Something interesting happened...

[RP]

on the way from Charlottesville to Richmond yesterday. I was driving along the interstate with minimal traffic and clear weather. All of a sudden I saw a cloud of white arise from the car about 1/4 mile ahead. At 70 mph, one covers 1/4 mile fairly quickly but I was able to shift to the passing lane. As I drove past the car with the white cloud, which had stopped dead in the right hand lane, I noticed that the car's front end was smashed in big time. I also saw a tractor trailer ahead that had pulled off the interstate onto the shoulder. Although there are other possibilities, my hunch is that the car's driver was texting and speeding and rammed into the back of the truck.

Although I immediately called 911 to report the accident, I didn't stop. I'm not going to go into my reasons for not stopping because it will probably come off as rationalizing my inaction. Lots of things went into that split second decision to not stop and render aid, but it reminded me of prior thinking that I should carry a small fire extinguisher and fire aid kit in my car for such an eventuality...

[marty bradbury]

Yep, we carry an emergency box, flares, blanket, etc...and a small fire extinguisher as my can did catch on fire once,

[Mr. Jelly]

Often the decision to stop and be of assistance on highways and freeways has to be made before you get there.

[Dr. Spivey]

The truck had already stopped, so I wouldn't have either. I probably wouldn't have even called 911 for the same reason.

My daily commute to work consists of 2 miles to the interstate, 15 miles down the interstate and another 2-3 miles to work. In winter I'm driving in the dark to work. The interstate is 2 lanes in each direction, due to heavy truck traffic, it needs to be at least 3.

Over the course of an average winter, I pass 100-300 cars in the ditch. Some are wrecked, some not, some have flashers on, some don't. Half of those cars are gone when I drive home. Some sit there for 1-3 days.

So what to do? You try to assess the situation while driving by. Does this look like a recent event? Is there someone in or around the car? I've stopped 4 times in 12 years. Three times were nothing, once was a lady who had just gone off the road. She was upset, but her and the car were alright, other than being stuck. I gave her the number of a good towing service. She called, they would be half an hour. She decided to wait in her car and either drive or ride in the tow truck home.

As said, you have a few seconds to make a decision...

[imwjl]

I carry a fire extinguisher and twice in my decades that saved the moment.

Long ago when I was a truck driver I saw people standing around a smoking car and used it. The local fire dept arrived and said they'd recharge my extinguisher for free.

Also long ago and a more freaky thing was a marathon drive from GA to WI and seeing a disturbance ahead and realizing a pickup truck rolled in the median. There was not much traffic at 2 AM. My brother and I stopped. The dude was still in the vehicle and it was starting to burn. I ran for my fire extinguisher while my brothers was at getting the guy out and away from the car. It diminished the flames but didn't stop it from burning. The guy seemed out of it and bruised and was maybe drunk. When troopers arrived the car was burning but the extinguisher made a difference at first.

Both of those incidents were older carbureted vehicles. I always thought that was part of why they burned but in recent times we drove by a late model shiny red GM pickup truck on side of the freeway opposite lane with flames shooting from the engine compartment. I wondered if it was a modified engine or freak thing.

[tinnitus]

Don't second guess yourself too much. Given that everyone has cellphones and GPS these days, it's highly unlikely that the stricken motorists in that scenario sat helpless for long.

Before that technology was invented, I stopped to assist at a wreck on an unlit highway one night and was extremely lucky not to get caught up in two additional collisions when other cars came barreling into the mess. We had emergency flashers on, but the smashed cars did not. Cops showed up, quickly identified the main players and instructed the rest of us to get lost as fast as we could before they really had a pileup.

There will be other emergencies for which you might be better prepared to assist after reviewing the various possibilities of this one. My caution would be to avoid becoming part of something bigger. A good Samaritan I served with in the military stopped to change a tire for someone in the rain on I-84 in Portland 1987 or so - and was run over and killed.

[rmp]

With the way people drive these days, (too fast, paying more attention to their phones then the road) you stopping to offer help may have been the last good thing you tried to do.

Just as tinnitus's story, there was one up here in Massachusetts, a few years ago. Some one stopped to help a person in a break down lane about 11pm one night. Before he could even get out of his car he was rear ended by a Semi, the driver took his eyes of the road in that one instant, ended this mans life.

Calling 911 and getting clear of the potential collateral damage is the only thing to do.

[Bob Womack]

It's funny: that same day my wife and I were coming off I-64 near our home and came across a motorcycle accident. The bike was down in the median of another exit ramp and the rider was sprawled out with another man standing over him with a cell phone. The man with the phone had stopped his truck right in the middle of the exit curve and left it running. We squeezed by him because we could see that a pileup there on the curve could lead to another accident, but we knew we had to do something. We circled back and I got ready to call 911 and get out to render aid but right then a police shift officer's SUV and an ambulance pulled up so we left the scene to them.


Bob

[RP]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

It's funny: that same day my wife and I were coming off I-64 near our home and came across a motorcycle accident. The bike was down in the median of another exit ramp and the rider was sprawled out with another man standing over him with a cell phone. The man with the phone had stopped his truck right in the middle of the exit curve and left it running. We squeezed by him because we could see that a pileup there on the curve could lead to another accident, but we knew we had to do something. We circled back and I got ready to call 911 and get out to render aid but right then a police shift officer's SUV and an ambulance pulled up so we left the scene to them.


Bob

I'd guess that I-64 traffic accidents in Tidewater are pretty much a daily, if not hourly, occurrence. Didn't you just have a 69-car pileup near Williamsburg???

[TJE"]

Originally Posted by RP

on the way from Charlottesville to Richmond yesterday. I was driving along the interstate with minimal traffic and clear weather. All of a sudden I saw a cloud of white arise from the car about 1/4 mile ahead. At 70 mph, one covers 1/4 mile fairly quickly but I was able to shift to the passing lane. As I drove past the car with the white cloud, which had stopped dead in the right hand lane, I noticed that the car's front end was smashed in big time. I also saw a tractor trailer ahead that had pulled off the interstate onto the shoulder. Although there are other possibilities, my hunch is that the car's driver was texting and speeding and rammed into the back of the truck.

Although I immediately called 911 to report the accident, I didn't stop. I'm not going to go into my reasons for not stopping because it will probably come off as rationalizing my inaction. Lots of things went into that split second decision to not stop and render aid, but it reminded me of prior thinking that I should carry a small fire extinguisher and fire aid kit in my car for such an eventuality...

Assuming you were confident having dialled 911 that professional emergency services knew the precise location and would be on the scene quickly, it sounds like you did the right thing to get your car clear of the incident.

That is assuming there was no one actually trapped and on fire with nobody else to assist at that moment. Then it's tricky call

[RP]

Originally Posted by TJE"

Assuming you were confident having dialled 911 that professional emergency services knew the precise location and would be on the scene quickly, it sounds like you did the right thing to get your car clear of the incident.

That is assuming there was no one actually trapped and on fire with nobody else to assist at that moment. Then it's tricky call

I was able to give a very precise location because I took note of and conveyed the next interstate mileage marker (158.9) which was a short distance east of the accident. I didn't see a fire, but as I said previously I'm not going to say why I kept going because it will come off sounding like a rationalization for inaction. I will say that getting clear of a car that was stopped in one of the two traffic lanes was a distinct priority for me...

[Bob Womack]

Originally Posted by RP

I'd guess that I-64 traffic accidents in Tidewater are pretty much a daily, if not hourly, occurrence. Didn't you just have a 69-car pileup near Williamsburg???

Yeah, in the fog. We are a micro-melting pot from other states and that means all of their driving laws fall into this little local, causing mayhem.


Bob