Life-threatening situation

[Yawwn]

Hey guys,
I wanted to share with you something that happened two nights ago...

I drove the silver NSX down from the bay area to San Diego Monday. I was heading southbound on Highway 163 towards my hotel so that I could check-in after the brutal drive. Ahead of me, I could see that a serious accident had occurred a few minutes prior. There was a severly smashed up car in the middle lane of the freeway, and a second vehicle perpendicular stuck in the greenery to the right side of the road. I immediately pulled over to the right side, crushing debris from the wreckage. I jumped out of the car, in a rush to get out that I neglected to even close my door. I ran to the girl standing next to the perpendicular SUV and asked if she was ok. She was on the phone with her mom. She was crying profusely as she struggled to get words out to the person on the phone. She managed to nod in response to my inquiry. I then asked if she had any passengers, and if everyone from the other car were safe. Before she had a chance to respond, piercing through the din of the building traffic was the voice of a man screaming "Help me! Help me! Please, somebody help me!" It was a spine-tingling plea from a very injured and frightened person. It was at that point that instinct kicked in. I knew that I had to do everything I could to help save this person's life. I looked over and made sure that the right lane was clear before I darted across the highway lanes to get to his car. He greeted me with the most heartfelt thanks, and kept calling me an angel as I ascertained the situation. He was a large Hispanic man, easily over 300 lbs. He told me the door was stuck, and he could not open it. Sure enough, both the front and rear doors were stuck. The rear was so crumpled that there was no way it could have been opened. I struggled with the front door for a good 10 seconds, pulling it with all my strength, until I could feel it give way and open. He was fully covered in his blood, from his neck down his arm to his knees. I got down to his level to grab his arm so that I could support him, in the meanwhile looking at oncoming traffic to watch out for any cars. Sure enough, as I grabbed his hand and was about to get underneath his arm, I could see the headlight beams of a car who was approaching way too fast on the middle lane. I literally felt like I could see my life passing before my eyes. I released him, and jumped back about 5 feet to give me some room between me and the car, and to get ready to run out of the way. The car came to a screeching halt a couple of feet from the wreck. After immediately composing myself, I ran back to him, and got him out of the car. I braced him until I could get him to the side of the road. From the brightness of the group of cars that had stopped, I could see my hands caked in blood. My suit and shirt also were stained in crimson red. I asked the approximately 8 onlookers if any of them had a cell phone (mine was still in the car a number of yards away) to call 911. Within 10 minutes, a CHP was weaving back and forth to slow and eventually stop all traffic.
After checking to see if the guy was ok, and making sure that he didn't have serious bleeding, I then realized the enormity of the situation, and that I might have done a stupid thing, having my own family to support. Should I have risked my life for that of a stranger? At that instance I heard him yelling help, I didn't think... I just reacted. There was no time to debate in my mind the pros and cons of the situation.
I've played these kinds of scenarios in my head about what I would do in life-threatening situations. It is interesting to finally know the answer.

 

[Juice]

Really? Just from the subtle chats we had years ago I could tell you were that kind of guy. I'm surprised you ever even questioned it.

 

[NSX167]

Yawwn, you did the right thing man, and such experience will help you to manage the similar situation in the future. Hopefully there is no next time. By the way, you got my respect.

 

[synergy004]

Awesome work with instincts. Adrenalin rush will get your pulses moving. I had something similar two months ago pulling someone out of a flipped over, burning viper. My hats off to you, life is not something to waste but help spare and save.

Cheers

 

[Russ]

It's good to hear from an actual hero. Way to go.

 

[Yawwn]

Hi Juice,
Thanks for your comment. I remember our conversations years ago when we were both having issues with our widebodies. It is good to hear from you.
In those scenarios that I've played in my head, I always thought I would help, but you just never know until you are actually confronted in the situation.

Thanks NSX167. I see you're in the bay area as well. Looking forward to seeing you at a future meet.

Much respect to you as well synergy004 for helping out the guy in the Viper!

Thanks Russ!

 

[bngl3rt]

You did the most important thing, which is overcome bystander syndrome. According to my (extremely basic) understanding of psychology, for some reason, the more people that are watching, the harder it is for any individual person to act out and do something about the situation. Those other 8 people who were just standing there dumbfounded and not assisting you were suffering from bystander syndrome.

Much respect to you, man. Glad you made it out of there okay and hope to see you again soon.

 

[Ko-nsx]

Life threatening situations fall under a big umbrella, sometimes it could be a car accident, a dog attacking a person or even loaning someone money. I think you did the right thing, sometimes you have to ask or realize that whomever you are helping at that moment with whatever it is they need help with, it could EASILY be you in the same situation needing the help. Knowing that makes me put things you experienced in perspective. What goes around comes around. You did what you needed to do and hope someone would do the same for you and yours.

 

[Bravo]

You're a good man.
We are only here on this planet to make more little ones, and help others.
You did right.

 

[biscuits]

We use to live at the end of a 2 mile straightaway in a 90 degree curve with a 30 ft drop off and no guardrail. 1 to 2 times a year someone would inevitably fly off the curve and hit a tree or rock or make all the way to the bottom. 911 knew who we where and what happened before we even said anything. I can't count how many times I've held the hand of a scared blooded person til the police got there. You get numb to it. You dont think about getting sued or ran over ...you react. You gave that man hope and comfort for few minutes at your own risk and in turn it strengthens your own soul.
Good job.

 

[PHOEN$X]

Wow, way to go Yawwn! You took the correct course of action, IMO. Yes you risked your life, but you were there and able to help. Just make sure you have sufficient disability/life insurance, because you don't know what curve balls life can throw at you, and you should be prepared to take care of your dependents no matter what.

 

[blue_myriddn]

You did the most important thing, which is overcome bystander syndrome.

+1 Its a tough thing to do, and honestly I don't really have a poor opinion of people who can't overcome that paralysis in a crisis situation - it is a common reaction and nothing for anyone to be ashamed of.

Hats off to you for stepping up to the plate and doing the right thing and helping another person in their moment of need. As a former volunteer ambulance medic I know how good that feeling can be.

 

[Peace Frog]

Who needs a cape anyway.

You did the most important thing, which is overcome bystander syndrome.

Absolutely amazing statement. A man just died on subway tracks; not a victim of a conflic, not a victim of a multi-ton train, but the victim of inaction. Absolutely heartbreaking.

According to my (extremely basic) understanding of psychology, for some reason, the more people that are watching, the harder it is for any individual person to act out and do something about the situation.

Actually I don't think it's that hard to figure out at all(this is all totally my opinion). I don't think it has to do with "mental shock". I think it has to do with acceptance....it's like doing your job with your supervisor and his supervisor watching you. Some may say "no big deal", but I disagree.

To take action means to make a decision and plan of attack. If you are among others watching, you may be afraid that they would question your actions, what do they think of your method of fixing the situation? Are you being too careless and not helping the victim(s) enough? Are you moving them when they shouldn't be moved? Maybe you're not listening to them?


I think that the more people watching and it's impact on a persons willingness to act is basically peer pressure: "What do these other people think about how I am handling the situation; satisfactory or unsatisfactory?"

 

[myw]

Amazing, incredible and well written story.

Real life heroes do exist.

Bravo and cheers!

 

[quack]

+1 you're a hero man. Love hearing positive stories like these from real people!

 

[naaman]

I like to think I would have done the same... I have yet to come upon an accident that the fire department or police have not already locked down, though.

 

[shawn110975]

I would have done the same thing. but I know of a few people on prime that prob would have just drove by snapped a pic of the wreck and drive off. no names though we know who they are.

 

[Jetpilot3]

In this day and age you have restored my faith in humanity. Such an epic thank you!

 

[Yawwn]

Thanks for your kind words, gents.
It was really nerve-racking to be rescuing the guy while there was still cars zooming by at freeway speeds on the the two left freeway lanes. What shocked me was that people would not really slow down as they drove by the scene of the accident. I could feel the strong gusts of air everytime someone drove by.

 

[MexiRicer]

You did the right thing man. Major props.

 

[JonBoy]

You did the right thing. You just did it the wrong way.

It is very heroic to put yourself in danger to save someone else but the simple fact is, you nearly got yourself killed and made the situation worse. If you are incapable of actually helping an injured person (ie, you're not a doctor, nurse or EMT), you should always make sure the area is as safe as possible before going to help them. That would include putting someone further up the road to warn traffic to move over and slow down, potentially talking to the hurt driver (from a safe point) to assess how truly hurt/in danger they are prior to putting yourself out in traffic and also getting bystanders to help out (if possible) to speed up the extraction process. From the sounds of it, they would've been just fit sitting in the vehicle until real help got there, despite danger of another rear-end collision (which is almost certainly very survivable).

If you were a company employee and did this in many industries, you would have been fired for what you did. It's great to save a life but not at the expense of another life or lives.

I did H2S training (hydrogen sulfide - a toxic gas) a few years ago and they mentioned that there are more deaths from people trying to rescue others that had been knocked unconscious from H2S than deaths of the people initially knocked out by the gas. They train you to not even attempt a rescue unless you are fully certified, have proper gear, have a spotter or visual reference of some sort, etc, etc.

Don't get me wrong - I commend you for what you did. I just recommend you think a little longer next time before you jump to help. It may save your life and, in doing so, save someone else's. You can't help someone when you're dead or badly injured.

 

[whiteNSXs]

Good job, my friend!
Steve

 

[Yawwn]

Thanks Guys.

Hi JonBoy,
You make good points. I think normally I would have been more cautious and rational if I didn't hear his distress yelling. However, when I did hear how loud and pleading it sounded, my instincts kicked in and that sense of urgency to get to him ASAP had overridden any thoughts about having someone else go out and try to slow down traffic. In retrospect, all of those things would have been ideal. I guess I was just thinking the worst-case scenario in which he would bleeding out, in which case, I needed to get him out of the car immediately.
Now that I have the experience, I know how better to handle a situation if another one does arise in my lifetime.

Thanks again all for chiming in.

 

[H-carWizKid]

intense situation- you can feel it just reading your account.

Glad you helped, and glad you are ok

 

[steveny]

Excellent outcome. I did a search and was unable to find a post I made here many years ago about a similar situation I was in but with a very different outcome. I watched the guy burn because I couldn't get the door open and the fire just became to intense for me to continue to try. It still haunts me that no one out of the many bystanders would help me.