So I Google "what to do in an accident" and here's what I got:

[Runcible Spoon]

First hit: "Be polite, but don't tell the other drivers or the police that the accident was your fault, even if you think it was"

www.statefarm.com/insurance/claim_center/auto/ins_claims_auto_afteraccident.asp


The rest: Geico, Personalinsure, lawcore, moneycentral, allaw.

THIS is what's wrong with our culture! THESE are the words we associate with "what do do" and "accident"! This is the mental block those bystanders suffered.

I don't know why anyone can get a license to drive without knowing basic bare-bones emergency response. There is scarcely any excuse for even a few seconds to go by in a crisis.

I was looking for a simple site to post so we can all review in light of that video. But no, this is teh shit I find.

THIS REACTION IS HOW WE KNOW WE ARE SHEEP.

I am shuddering to think how easy this population could fall under corrupt martial law!

I'm scared shitless for the future...

[Art_from_Ark]

1. I think people might be afraid

because they have heard of Good Samaritans being sued for moving a victim in the wrong way, or not knowing the proper procedure for first aid, etc. "No good deed goes unpunished", and all that.

[Runcible Spoon]

2. Well that's just really, really sad.

I guess I'm old-fashioned in my opinion that human life is worth more than money and possessions.

[Art_from_Ark]

3. It's not just that

We all aren't doctors. Some of us have had first aid training, but mine was 30 years ago, and I don't know how much of it I could remember now. And if I made a mistake, and the victim died or was crippled for life, I would always think it was my fault, even if it wasn't.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. Well as a medic I was almost sued three times

1.- By an ambulance chaser, low scum, lawyer... good news, we transported his son from the Jail in TJ to a hospital in the US and kid made it. But that little matter of where the call originated saved my bacon... And yes, he wanted to sue me for practicing medicine without a license in the US.

2.- A school district that shall go unnamed for destruction of school property. The kid, who was playing American Football against a Mexican school in TJ broke his neck in the scrimmage line. He walks these days thanks to the very advanced (and I might say unexpected) emergency care he got from us low brown skinned medics, I am guilty by association. The school didn't care about the kid, just the 600 dollars worth of equipment, which I cut off... oh well

3.- The family of a patient who was crippled in a car crash. I moved her since the car WAS on fire...

I still stop at emergencies, and every time I think to myself, who amongst these nice looking folks will file a lawsuit? IN fact those three, are the reason I never practice as a paramedic in the US. EVER. And as I said, only thing that saved my bacon was... where these things happened, oh the third one was in the US, but they dropped it, thankfully, after the fire department showed them the piccie of the totaled car and asked them if they'd rather bury their relative.

A few years ago a couple LA County medics were sued... and when all was said and done they lost all their certs et al, and one of then said that soon people would call 9.11 and nobody would respond... I tend to agree with them. By the way, they were found not guilty, but both left the service... they could not afford to go back to school to get all their certs back.

[Hekate]

7. You can pull me from a burning car any time, Nadin. Thanks for still wanting to help those in need.

:pals:

Hekate

[Captain Angry]

5. To be fair...

HOPEFULLY, there are more fender benders than hit-and-runs.

Based on the Google algorithm, the sites clicked more frequently should rise to the top. So HOPEFULLY people are looking for the far more common event and therefore that one rose to the top.

So, don't be be mad based on an internet search. That said, that video was horrifying and I don't understand why people didn't run into the street to block traffic, get the plate of the people who ran the man down, etc.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

6. sorry, but your take is wrong.

First, perceptions at time of stress are often wrong. A fact, seen again and again.
Second, people feel responsible even though their actions had nothing to do with an event.
Third, LEGAL responsibility is different than the normal "OH my GAWD!, I am so sorry your leg got torn off - it had to be my fault!" natural reaction of empathy and sympathy.

Fourth, even if someone is LEGALLY innocent and not responsible, admitting responsibility makes it so.

Counter-intuitive? perhaps slightly, but an "admission" or a "statement against interest' along with an "excited utterance" are precisely the kinds of statements that escape the longstanding rule of evidence barring hearsay evidence. The advice is right, born out by decades of experience, based on human behavior. Your take on it is wrong.

[Runcible Spoon]

8. I can hardly wade through the twisted syntax of your post...

"perceptions at time of stress are often wrong" Meaning that when become stressed our first reactions are incorrect? This is a naive point of view becauseon we evolved certain reactions to a crisis and those instincts helped keep our species alive. I advocate learning to condition your instinctual reactions to any kind of stress. If we can control our drives to have sex, we can control how to react to emergencies emotionally and psychologically.

"Second, people feel responsible even though their actions had nothing to do with an event." Well, I'm sure that's certainly the way some people react for various reasons. But certainly not all people, since I have been close witness to brutal accidents and did not feel personally responsible to the point of that emotion overcoming my instinct to help an accident victim.

"Third, LEGAL responsibility is different than the normal "OH my GAWD!, I am so sorry your leg got torn off - it had to be my fault!" natural reaction of empathy and sympathy." Umm, ok they're different, are you trying to make a point here?

"Counter-intuitive?" What's counter intuitive? I don't see the object of your clause...?

" "admission" or a "statement against interest' along with an "excited utterance" are precisely the kinds of statements that escape the longstanding rule of evidence barring hearsay evidence.The advice is right, born out by decades of experience, based on human behavior"

I'm sorry, I just really don't know what the fuck you're talking about here. I tried lol.

In ANY CASE: my main point is merely we are conditioned by the enviroment about us to IGNORE anything that threatens to pop our little bubbles of American Immunity. People are AFRAID and you wouldn't believe the human mind's ability to actively block out trauma. We need to teach ourselves how to effectively prepare for certain crisis situations. We are living in a dream world, just ask any Katrina victims...

[varkam]

9. Here you go:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bystander_effect

And the best defense from it is to know that it exists :hi: