Will I stop for "Lady in distress" ??

[03Lightningrocks]

Hi Chuck and welcome to TexasCHLforum. Thanks for posting this, as it serves as a reminder that we must always be on guard. I've told my wife never stop to help someone, just call for help on her cell phone.

Like USA1, I have a hard time driving past a woman or girl with car trouble. I guess it's part of growing up in Texas at a time when no man would even think of leaving a woman on the side of the road. But times have changed and you never know if she's a potential victim or bait. Stopping now is a judgment call and I couldn't fault someone's decision. Stopping to render aid when you are unarmed is irresponsible in my view. Your first duty is to your family, not to a stranger. Am I saying don't help someone? No; I'm saying get a gun before you help someone.

Chas.

Is there not a law in Houston that if your stranded on the freeway, a tow truck WILL tow you to a place withing a certin distance and you are required to pay a set amount? I thought I remembered a friend complaining about this law. Point is... if this is the situation in Houston, they won't be stranded very long before the City sanctioned tow service shows up.

[AustinBoy]

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.

I completely agree.
My grandmother is probably rolling over in her grave right now. The thought of me possibly driving by a women on the side of the road. SHE would kill me.

If it was my wife on the side of the road with a dead cell phone I would hope that it would be one of YOU that stopped to help her.

I would like to think, based on what lonewolf said, I would do the same.

Ty

[bzo311]

My protocol on helping people is easy. Never stop and help people.

You cannot and will not convince me otherwise that those whom become stranded have a way to help themselves, or did have a way to help themselves, if they'd have taken the basic precautions before travelling.

If you want to be a good citizen then call local LEO and report a possible stranded motorist while you drive safely by.

[xperthunter]

While i think this thread establishes that you should be cautious, and personally i will stop to help. I also assess the situation from a distance, alert police if possable, and know my escape routes.

The other side of the coin is this:

In 2004 the unit i was with was deployed to Iraq. We were at Ft. Sam Houston loading vehicles on the railhead and i had just pulled a 36 hour shift in the middle of a hot Texas summer. I was driving home to Ft. Hood taking highway 183 north out of Austin. It was around 1:00am and i had made the turn @ 2657 in the town of Briggs, and 2 miles later i fell asleep at the wheel (we wont go into being young, dumb, and invincible...i do not make a habit of this and regularly pull over). The road went left, i went strait, hit the only piece of concrete and left my rear axle and some debris 10 ft down an embankment, continued on another 30 feet down (and 20 yrds further on) where i was stopped by a kindly tree.

Now awake and full of energy from the Adrenalin, i assessed myself, found no injuries, said a few prayers and thank yous, grabbed a canteen filled it with capree sun sport (its what i had!), slipped back into my boots and started up the embankment, leaving my hazards on. At the top of the embankment i realized 3 things.

1) i didnt know where i was, or how far from what, only that Okalla was ahead.
2) You could not see my car from the road
3) there were no cellphone signals for miles

So off i set. I traveled north towards Okalla and the volunteer fire station i know to be there. On the way i passed several houses, but they are all set back from the house, and i did not want to be shot walking up to someones house at this hour. I was also passed by several vehicles (count 14 total vehicles), none of which stopped, or slowed down.

Why? Because i am tall, dressed in dark fatigues, walking on a road at a ridiculous hour, and theres no obvious signs of distress. Several hours, and 9 miles later, i'm a bit bitter, more than a bit tired (the adrenalin has worn off long ago), and pass out on a tiny bench in-front of the fire station.

What does this tell you: In some situations, it might be kind to stop, at a safe distance, and assess the situation visually, while asking the others pertinent information.

[howdy]

Leon Hale of the Houston Chronicle has an article on this:

http://blogs.chron.com/leonhale/2010/07 ... on+Hale%29" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[packingmusician]

Fourth of July, I was coming home from a gig. I live out in the boonies near San Marcos. Got to the last turn and saw a car, with it's hazards blinking. Two girls flag me down and ask if I have jumper cables(why would they need a jump if they still have lights?). I scan the area and see the guy sitting on the other side of the car, in the dark. Nobody in the car with me, but my wife and daughter are a mile down the road. Could have been legit, but I apologize and say I don't, but I'll be happy to call the Hays County Sheriff, since they have a station just up the road a bit.

My daddy raised me to be a gentleman, but my momma didn't raise no fool.

[BigDaddyMac]

Based on your description it sounds like you made the right decision.

Although, just because the battery has enough juice to turn on the lights doesn't mean it has enough juice to turn on the engine.

The other funny thing about that is that usually you have battery problems when you try to start a car not while you're driving. This begs the question, "Why were they trying to start the car in the boonies, rather than just driving through?"

[TXlaw1]

My daddy raised me to be a gentleman, but my momma didn't raise no fool.

Good story and the right decision, IMO. Loved this statement. A great balance to consider.

[rthillusa]

I've almost always stopped to help older ladies and mom's with kids. I figured its like they say, "what goes around comes around". I took a stuck thermostat out for a little old lady at the top of the Lolo trail pass (some where in Montana if I remember right) so she could get down the road to her home. I pulled a lady out of the snow at the top of Parley's Summit in Utah one night in a blizzard, and pulled her down to where the plows had cleared. Others I don't remember the details. Sometimes they would look at me like I was Jack the Ripper when I stopped to offer help. One night my wife was driving back to our home from Dallas late at night, out in the country, very dark, no street lights, and our old beater gave it up. Some guy appeared out of nowhere and fixed it enough so she could get the rest of the way home. I went out to check the car out in the morning and the guy had fixed the carbourater (sp?) with a little stick he had whittled down to fit. What are the odds? My wife still half believes it was an angel of the Lord that helped her out that night. I'm not so sure she isn't right.

I still believe in what goes around comes around but I am FAR less likely to stop these days. Someone reported, I think on this board, about gang-bangers setting traps along that same stretch of road where my wife broke down (many years ago). But yes, still, I will stop if its clearly a lady in distress.

[cougartex]

A woman who flagged down a driver apparently acted as a decoy in a robbery Sunday in Port Arthur. The woman said she had car trouble, but a man climbed into the driver's car and pointed a gun at the driver. The two demanded money, found a small amount in the car's console and fled on foot.

[mctowalot]

Answering a question from a prior post in regards to Houston's towing program. It's called "SafeClear", and it applies to any freeway within the city limits. If you meet the criteria (mechanical failure, flat tire, or out of gas) you will get towed (for free) to the next exit and one mile thereafter.

I used to work for a company that contracted with the city to provide these tows. I would often ask the citizen how long they had waited before I showed up. Several times their response was something along the lines of, "I don't know, I was scared to death. I closed my eyes and prayed - and when I opened my eyes you were pulling in front of me." Actually, its always been "damsels" that say this, never a male. When they say it I just say thank you as opposed to "yeah, I hear that all the time".

Comments like that help to balance the craziness that comes with this job.

ETA: It's nicer to be called an angel from heaven than the opposite!

[SlowDave]

Good thought-provoking topic. I'll just say that I've been helped several times when broken down on the road (mostly back in the 80's) and have stopped to help others, even picked up a hitchhiker once, but I have also passed by. I try to take in the situation and deal accordingly. There is of course a significant chance that I'll make a mistake in sizing things up, and I am less likely now to stop and help in this cell phone age, but still will depending on the situation. I guess we're mostly discussing urban areas and TX east of I-35, but keep in mind that there are huge areas of Texas that have pretty much no cell phone coverage, at least not with my carrier.

A lot of good comments on this topic. Thanks.

[Fangs]

I've stopped to help plenty of people without getting shot, stabbed or raped. I even exorcised some demon's from a drunk lady's phone once before dropping her off at her house. (The keypad was locked, haha). I've also stopped only to find that I'm helping out a good friend's girlfriend or daughter or mother on several occasions. You can't always be prepared, several times their cell phones were dead or they had forgotten them. I was on the phone with a female friend when she was driving out to Nacogdoches, she wasn't strong enough to get the lug nuts loose on her flat tire, and her phone died before I could get her location (didn't help that she didn't know the road name ). Fortunately someone came by and helped her out.

Like people have said, I'll scope out the situation and see how it feels. Worst case scenario, I've got nothing to lose but my life, and I got that for free. I carry a gun because I'm a sore loser (when it comes to my life).

[Charles L. Cotton]

Hi Chuck and welcome to TexasCHLforum. Thanks for posting this, as it serves as a reminder that we must always be on guard. I've told my wife never stop to help someone, just call for help on her cell phone.

Like USA1, I have a hard time driving past a woman or girl with car trouble. I guess it's part of growing up in Texas at a time when no man would even think of leaving a woman on the side of the road. But times have changed and you never know if she's a potential victim or bait. Stopping now is a judgment call and I couldn't fault someone's decision. Stopping to render aid when you are unarmed is irresponsible in my view. Your first duty is to your family, not to a stranger. Am I saying don't help someone? No; I'm saying get a gun before you help someone.

Chas.

Is there not a law in Houston that if your stranded on the freeway, a tow truck WILL tow you to a place withing a certin distance and you are required to pay a set amount? I thought I remembered a friend complaining about this law. Point is... if this is the situation in Houston, they won't be stranded very long before the City sanctioned tow service shows up.

Sorry, I just saw this. Houston has a "Safe Clear" ordinance that has wreckers on Houston freeways to tow stranded vehicles. I'm not sure if this is only during peak traffic hours.

Chas.

[03Lightningrocks]

Hi Chuck and welcome to TexasCHLforum. Thanks for posting this, as it serves as a reminder that we must always be on guard. I've told my wife never stop to help someone, just call for help on her cell phone.

Like USA1, I have a hard time driving past a woman or girl with car trouble. I guess it's part of growing up in Texas at a time when no man would even think of leaving a woman on the side of the road. But times have changed and you never know if she's a potential victim or bait. Stopping now is a judgment call and I couldn't fault someone's decision. Stopping to render aid when you are unarmed is irresponsible in my view. Your first duty is to your family, not to a stranger. Am I saying don't help someone? No; I'm saying get a gun before you help someone.

Chas.

Is there not a law in Houston that if your stranded on the freeway, a tow truck WILL tow you to a place withing a certain distance and you are required to pay a set amount? I thought I remembered a friend complaining about this law. Point is... if this is the situation in Houston, they won't be stranded very long before the City sanctioned tow service shows up.

Sorry, I just saw this. Houston has a "Safe Clear" ordinance that has wreckers on Houston freeways to tow stranded vehicles. I'm not sure if this is only during peak traffic hours.

Chas.

Personally, I don't think it is such a bad ordinance. Working on a vehicle on the shoulder of a major freeway is an accident waiting to happen. I wish a tow truck would automatically show up in Dallas when broke down. People around here will just run over you...LOL. The friend who told me of this ordinance believed it was somehow a violation of his rights to make him pay for a tow truck he did not ask for. I just laughed and told him I would probably tip the guy, on top of the fee, for getting me off the freeway in one piece.