Funny roadside story fron today

[gassy]

So I was just driving home and pulled over to see if a guy on the side of the Ike with his hood up needed any help. He said, "No, but you're the first ********* in half an hour that hasn't honked at me." I said "well that's good news" but before I could finish he realized what he said and apologized--we both laughed really hard and I went on my way. Happy weekend.
c

[speedracing944]

It is amazing how many people don't stop anymore. I personally love to stop and try to get a tire changed in 97 seconds flat and send someone on their way. It is my way of banking positive karma (can you do that?) to prevent any potential speeding tickets. I has worked so far...

Speedy

[VaSteve]

My 911 broke down on the side of the interstate. I sat in the car for 30 min waiting for the tow truck. When it did, every other car when by at 70 mph and honked while the guy hooked me up. I don't get it.

[tab tanner]

I was on my way to pick up a 914/6 last summer, There was a guy and two young kids walking down I-75 there Toyota had ran out of gas and the cars just kept driving by one after the other blowing there horns. I had my trailer on so I pulled over, and got them into the van and backed up on the shoulder for better the 1/2 mile to get to there car. We loaded it on the trailer and I took them to the nearest gas station and put gas in the car and it started right up. I backed it off for them and NEVER took a dime from the guy!!!! I figure maybe one day somone will help me out of a jamb. The world needs more NICE people in it, WE HAVE PLENTY OF *********'S to go around. Pay it forward with a kind favor!!!

[Cornpanzer]

Yeah, I have always done the same kinda stuff. Helped a guy one time put out an engine fire. Had two fire extinguishers in my work truck handed him one and you woulda thought I had handed him a grenade..."I dont know how to work one of these things". Practically threw it back at me. I love helpless people

Yet, now I am much more hesitant. Guy in Northern KY last month picked up a kid in the rain to give him a ride and the kid shot him in the head and took his car.

[djmcmath]

It's remarkable how unfriendly the freeways have gotten. I ran out of gas in my old VW once and was pushing it along. I made it several miles, no foolin', before one guy stopped and offered to help. In fact, in all the times that that car had died by the side of the road, only one other person had helped with it, and he was a Pelican who I was supposed to meet for lunch.

But that's a different story. I was driving from CT to VA in my bug, and was in Delaware when the throwout bearing died on me. I called the Pelican that I was planning on meeting for lunch to tell him I wouldn't make it, and he said, "No problem, I'll be there in 3 hours." No foolin', he drove from DC to Delaware to pick me up, drove us both back to his place, then handed me the keys to his truck and let me drive off. He came down later that week to get his truck back from me. Talk about banking up karma!

Dan

[sammyg2]

A while back, one of our LA "gangstas" decided it would be a good idea to stop on the side of the road like he was broke down, then mug anyone dumb enough to stop and try to help.
I'm Just sayin...... I'd be more inclined to help people if they didn't suck.

[Arizona_928]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

A while back, one of our LA "gangstas" decided it would be a good idea to stop on the side of the road like he was broke down, then mug anyone dumb enough to stop and try to help.
I'm Just sayin...... I'd be more inclined to help people if they didn't suck.

gosh what has this world coming to?

everytime i work on my car in my driveway ppl stop and ask if i need help.. but then again they aggresively insist, and ask for money.
slope is not a place for a porsche..

[911boost]

Whenm I hit something on the shoulder with the 964T, a guy in a Kia stopped and asked if I needed any help. I told him I was fine, but thanked him a ton for stopping.

I have stopped and asked guys on motorcycles if they have needed help in the past. I agree tghat it is a good way to pass on good karma.

[RoninLB]

The more populated an area the less they help. Too many rats in the cage.

[oldE]

30 years ago, I was going home from work and noticed smoke coming out of the back of a VW van. I managed to get him to pull over by frantically flashing my lights and pointing to the shoulder, then went to see if I could help.

When we opened the engine compartment, there was lots of smoke and a bit of flame in the rear corner so I asked him if he had a fire extinguisher. As he dashed back to the cab to get that, I threw a few handfulls of gravel onto the flames.

Then buddy comes back, pulls the pin and hits the handle...while the extinguisher is pointed at me! I re-directed his aim and the flames were out in seconds. Then he reaches into the space and pulls out the end of a jumper cable. It seems his battery was flat, so he figured he would just hook up another battery using jumper cables while he drove to the garage. The jumper cables didn't agree and overheated.

He thanked me and drove away, leaving me looking like the Man From Glad. I should have sent the moron the dry-cleaning bill for the suit.

Les

[David]

Originally Posted by speedracing944

It is amazing how many people don't stop anymore. I personally love to stop and try to get a tire changed in 97 seconds flat and send someone on their way. It is my way of banking positive karma (can you do that?) to prevent any potential speeding tickets. I has worked so far...

Speedy

Me too, although the cuter they are, the slower I am

[onewhippedpuppy]

Since I've moved to a bigger city, I've become more hesitant to stop. Sadly, there's a lot of risk involved, especially if I have my wife and kids with me. I'm more prone to help someone in a parking lot, because I have the opportunity to size them up first. It's a big conflict for me, I always feel like ***** passing someone by.

When I lived in a smaller town, I never hesitated to stop. When my sister-in-law hit a deer out in central KS, it took us 10 minutes to get to her. There were 6 other cars stopped on the side of the road to offer help (she had minor injuries). Six!

[Jeff Higgins]

We've discussed this issue a great deal in motorcycling circles for the last few years. When I first started riding (in the late '70's) everyone stopped for everyone else. It's just the way it was. Bikes were far less reliable, there were far fewer of us, and if some one was broken down they really needed some help.

It's different today. Enter the cell phone. The vast majority of folks out there have one. They typically call for help. They typically have some kind of roadside assistance program, either through the bike manufacturer, the dealer, or their insuruance company. This was all unheard of 30 years ago.

Conversely, riding with tools aboard is almost unheard of today. Most riders wouldn't know how to use them anyway. Where it used to be a prerequiset for riding, mechanical knowledge is entirely optional these days. Yeah, sometimes you can trouble shoot an unfamiliar machine on the side of the road, but it really helps if the guy knows his own way around it. Most don't.

I also try to appreciate the perspective of the folks I might be trying to help. Years ago, I saw a Caravan with a flat on the side of a kind of lonely rural road when I was out on one of my bikes. It was a young mother with a couple of 4-5 year olds and a newborn. So I turned around, parked the bike, and walked up to her window to see if I could help. I've never seen a more frightened young lady in my life. Then I realized what I must look like. She barely cracked her window, held up her cell, and said "my husband is on his way". I told her I would go sit on the bike 'till he arrived, just to make sure she was o.k. He arrived within minutes, I introduced myself, and helped him change the flat (he had no idea how to change it). By then the two older kids were out and checking out the bike, I let them take turns wearing the helmet so their mom could snap some pics with her cell phone, and we all had a good laugh. She was well and truly scared of me at first, though. Guess I can't blame her in this day and age.

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by RoninLB

The more populated an area the less they help. Too many rats in the cage.

no, the farther you get from the East and West coast. People in the midwest and especially the south stop to help you, for example.

When I finished my residency I was driving a POS ford tempo with crappy tires. Was changing a tire and 5 people stopped before I was done. Pretty much if there was not some one sitting in their car/truck asking to help, there was somebody pulling over, last guy even offered me a beer from the cooler in the back of his truck(this was in Texas).

When I moved to CA, I was out doing housecalls(yeah, I am the guy who still does that) on the way home traffic was really backed up at this busy intersection. After the third signal change, I get close enough to the fron to see a car with the hood up. It was June, and 110* out. I pulled around her, parked my car and offered to help. She says she is on the way to buy a new battery, just got paid, and needs a jump, she even has cables. I say great, lets push you out of the street. I get behind her car, the light changes, some other guy runs up and helps me push her into the gas station(he had AZ plates on his car) He asks if I have it covered, then splits. Lady was about 40, and looking pretty fried from the heat. I ask how long she was there and she says a few hours. People just honked and yelled at her to get out of the way. Hood up, 110*, woman alone and they just ******* honk, nobody stops. She was asking if I work at the hospital, I tell her when I can't avoid it yeah, I am a doc. She was flabbergasted.

Lot of douchebags moved to California while I was in Texas, perhaps they were already here, but the stark contrast of southern hospitality vs Californian Douchebaggery just makes it seem that way.

[stuartj]

Happens the all the time. A little while back while doing a rally recce in another state in a renter, we happened upon a car doing 60mph down a narrow country road on dead flat tryre. We flashed, trying to get the drivers attention, then without trying to freak her out pulled alongside and did the usual- point at the tyre, wave her over. She was driving on the rim. Two small kids in the back. We were under time pressure to catch a plane, but were were going to change it for her. Wouldnt stop. Smiled and waved. gawd.

[daepp]

Nice 19 y.o. kids pulled over on the I-10 fwy outside of el lay a few years ago for girl stopped on the side in a VW. It was the middle of the night. As he bent over to look at the engine, her boyfriend (who had been out of site to the boy) struck him numerous times with a tire iron. Killed him. Anecdotal, I know, but...

[onewhippedpuppy]

My wife has said that she would be afraid to let someone change her tire for her. When her sister was stuck on the side of the road at night after hitting a deer, she only cracked her window to speak with the people that had stopped to help her. Sad world we live in.

[osidak]

have had mixed results from stopping to help

the one that burns me to this day - was walking through the back neighborhood to the coffee shop and saw a Ghia with hood up and a father / son looking lost. I walk over and ask if I could help. The kid said the engine runs but if you step on the gas nothing happened - I saw the throttle cable was broken so I offered to rig something up for them

the father was a real ********* about it. Basically saying "piss off we don't want or need your help" When I came back through there a couple of hours later there they still sat but now with a tow truck.

Have help others with gas, tires, locked out ect and will continue to do so

[Superman]

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

We've discussed this issue a great deal in motorcycling circles for the last few years. When I first started riding (in the late '70's) everyone stopped for everyone else. It's just the way it was. Bikes were far less reliable, there were far fewer of us, and if some one was broken down they really needed some help.

It's different today. Enter the cell phone. The vast majority of folks out there have one. They typically call for help. They typically have some kind of roadside assistance program, either through the bike manufacturer, the dealer, or their insuruance company. This was all unheard of 30 years ago.

Conversely, riding with tools aboard is almost unheard of today. Most riders wouldn't know how to use them anyway. Where it used to be a prerequiset for riding, mechanical knowledge is entirely optional these days. Yeah, sometimes you can trouble shoot an unfamiliar machine on the side of the road, but it really helps if the guy knows his own way around it. Most don't.

I also try to appreciate the perspective of the folks I might be trying to help. Years ago, I saw a Caravan with a flat on the side of a kind of lonely rural road when I was out on one of my bikes. It was a young mother with a couple of 4-5 year olds and a newborn. So I turned around, parked the bike, and walked up to her window to see if I could help. I've never seen a more frightened young lady in my life. Then I realized what I must look like. She barely cracked her window, held up her cell, and said "my husband is on his way". I told her I would go sit on the bike 'till he arrived, just to make sure she was o.k. He arrived within minutes, I introduced myself, and helped him change the flat (he had no idea how to change it). By then the two older kids were out and checking out the bike, I let them take turns wearing the helmet so their mom could snap some pics with her cell phone, and we all had a good laugh. She was well and truly scared of me at first, though. Guess I can't blame her in this day and age.

I can just see this story in my mind's eye. A very nice Jeff Higgins dressed like Charles Bronson, trying to help a terrified woman. Comical, since I know the vast difference between this woman's worst fears, and the reality she didn't know what happening. Unknowingly, this woman could not have been more safe.

Yes, I remember those days. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. I was Phaedrus, too. Sleeping on the beach. Tools in the saddle bag. Points, spark plug, bit of ignition wire. Duct tape. Motorcycling used to be a close-knit activity. Sure, there is probably still good camaraderie today, but not like those days. If you couldn't use tools, you couldn't ride a motorcycle. The new Japanese bikes were far more reliable, but even they had breaker points.