He blew his mind out in a car.

[cyrano]

Today on my way to work in the sheeting rain I was swamped by a passing SUV doing maybe 75 in the carpool lane. Hydroplaning, they bounced off the center median and then slid across four lanes of traffic and with a mighty sploosh tipped over on their side off the shoulder.
I do not know what my legal responsibilities were in this case. I was pretty unclear on my moral obligations, really. But the thought of trying to pull over made me pretty panicky so I continued driving fifty in the far right lane, called 911 and told them what I'd seen.
I have pretty much no first aid training, and I don't perform well under pressure. Plus, I didn't feel particularly charitable towards somebody who'd just endangered my life through their own malicious stupidity.
I don't know if that makes me a bad person or not.
I expect I'll spend way too much time overanalyzing it.

---

Also--trivia question! Guess which famous world figure made the following quote about rebellious factions in Iraq:
I do not understand this squeamishness about the use of gas.... I am strongly in favor of using poisoned gas against uncivilized tribes.

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Day Sixteen: Still not seen Return of the King.

Comments

[technoboggan.livejournal.com]

Twas Churchill, I believe. :)

The technoboggan strikes again.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

You are *so* good! How do you do it? (:

[9thmoon.livejournal.com]

You did exactly as you ought. No worries.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Okay, good. *hug* I feel really stupid about car laws, because I feel like there's a lot of stuff I *ought* to know but I didn't see it in the little pamphlet I got from the DMV to study for my test.

[tersa.livejournal.com]

Theoretically, they ask people who witness accidents to pull over and wait for the police in order to give their side of things, but you're not going to get a ticket or anything if you don't. And given the situation, I might've done the same thing.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the 911 operator took my cel number (I couldn't remember the home number) in case they wanted me to bear witness for them. (Can I get a witness? Praise!)

[esmerel.livejournal.com]

That'd be fine. From what I understand, the first rule is 'If you can not stop safely, absolutely do not do it'. You're much more likely to cause an even more serious accident by stopping to help and leaving your own vehicle, or worse, yourself, in the way of oncoming traffic.

Knowing your dislike of driving, and your description of the driving conditions, I would say that you took the completely correct course by alerting 911, and continuing on your way.

[tyee.livejournal.com]

Yeah, exactly what she said!

[gconnor.livejournal.com]

A lot of injuries are caused by someone else pulling over and trying to assist. I would probably leave the assisting up to the emergency people unless I was already involved in the accident somehow.

I have had first aid training but it's been a while, I should do so again.

[ex-declinean757.livejournal.com]

You absolutely did the right thing, sweetie. As someone else pointed out, pulling over to assist in those conditions could have made things even worse.