Coming tonight a female driver had broken down (well, her car had) in the outside lane of the westbound M4. She was holding a mobile therefore had clearly alerted someone. She was standing on the grass between the armco.
I felt a little bad at passing her by.
Do you think I should have been an angel and stopped some yards before her, centrally in the lane, with wheels pointing towards the armco, thus extending her safety bubble and waited with her until the emergency services arrived?
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Not from my experience - I once stopped for a female in similar situation and she started to get hysterical as if I was going to attack her!
Went home a bit shaken and combed my face.
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Do you think I should have been an angel and stopped some yards before her, centrally in the lane, with wheels pointing towards the armco, thus extending her safety bubble and waited with her until the emergency services arrived?
Absolutely no way - unless you wanted to commit suicide. The only thing you could have done is to stop at the next emergency phone (has the advantage of going direct to the nearest control centre and they can get the exact location - a girl probably wouldn't even know which motorway she was on).
I got stuck like this once, when the traffic all stopped and my Cavalier's cam belt snapped (one of the 4 occasions that it snapped). Next thing the traffic's all doing 70+ again and it's truely terrifying - luckily the reservation was just big enough to get the car on by moving it on the starter. There's no way I could have run across the road. The Police took 40mins to get to me.
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Its difficult to write this but NO NO NO.
Your motives could be misinterpreted and if she does so the police will arrest you and charge with an offense, they are under orders now to take her word for it without any corroborating evidence and you will be prosecuted come what may.
You may ultimately be proved innocent in court but do you really want to go there.
Common sense left the legal system years ago.
If you do not personally know a woman or worse a child then WALK (OR IN THIS CASE DRIVE) AWAY.
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Points taken - a sad reflection on the society in which we find ourselves...
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I remember stopping for someone in a similar situation nearly 20 years ago. My good intentions were recognised then but I'm not sure they would be now.
H
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Its difficult to write this but NO NO NO. Your motives could be misinterpreted and if she does so the police will arrest you and charge with an offense, they are under orders now to take her word for it without any corroborating evidence and you will be prosecuted come what may. You may ultimately be proved innocent in court but do you really want to go there. Common sense left the legal system years ago. If you do not personally know a woman or worse a child then WALK (OR IN THIS CASE DRIVE) AWAY.
I think this case (a woman in Lane 3 of the M4) is hugely different from someone simply broken down at the side of the road. In this case she was talking on her mobile (though probably to male partner / Dad etc) so I'd try to stop at the next phone, or else call 999 from my car, to ensure that Police were aware.
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I was more thinking to offer a safer environment for her to be standing in, than offering assistance calling anyone. Being up on a bank on the hard shoulder is scary enough. Being in between the armco must have been somewhat terrifying. Traffic was moving past her car reasonably slowly but on the other side it was the usual 80+ mph stuff...not much I could do about that though...
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No...because in that action of stopping, you would probably be committing suicide, especially in the outside lane. Best to alert police on handsfree once you're passed.
But hey, as Billpayer points out, I am a girl and probably would't even realise I was on a motorway, so what do I know?
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You could have stopped at the next emergency phone and called the police from there, that way they know where the problem is.
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