Will I stop for "Lady in distress" ??

[TxKimberMan]

This thread is a little depressing to me...I believe a little anxiety is healthy in keeping one's situational awareness peaked, however too much of a good thing leads to paranoia.

It's a sad state of affairs when Granny gets passed, broken down on the side of the road.

[cheezit]

I just hope I'm never stranded in a place where there's no cell service.

T.

You can always get a ham licence and you a repeater to make a call from. that would give you a 2nd change at service. And someone on the band will make a call for you. Ive had to do that before.

[TLynnHughes]

I just hope I'm never stranded in a place where there's no cell service.

T.

You can always get a ham licence and you a repeater to make a call from. that would give you a 2nd change at service. And someone on the band will make a call for you. Ive had to do that before.

Good thought. I actually do have my ham license. Usually carry my handheld on long trips. I should start carrying it more often.

T.

[cheezit]

This thread is a little depressing to me...I believe a little anxiety is healthy in keeping one's situational awareness peaked, however too much of a good thing leads to paranoia.

It's a sad state of affairs when Granny gets passed, broken down on the side of the road.

I didnt grow up here in texas. Im from the south end of Cali. Ive seen enugh to know what the streets are full of, things like crack dealing grandmothers, how about a guy getting shanked in a park over a drug deal with a squad car not but 50" away. 8 year old toting guns and not there daddy's either. Saw a kid maybe 14 carring a shorted 22 rifle down his pant leg once. The high school I graduated from had 4 driveby shooting my last year. I also spent a year working on a prison farm there. I didnt belive the inmats crys of I didnt do it and im not guility.
Call me paranoied if you like. Ill refer to myself as a servior.

[surprise_i'm_armed]

Yes, I will stop for most any person in distress.

I had stopped for a while if it was night time, calling 911
to have a LEO check it out. Then I started again after
getting my plastic and my gun.

My truck's tool chest is full of most everything you'd need for
most roadside repairs and I have white-and-amber strobe bars
front and rear.

Over the years I have stopped for many people and most everyone
was very appreciative. Some were just kind of quiet and non-talkative,
you know the type (raised by wolves).

One of the main reasons I got my CHL was so that I could protect
myself while helping out. If people came out of hiding, I would have
an escape run planned out, seeking cover in the darkness.

Being of Christian service to others, such as the Good Samaritan,
is something to live out as often as we are able. Helping someone
out is the high point of my day. God is the one who knows how my
final day will come - and I don't believe it's going to be by some
evildoer with a bait accomplice woman.

Y'all help out - Don't be paranoid, you've got guns!

SIA

[mctowalot]

There's enough "legitimately in need of help people" on the side of the of the road to keep lots of tow trucks busy year round. They're not all serial killing damsels in distress/space crocodiles.

IANAL

[Excaliber]

There's enough "legitimately in need of help people" on the side of the of the road to keep lots of tow trucks busy year round. They're not all serial killing damsels in distress/space crocodiles.

IANAL

True enough.

The challenge is to guess right about which is which - every time.

[TxKimberMan]

I didnt grow up here in texas. Im from the south end of Cali. Ive seen enugh to know what the streets are full of

I've been around the block a few times myself, I've lived in Kalifornia, and they don't have the monopoly on BG's.

I choose to live my life aware, not afraid.

[cheezit]

being Christian has little to with anything at all. Im sure my views on that wont go over to well here in the bible belt either so ill just leave it there. Like I said Ive worked in the auto repair service my whole life. There are so many other factors that are being missed its not even funny. How many people are killed each year by motorist driving down the freeway when they were out changing a tire. The most unsafe place to be on a freeway is OUT OF YOUR CAR. Then noone has look at the leagle issues of repairing someones car and having something go wrong, say the person you just helped has there tire come off going down the road you just put on. You think that doesnt happen, when was the last time you used a torque wrench to put a wheel on while helping the poor little lady.
I have and will always help someone get back on the road that is stuck in a safer place then on the freeway. The freeways are patrolled by many services and those services are more fit to deal with unsafe conditions can have all of that fuzzy I just helped you feeling.
Now one of the big reasons that you chl was to improve your chances of making it home at night. Why add to that risk?

For the record I wount get out of my ride on the freeway to change my own tire, its just unsafe. I have no issue with driving on the sholder and waiting for AAA thats why I pay them every year. let them hook up my truck and drop me in a praking lot or they can turn there lights on and change my tire. either way Im still less likly to be road kill in anyform.

[Crossfire]

My daddy was a truckdriver. His policy was that you NEVER fail to stop for a lady in trouble on the highway, and he told me I better not, either. But that was in the days before cell phones. Dad has been gone for 20 years now. He would probably roll over in his grave if he knew how I behave now.

I WILL stop if it is an obvious situation - i.e. deserted highway, lady alone, or with kids. But I won't get out of the car. I will only offer them the use of my phone, or offer to call someone for them. If there is a male type person there, I won't even slow down. I might make a 911 call, and give a good description, as I drive by.

I know, that's profiling. But I still have a responsibility to go home to my family and my dog every night. They need me. I can get onto enough trouble all on my own. I don't need to go out of my way to look for it.

[drjoker]

I don't know how to change a tire nor fix a car, but I always ask if they need me to call a tow truck or something for them, just in case their cell phone doesn't work. If the lady (or guy) is hurt, I'll see if I can provide CPR or first aid. I have to help others because others have helped me when my car tire went kaput. Others have helped me change my tire and jump start my car. It's nice to live in Texas. People help each other more than say, New Yorkers.

[lonewolf]

Situations vary, my response varies.....a little old grey haired couple on the side of a busy highway with a flat on their Lincoln, and I will stop, carefully and visibly approach and ask if they need help. I won't go jogging up to their window, stick my face in their car and as if everything's OK. I've seen too many little old ladies and men at gun stores buying guns.

Two young dudes yapping on thier cell phones standing next to a sports car with a flat get no attention from me. They should be able to handle the situation.

A mother with children is another matter. She's likely (hopefully) wary and I will approach as in the elderly couple above. If she is they type that lets her kids out of the car running around on the shoulder, a call to 911 happens as well.

Just maintain a reasonable level of awareness for the situation.

You can call it profiling if you want, I just call it common sense combined with common courtesy. "What iffing" stuff to death does nothing but foster paranoia. Be comfortable, be confident, be safe. Don't go looking for trouble around every corner, just be as ready as reasonable possible. There are no truly "safe" zones, but I will still live my life.

[jinzai]

After teaching self defense classes (mostly to women) for over a decade, and spending hours and hours studying statistics, reading firsthand accounts of assaults and other violent crimes, hearing firsthand accounts of assaults from students, and studying some pretty darned disturbing studies done by psychologists and sociologists on criminal behavior, I can tell you that I would never stop to help someone on the side of the road (and I would seriously think twice about stepping in to assist someone being assaulted).

And that's gun or no gun.

Best thing you can do these days is call the police and tell them there's a woman, elderly person, etc. stranded on the side of the road. You just cannot know whether it's a setup or whether it's for real, and there's no telling how badly things might go down should you become the unwitting victim of a con/robbery.

If you feel otherwise, I suggest reading The Little Black Book of Violence - it'll cure you of any hero syndrome you may have real quick, maybe even before you finish the first few chapters. Good read for anyone who carries, too.

On the flip side of this discussion, that's why it's also important to foster an attitude of extreme self-reliance. Because chances are that when things go south, ain't no one coming to help you out...

[tacticool]

If I'm alone in my POV and I don't recognize the person, and there are no other special circumstances, I'll call it in. If I have a passenger who is good backup, I'm a lot more likely to help. If I have a passenger who isn't a shooter, I'm a lot less likely to put them in harm's way. I'm more likely to stop to help seniors, or if there are children in the broken vehicle, but I try not to discriminate based on whether the person is male or female. I'm younger than some of you and have been told my whole life that sexism is bad, so I do my best to respect gender equality.

[Texas Dan Mosby]

I hate to think the safest thing to do now days is simply drive by..

This is not new by any means.

Criminals, and criminal females, have been using the "damsel in distress" technique for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. I'd be willing to bet the cost of this post that somewhere long ago there was a neanderthal that went to the aid of a female being "attacked" by a bear in a dark cave only to be clubbed senseless by her partners waiting inside in order to steal the neanderthal equivalent of a "rolex".

Do what you think is best, and keep your guard up among strangers imo, even the "pretty" ones...