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9000white wrote:you can thank the lawyers for this kind of reaction from people at an accident.if someone tried to help and there was a lawyer in the crowd he would have instructed the girl to sue whoever helped claiming she was permanently injured by someone who had no training in accident response.

If I'm not mistaken, the "Good Samaritan Laws" protect people from things like that...at least, that's what they're supposed to do. I read about it just recently...I'll see if I can't get a post up.

Glad your gf is ok. I'm still trying to visualize how she got her right foot caught like that. Truth is, most people have no idea what to do in an emergency situation, or how to conduct themselves at an accident scene.
Read a really good post on another forum about that...I'll see if I can get permission to borrow it.

Ride safe.
And yah...good thing you had that comm thing.

Rook

I am glad your GF is ok, aside from being a little banged up. It could have been worse, it seems like you handled things perfectly under those conditions. The bystanders, on the other hand.

anybody that aint gutter trash would have helped her.

Actually that is a pretty common occurrence. It's called "diffusion of responsibility." In other words, the more people there are, the more likely they'll assume that somebody else will help and all they have to do is watch. Classic herd mentality but most humans are susceptible to it. You think that's bad, check out the Kitty Genovise(sic) murder, an entire apartment complex stood by and watched as a girl was brutally raped and murdered in plain sight.

I am glad to hear that you guys are ok though.

EDIT: Link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitty_Genovese

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

9000white wrote:you can thank the lawyers for this kind of reaction from people at an accident.if someone tried to help and there was a lawyer in the crowd he would have instructed the girl to sue whoever helped claiming she was permanently injured by someone who had no training in accident response.

Lawyers have absolutely nothing to do with the reason - it's like blaming bullets for gun murders. And remember what you say about lawyers when you need one to literally save your life or the life of someone you love.

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I'm REALLY sorry to hear about what happened man, that's horrible! I don't even like most people where I live but I don't think that would happen here.
Just remember to help the next guy when he falls, and maybe the newspaper letter would be a good idea.

First I'm glad your GF is alright.

Yes, the "Good Samaritan" laws do cover people in these cases, but not everyone knows about them. There is a very real fear of being sued. Rather that fear is justified or not is another question.

And then there is the mantra "Don't do anything, you'll just make any injury worse. Wait for the professionals."

I assume this com system is a two-way setup? After all you could hear her. Did you think to ask her "What's wrong?"

Now this is going to sound harsh, and I don't mean it to be, but you're lucky you didn't compund the problem racing back at the speed you indicated you did. You wouldn't have done a bit of good if you had gotten into an accident yourself. I can understand the fear and panic, but you have to maintain control of yourself in situations like that. Wrapping yourself around a tree, or splattering against the side of a mini-van does no good at all.

Having been a trained first aid attendant in the past, a couple of the things you learn is that every case is different, and the rules of life over limb.

If your g'friends leg was terribly twisted and moving the bike could have made it worse, you should leave it alone and wait for a emergency extrication team. With that said I would obviously take the weight of the bike off of her and make sure she was safe from any other injuries. Now, if there was a gas leak and a strong posibility of a fire, or there was already smoke, you move the victim as best you can, even if that movement was to cause permanent disability.

These are also the kinds of actions that the good samariton acts cover.

I am really suprised that no one helped her. That just seems befuddling to me. If I am in proximity to help someone, I normally do

Doesn't surprise me. Its called group ignorance or something like that...the more people there are, the less likely anyone is going to help. You'd be surprised what people will just stand and watch without feeling one bit of need to help. Remember that lady in NY that was robbed and stabbed on the street in front of a crowd? She just laid there and bled to death while everyone watched.

I always help when I notice things like that, because I know there's a good chance no one else will. Someone mentioned pointing a single person out to help, thats a good idea. Funny about the guy who ran over to help, then did nothing and just left. People are so lazy.

PS: Hope your gf's okay and she gets back on the bike soon.

Glad your gf isn't badly hurt.

Regarding getting no help from bystanders, one thing I learned at an accident scene management class is to give folks SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS, not just 'help me.'

If you take charge, people are inclined to follow 'orders.' It helps further to just point someone out and say, 'Can YOU please help me lift the bike? I'll show you how.' Then others are likely to step up and help too.

Pam

I agree with Scout. If you assist to the limit ogf your training or abilities, you are unlikely to be successfully sued. A first aid instructor up here in Canada said that no in this country had been successfully sued under those conditions because of Good Samaritan laws.