Stop for people broken down. A bloke thing.

[AndThereSheGoes]

Ok so I usually wizz past on the dual carriageway, assuming everyone has a phone and I have somewhere to be.
But.. I did see someone and they were still there in the cold an hour later. So I pulled in on my way back because I knew the road and could see she was a woman. Apparently I was the only person that stopped. She'd been on the roadside in 2 hours. The only time I've been stuck/ list or broken down and it's men that's helped out.

Do women help each other? ,

An amazing lady stopped when I crashed my car (the other driver drove off!). It was crashed on a dangerous lane on a country road and I had limited phone signal. She sorted out safety triangles. Drove me to somewhere safe to wait. Redirected traffic (to prevent a further accident) and kept me warm with blankets.

Noone else stopped to even check we were ok. She was disabled (as am I) , and I don't doubt she will have been quite ill afterwards from her efforts. I made a donation to the charity that supports her illness, to thank her. It makes me cross how few people will stop

That is absolutely terrifying.

I've called the police a few times but I certainly wouldn't stop on a country road.

Very wise. You don't have to be a true crime obsessive to think that you could come to harm letting any random fucker into your car (as a pp said.) What a daft comment that was. 🙄

Seriously, some people live in a dreamy bubble gum world where fairies sit at the bottom of the garden! 😆

.

I stopped for a young man who'd crashed, avoiding a fox ,on the A3 at night.

It was really cold weather at the time.
He used my mobile to let his Mum know what had happened,his mobile was in the crashed car.

I had a work meeting 20 miles away a week ago.

I managed to forget to bring my mobile, and I panicked the whole way home because I had no way of contacting help!!

On a slightly different tack, I grew up near a crossroads many years ago (premobile!) which was a bit of an accident blackspot. My late parents grew used to running out to give help, calling ambulances, calling families, storing damaged cars!

A few I recall are when a neighbour's son somehow managed to ride his motorbike under a lorry. When a young woman was changing her CD and crashed over a ditch into a field. When a car hit a horse and the poor thing had to be PTS. When 2 cars collided so violently that a woman's scalp was left on the road. And when a travelling salesman was left stunned and covered in glass when another vehicle collided into him!

Ah that's good itsmylife7. Especially since he was trying to not mow down the wildlife.

I think people forget that even if the AA or whoever are called it can be hours befire they turn up. And you advised not to stay in your car. It gets pretty cold waiting by the side.

I don't stop but if they're in a dangerous place I'll call the police to get them some help.

And you advised not to stay in your car. It gets pretty cold waiting by the side.

Well, you are advised not to wait in your car because, depending on the road and the traffic situation, your car might get ploughed into, parked on the hard shoulder or whatever.

But if someone else stops their car and you get into it for a warm, the two of you probably aren't much safer from drivers veering about while on their phones, unless the Good Samaritan can move their car to a significantly safer place to wait for the AA.

So while I lean in principle towards Team-Stop-And-Help, I wouldn't do it if it involved putting me and the broken-down driver at the same risk.

I was a bit like that as a young woman and picked up a male hitchhiker, he approached me at a service station petrol pump have me a bad luck story about being on a Stag do and being dumped at this service station. I believed him and have him a lift but I couldn't drive him to his destination as would have been an hour and half on top of that and at that stage he got quite upset and angry about it. He originally said as far as you can take me. Anyway, he did get out but I was very worried at the angry stage. I was only 20ish.

I broke down with a flat tyre on a rural road when about 18 and a man pulled over and changed the tyre for me but that was about late 90s so although I did have a phone it wasn't charged and I wasn't a member of roadside recovery, I didn't actually know how to change the tyre so he did help me out massively. I don't think that would happen now though.

I have stopped for a lone woman broken down and I know that DH has too. My desire to help comes in above my sense of keeping myself safe. I also think times have changed. I now have to stop myself offering lifts to randomers, because back in the day, hitching was very much the norm.

Oh, and I broke down once on a back road. Breakdown service said they'd come later. Managed to roll the car off the road out of the way and stuck my thumb out and a young man took me, two dch, a dog and a week's supermarket shopping all the way home! Well done that man.

Someone helped me change my tyre about 2 years ago - but I had got a flat directly outside their house, so maybe that is different. I went back once I had my new tyre and dropped off a bag of beers as a thank you.

I do stop now if I can, or slow down if safe to do so and signal to see if they need help, they usually give a thumbs up and I carry on.

I broke down in the middle of a busy junction, car literally had no power.

Many people stopped briefly to shout/scream at me, or to make the hilarious "you can't park there" joke. Only one nice man actually stopped to see if I needed any help.

I wouldn't stop unless I was a witness to an accident, but I would ring 101 and have done in the past if I thought someone needed help. Partially because, as others have said, I'm not really equipped to help but also because I watch far too many dodgy tv shows and convince myself that it’s a serial killer trying to lure me to my death. People are more likely to stop if a woman or child is there. I'm fully aware this is ridiculous but I am where I am with this one.

That's encouraging but I'm not sure around where I live. I had a flat tyre recently in the city centre and many people slowed down to tell me I had a flat tyre, I suppose they were being helpful but annoying after a while and then a woman had a go at me for stopping at that point on the road, swearing at me, her child of about 9 joined in.

I always stop if I can or offer help to people in my daily life. For roadside I'd be no use but I would still try to assist in some way. I've received assistance from others in moments of crisis and always been incredibly grateful. Sometimes just a kind word and a bit of reassurance while waiting for help is almost as worthwhile as knowing how to look under the bonnet.