NationStates Jolt Archive

This lady was lying bleeding from her head at the side of a road a camera caught 25 cars going past without stopping to see if she was ok ...

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40124000/jpg/_40124488_road_woman203.jpg

I for one would of stopped to check on her I really have trouble understanding how people could do this !

More Details (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/3700446.stm)

Now that's just wrong

don't you just love people. I see this and get all warm and fuzzy and optimistic about the good in humanity. /sarcasm

Maybe they were all late - late for a very important date!

Maybe they were all late - late for a very important date!

Maybe, but most of my "dates" would be understanding if I had to stop for something like that.

maybe tehy were worried that it was a trick and the lady wasn't actually hurt, but was pretending to be hurt so taht some guy could jump out and rob them and they'd both run off with the helper's car.

aside from that, if it was a highway, maybe people were going by too quickly to notice.

oh, nevermind, before i clicked the link i thought she was like sitting or walking along the side of the road, well out of the way of traffic and that maybe no one noticed her.

I for one would of stopped to check on her I really have trouble understanding how people could do this !

And I'm sure that at least 20 of those who passed her by would have said the exact same thing a day earlier.

Or maybe they know that if you stop and help and she looses sight in an eye then her ambulance-chasing lawyer can go after you for not administering first aid correctly. If you perform first aid on somebody, even with their consent, and they have a scar or any lingering injury, in many US states you can be held liable. Just like a doctor in a malpractice suit. Therefore, unless you are Bill Gates or live in a State with good "Good Samaritan Laws" you could put your personal and families finanical hodings at risk by stopping and helping.

How would you like to be sued because you stopped to help someone? Think about and and then ask yourself " Would the world be better off with fewer lawyers?"

Please remember. I have slightly overstated my case for emphasis. but not by much.

It is a travisty that this is the case.

Or maybe they know that if you stop and help and she looses sight in an eye then her ambulance-chasing lawyer can go after you for not administering first aid correctly. If you perform first aid on somebody, even with their consent, and they have a scar or any lingering injury, in many US states you can be held liable. Just like a doctor in a malpractice suit. Therefore, unless you are Bill Gates or live in a State with good "Good Samaritan Laws" you could put your personal and families finanical hodings at risk by stopping and helping.

How would you like to be sued because you stopped to help someone? Think about and and then ask yourself " Would the world be better off with fewer lawyers?"

Please remember. I have slightly overstated my case for emphasis. but not by much.

It is a travisty that this is the case.

I don't believe that in Britain they have the same "sue everything that walk" attitude that exists in the US. And even if that were the case, would it really have hurt them to pull over, check on her and call an ambulance and police? I doubt it. What was she going to do? Rob the "good Samaritan" in the middle of the highway? Most unlikely.

This reminds me of this woman (forgot her name, Giosomething) who was stabbed, screamed for help, and later it turned out that a good number of people heard her pleas for help but decided that it wasn't their business to intervene or that probably "someone else" was lending her a helping hand, and so there she was bleeding to death. Her screams had scared the attacker away, but after he realised no one was coming to his victim's rescue he returned to finish the job and killed her with a few more stabs.

I don't know who is worse: the attacker or those who ignored the victim's pleas for help.

I would have given her a nice candy. We could have had a polite conversation together. Maybe she could apply some apple scented lotion to my elbows. It's so hard for me to reach my elbows.

Or maybe they know that if you stop and help and she looses sight in an eye then her ambulance-chasing lawyer can go after you for not administering first aid correctly. If you perform first aid on somebody, even with their consent, and they have a scar or any lingering injury, in many US states you can be held liable. Just like a doctor in a malpractice suit. Therefore, unless you are Bill Gates or live in a State with good "Good Samaritan Laws" you could put your personal and families finanical hodings at risk by stopping and helping.

How would you like to be sued because you stopped to help someone? Think about and and then ask yourself " Would the world be better off with fewer lawyers?"

Please remember. I have slightly overstated my case for emphasis. but not by much.

It is a travisty that this is the case.

And it's only going to change by individuals making a stand

Mum says I can't pick up strangers from the street

People seem to believe that it's best to "not get involved" in things which they don't consider to be their business. Most people are so focused on their own problems that they become rather myopic ... their attention is on what they're going to do next, not ( unfortunately ) on other people.

This reminds me of this woman (forgot her name, Giosomething) who was stabbed, screamed for help, and later it turned out that a good number of people heard her pleas for help but decided that it wasn't their business to intervene or that probably "someone else" was lending her a helping hand, and so there she was bleeding to death.

Kitty Ginovese.

I don't believe that in Britain they have the same "sue everything that walk" attitude that exists in the US. And even if that were the case, would it really have hurt them to pull over, check on her and call an ambulance and police? I doubt it. What was she going to do? Rob the "good Samaritan" in the middle of the highway? Most unlikely.

This reminds me of this woman (forgot her name, Giosomething) who was stabbed, screamed for help, and later it turned out that a good number of people heard her pleas for help but decided that it wasn't their business to intervene or that probably "someone else" was lending her a helping hand, and so there she was bleeding to death. Her screams had scared the attacker away, but after he realised no one was coming to his victim's rescue he returned to finish the job and killed her with a few more stabs.

This happened in the 60's. And it was worse than that. Some even looked out their windows and saw what was happening. And it was attackers I think, not attacker.
It's part of that group-think we all suffer from. We don't want to be the first to intervene and are waiting for someone else to step forward.
Getting back to the original thread topic, it's not that everyone who drove past was calleous and inhuman. It's just that they were hoping someone else would take action first. You need to consider that the passer-bys wouldn't be aware that she had been lying there for a length of time. They most likely justified it to themselves that she was most probably a drunk who had just passed out and the fact the car in front of them hadn't stopped meant it wasn't serious. Of course by not stopping, the person behind them is given the opportunity to think the exact same thing and so it continues.
After Kitty Ginovese, a Pyschologist did a series of famous experiences about people's reactions in crowded situations.
He had professional actors feign passing out in public and no-one came to help. These weren't looking like bums: one of them I recall was a middle-aged man dressed in an expensive business suit, with briefcase. He starts to walk down a flight of steps, staggers, clutches his heart, staggers a bit more before falling to the ground and 'passing out'. Not one person stopped to help him. A couple even stepped over him as they walked past talking to each other! Yet to watch it it's blatantly obvious what's 'occuring'.
But put in that situation, you're more than likely to act as those passers-by. Any one of them if approached would react as you have done, showing disdain for the lack of action on those ppl and claims that thay'd stop to help.
So what's to be done? It's quite simple. He repeated the experiment, but this time had another actor come to the distressed man's aid. Immediately, everyone else stopped to help. Which means that if you're ever in a situation where you're unsure as to should you butt in or not, feel confident that if you do, probably half a dozen passers-by will back you up. They all want to help just as much but the pressure of standing out from the crowd is stopping them.