Quote:
Originally Posted by LakeShow
Exactly, best thing is to just stop and call 911. It's a very delicate situation and leave it to the police and EMT's to handle the situation properly. People these days are looking to make any excuse to sue and say they somehow got hurt. As much as one wants to help, it could sadly end up slapping you in the face.
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Good Samaritan laws protect you as long as you perform WITHIN THE SCOPE OF YOUR TRAINING OR PRACTICE as demonstrated by your actions and the licenses or certificates that you hold from a nationally recognized source.
That said, due to my job, I am considered a first-responder. I stop only if I can help. I do not pile out of my car for every fender bender, nor do I go and give EMT's another body at the scene to make sense of.
There isn't much you can do for someone, really, beyond applying pressure to bleeding or immobilizing injured body-parts. Moving them can cause more damage than not moving them, ESPECIALLY if the scene is safe. You would likely contribute much more to the situation by flagging traffic in most cases.
I do however remember one time, I was driving during a rain storm. It was one of those freak storms we have here in Louisiana which is mostly drizzle but "sheets" of harder rain come through from time to time. Hard to explain. Anyway, one minute my car is doing fine, the next minute the front end is getting loose, I am off the throttle (was cruising, not accelerating), it continues to get worse, I downshift to 5th and slowly, gently let the clutch out. The front end STILL is not hooking up, and I am very worried. I very very gently press the brakes, and the front end continues to worsen. The back finally has enough weight off of it that it swings around. The front STILL has not bitten yet. Anyway, grassy embankment, nothing to hit, I just got a look at an 18-wheeler headed right for me while looking out my windshield is about it.
Noone did a damn thing for me, either. Noone stopped, nothing. I did see an ambulance headed the opposite way from me as I pulled back onto the road. Maybe they were coming to the scene? I don't know. I got out of there. I too learned a lesson: My old Trans Am with bald tires and cords showing was more stable in the rain than a 370Z with 9/32 left on OEM Potenza's up front. Nissan needs to seriously re-evaluate the tires they put on this car. THEY SUCK! at channeling water. If I ever DO run from the cops, one guy pissing in the road is all it would take. Screw a tack-strip.