qwerty wrote:Why would the woman in the cage have to stop? From the description of the crash, she wasn't involved. From the description, it seems kellanv went down while cornering because of some kind of substance on the road. In Texas, as far as I know there is no law that requires witnesses to stop at an accident scene and render aid. YMMV.
because in most states if you are witness to an accident you MUST stop and stay until those of police arrive to either get your info or get your statement. If you leave the scene of an accident and someone gets your plate number you could find yourself behind bars for up to 30 days and/or fined along with a court date. Governement doesnt care if you were part of the accident or not. They consider it a "minor" hit and run if you were not part of the accident but was witness to it. Reason I know this? because I had an uncle that spent 30 days in jail and had to pay something like $1000 because someone at a scene of an accident he saw got his plate number as he drove off.
I can say I have seen accidents and have gotten by with just calling the police on the phone when I get to my destination and letting them know about the occurance and giving them all my info should they need a statement from me. Unless it is something I feel I can help out with like say help someone pick up a motorcycle.
*edit just reread your post. No you dont need to stop and help the accident victum but you do need to stop and give an account of events to the police. If I had saw the OP fall I most likely would have stopped made sure he was ok helped get the bike back up if he was and then be on my mary way but like I said you dont have to stop to physically help the person. Most accidents police like to talk to you in private away from everyone. The ones I have been witness 2 (1 I almost got ran over walking accross the road on a white man walk signal) the officer has just took my name and number and said "If we need more info we will get ahold of you". Not that much time is taken out of your day to do that. The one time I almost got run over God was on my side because if the lady going straight across wouldnt have ran into the guy turning left towards me my then 18 month old son and me probably woulda been very badly hurt.
Hmmm? I suppose I'll go blind next time I see a wreck. Gee, officer, I was watching where I was going and didn't notice any wreck. Gee, officer, I was looking at the radio and didn't see what happened. I was rubbing my eyes and heard a big crash. It would be very difficult to get a conviction of someone who was at the wreck but not involved, unless, of course, the perp admitted it.
Doesn't matter. If I witness a crash, I stop and check on those involved because I have a good bit of first responder training for my job. I never admit seeing anything anymore because I did that once, and missed 16 days of work because I was in court as the case was appealed over and over. Missing all that work caused a rather severe financial inconvenience for me.
If at first you don't succeed, skydiving isn't for you.
I'm wondering how this is supposed to work. If absolutely everyone that witnesses an accident is supposed to remain on the scene, couldn't that cause a worse traffic jam that normal?
Last month I witnessed a goofball racing his buddy through rush hour traffic. They were weaving in an out, and using the left turn lane as a passing lane. Said goofball was doing just that when he plowed into the back of a car that was actually using the lane to make a left turn (go figure!). It was a big 8-lane street, so I figure people in at least 40 cars saw what happened. If they all stopped, not only would there be an even bigger traffic jam, but the poor cop would be there for hours taking information. After seeing that several closer cars had stopped to help, I continued on my way.
qwerty wrote:Hmmm? I suppose I'll go blind next time I see a wreck. Gee, officer, I was watching where I was going and didn't notice any wreck. Gee, officer, I was looking at the radio and didn't see what happened. I was rubbing my eyes and heard a big crash. It would be very difficult to get a conviction of someone who was at the wreck but not involved, unless, of course, the perp admitted it.
Doesn't matter. If I witness a crash, I stop and check on those involved because I have a good bit of first responder training for my job. I never admit seeing anything anymore because I did that once, and missed 16 days of work because I was in court as the case was appealed over and over. Missing all that work caused a rather severe financial inconvenience for me.
cept that excuse doesnt work. My uncle used it and he still went to jail. Either way I would think most accident victums looking for help from the "side" is the least on their mind but there is the occasional that will write down every plate number they can. I have never been in an accident but if need be I will write down plate number although if your say 10 cars back there is no point because your paying attention to whats going on in front of you and cant necessarily tell if somethign happened. I woudl only write down the first couple set of cars.
ofblong wrote:
cept that excuse doesnt work. My uncle used it and he still went to jail. Either way I would think most accident victums looking for help from the "side" is the least on their mind but there is the occasional that will write down every plate number they can. I have never been in an accident but if need be I will write down plate number although if your say 10 cars back there is no point because your paying attention to whats going on in front of you and cant necessarily tell if somethign happened. I woudl only write down the first couple set of cars.
Well, speaking from experience, being involved in several car wrecks in my life, you generally have other stuff on you mind after being in an accident than writing down the passing cars license numbers. The severity of the accident plays heavily into that. Mostly you're worried that everyone is ok first, then calling the police, moving cars out of the way(if they can be moved), then getting each others licenses #'s and info. By the time that is done, the first couple sets of cars that seen the accident has passed on by.
A dog had his chain reduced one link at a time, every few days, until his chain was so short he could barely move. He never resisted because he was conditioned to the loss of his freedom slowly, over time. Are we in this country becoming like the dog?
