police/ breakdown and got herself and passengers to a safe place in the village to wait. It’s ok wanting to be the ‘hero’ but putting your self at risk when you don’t need to is a bit silly

I can't believe people are stupid enough to drive with no breakdown cover. Especially if they have young children. I'd have stopped for a woman that looked upset. But as a lone female, not for a man.

Hopefully that was a one off, I find that really depressing!

I think its down to where you live.

im rural, people stop to help others.

my daughter broke down in the city (she’s at uni) and she was anke to stop safely and was able to stay in the car with hazard lights on. During the 3 hour wait for breakdown no one stopped to ask if she was ok. 3 police cars drove past and they didn’t stop either.

Small DD fell over quite badly last week, immediately a man picked up all the stuff that had gone flying while I comforted her, and checked we were ok. A couple minutes later two young men offered us first aid.

This was a not massively nice part of central london. People do help!

Definitely down to where you live

I broke down on a dual carriageways and a lovely chap and his wife got my car pushed to safety

I always see really nice posts on our local Facebook page from people thanking strangers they have given themselves or family members

Really? I don’t buy that at all.