Kat Bergeron: Stopping can be a good thing
Stop. Please.
If you witness an accident or are among the first to pass a crash scene, please do not rush off, convincing yourself it is best not to get involved in someone else's misery.
Personal rewards are much richer when we become a helping hand, a good neighbor, a do-gooder, a Scout, a Good Samaritan -- basically someone who does the morally right thing without expecting something in return.
After all, the person in need today could someday be your own spouse, child, good friend, mother, father, grandparent, sibling, neighbor, colleague. Don't you want someone to stop to help when they are involved in accidents?
My story
When a woman veered in front of my automobile the other night, crossing my lane toward a side road without stopping for oncoming traffic, I couldn't avoid hitting her. My slower speed and quick brake action likely helped both of us avoid serious injury, but in those first moments of impact there was no way of knowing we were both OK.
Of the two cars following behind me, neither stopped to see if we were injured or needed help. Several other cars passed without stopping, but there were places they could have safely pulled off. That is an important consideration when stopping to help at a crash scene because of the potential to create yet another accident.
First Good Samaritan
The first Good Samaritan to pull over that night was a neighbor who recognized my car. People from two nearby houses came to the scene also, with cell phones and flashlights. The local volunteer fire department was the first responder on the scene, followed by a state trooper.
Details are not necessary in this re-telling, except to know that both the woman who caused the accident and myself are miraculously uninjured. That is the most important news in any accident. Battles with insurance companies over old but in-great-condition cars are secondary.
The other driver received a failure to yield right-of-way citation and a fixable car. My SUV is likely fatally wounded.
My SUV's history
I affectionately named her "My Katrina High Water Car," because the SUV was bought immediately after the 2005 hurricane when the car I then owned drowned. In the post-storm morass of debris and pocked roads, I wanted safe wheels, which I now appreciate on the windy, deer-laden roads of the Virginia Piedmont where I also plant one of my feet.
That's enough about the accident that caused me to think -- again -- about a growing American trend not to stop to help accident victims. At least, it seems that way from personal observations and several incidents when I stopped to help others.
Why?
Why? Are people becoming afraid of getting "involved?" That might be the case in this era of hyper media, when an event in Podunk quickly becomes the out-of-proportion news of Everywhere America. Who hasn't heard stories of do-gooders being duped, injured themselves or sued for trying to help?
Most states have Good Samaritan laws that protect those who stop to help crash victims. Mississippi has had one since the 1970s but do your own research to learn obligations and liabilities. That way you will be comfortable following your humanitarian instincts in the future. If we can prepare for hurricanes and other disasters, why not accident scenes inevitable in today's distracted, fast-paced world?
Helping 101
Consider learning the basic tenets of helping, such as safely pulling off the road at least 100 yards from the accident, turning on your emergency flashers and calling 911 about location and injuries. Do not move an injured person unless the vehicle is burning or in other imminent danger. Be helpful and comforting to the victims and cooperative with first responders.
Please don't let fear of involvement numb the human tendency, ingrained in most of us even if not nurtured, to help others in distress. Stop. Speeding away is the same as turning your back on those in real need, and someday that may even be you behind the crash wheel.
Kat Bergeron, a veteran feature writer specializing in Gulf Coast history and sense of place, is retired from the Sun Herald. She writes the Coast Chronicles column as a freelance correspondent. Reach her at BergeronKat@gmail.com or c/o Sun Herald Newsroom, P.O. Box 4567, Biloxi, MS 39535-45667.
This story was originally published December 5, 2015 at 8:05 PM with the headline "Kat Bergeron: Stopping can be a good thing ."