I was speeding about 45-50 in a 25mph construction zone a few miles before Santiam pass. It was changing from rain to snow and starting to get a little slick out there. It was dark, maybe around midnight, so there was very little traffic. I'm near the end of the contruction zone and for whatever reason, there was a state trooper hiding behind some equipment, a few feet off the road. It takes him a couple seconds to get back on the road. By this time I've gone out the contruction zone, and was about to round a fairly sharp corner.

I've already started slowing down and as coasting/braking through the corner, I hit a patch of ice and fishtail. Luckily I was able to maintain control and stop safely. Well the officer was going a little too fast, spun out, and crashed into the oncoming traffic's ditch, his car bounced off the guard rail and spun him around. This was just as he was coming out of the turn. I watched his lights spin around in the rear view mirror and knew something was wrong after he went into the ditch (it was dark and hard to see). I turned around and drove back to him. The officer was OK, his crusier was a little dented, but was still running, only it was stuck in the ditch.

I yanked his car out, and he thanked me for coming back. He said it would have been easy for me to keep driving. He told me to watch those construction zones and have a good night. We were out in the middle of no where and it was obvious that he greatly appricated me stopping and going back. The Officer got my info and said he would send me a report of what happend and I would need to sign it for his department.

Never got a letter but two days later a lady from my local department called and asked me what happened. I told them, they thanked me for the help, and that was the last I've heard from it. About 4 years ago.

Always pays to have a tow strap.

and a Hi-Lift !!

Good on "ya for turning around to help.

Dude. That was good luck. I thought you always had bad luck!

Yeah, I was driving down a country road at night when I saw a guy walking down the road with a gallon gas can walking towards the gas station I just passed, about a mile away.  I picked him up, drove him to the gas station to fill up and then brought him back to his car.

more than once

Yeah, I think me and my girlfriend helped an illegal alien once.

Was going to get a haircut, saw this girl walking down the road.  It was hot.  Very hot outside.  I remember seeing her and thinking "sucks to be her".

Went to the haircut place, line was too long, left.  On my way back we passed her again, she had covered about a mile.  It was still hot.  So I asked my girlfriend if she thought we should stop.  She said sure.

So we stopped.  The girl had only a vague idea of where she lived.  Usually got a ride to work at the restruant.  She was five months pregnant, she was walking in the wrong direction, and even if she had been walking in the right direction, she still had about 10 miles to go.  She'd been walking for about 4 hours when we stopped and helped her (my girlfriend speaks Spanish).

That was my good deed for the day.

Once. But only because I had seen the guy before at school. Never met him until that day and he was pretty cool.

But if he had a Kerry\Edwards sticker on his car i would have drove on

On a regular basis.  It is how I was raised.  I know I have saved at least one life doing so.

SRM

I've pull started a stalled jeep on the interstate.  He wanted a jump, but I wasn't turning around, so I hook a strap and pulled him till he popped the clutch.  Wanted to give me money.  I said no thanks, it's my good deed.

pulled a woman out of a ditch during rush hour. She said she was there for about 30 minutes in bumper to bumper traffic.  nobody stopped.  Tried to give me her last $20.  No thanks.  my good deed for the year.

Pulled another woman out of a ditch after she spun out and went over the embankment and hit a fence up in the country on a Sunday morning.  No offer of money this time.  Father was there and looked pretty well of compared to the two above.  Doesn't surprise me.

That's a nasty stretch of road in bad weather.. you done good.

We used to tow a good number of people back in when the weather got rough on Lake Mead.

We would load everyone but the owner(captain) of the boat needing a tow into our boat, tie a line from our transom (32' Wellcraft) to the forward cleat. I would stand on the dive platform with a knife to cut the line if the towed boat swamped.

I have no idea why anyone would take a shallow draft ski boat out onto Lake Mead and ignore the wind warnings, while not having enough life jackets for everyone aboard (or at least the kids).

Getting help when you are in the middle of a lake and shipping water is a good thing...

I help strangers all day long, everyday.


It's easy to do though when you're a cop.  

I helped an older couple broke down on I 24 near Murfreesboro TN once. They had a flat tire and everyone was blowing on past. I changed their tire and they tried to pay me. No way I could take their money.

I received a letter about  2 weeks later from them thanking me. They must have gotten my tag number and had a friend run it somehow.

It was nice to get the thank you letter though.

I had a very nice looking woman in cammie fataigues stop to help me once.  It was after dark, central city Toledo, raining and nasty.  I had blown a water pump hose and was trying to fix it.  I still cant believe it to this day.

Many times.  Always if it is a woman over the age of 40.  Why?  They are the least trouble.

But once I helped a pair of young women, just outside a college town.  They needed gas and were quite scared so I hand them my cell phone and ID...after they made a call, I told them to stay put and drove up the road, got a can and 2 gallons.  They gave me $10 and I didn't hear anything more until later.

Turns out they called their father and he saved my address and name.  Got a real nice hand-written thank you.  

yes, many times, but it mostly depends on how she looks.

Quoted: I help strangers all day long, everyday. It's easy to do though when you're a cop.

+1

Yep.

Pulled over on the interstate once to help a man and woman whom I thought were having car trouble; turns out, the man was having a heart attack. So I thre everything I had in the back out on the side of the road, threw him in the back (a Cavalier station wagon), and hauled ass to the hospital.

Myself and probably 5 or 6 other trucks pulled over in AZ once to help an elderly couple that had car trouble late at night.

I decided to work over Christmas when I drove a truck. I loaded in Wichita, with a load that took me within just a few miles of my parent's house, so I was gonna roll on with it, and spend some time with the folks. I made it to probably 75 miles east of Albequrque, NM when there was talk on the CB about a guy standing on the side of the road holding up some sort of sign. So I roll up on this guy whose car has broken down right at the start of a bridge. Since it's illegal to stop on a bridge, I got to the other side and pulled over, and went back to see what he needed. It was a man, wife, and their daughter, heading to Albequrque to visit relatives, and the car was tits-up completely. They had been there for about 3 hours, and nobody had stopped...and it 30 f*cking degrees below zero outside, with a wind blowing. It was so damn cold, we had to help his wife to the truck, because her legs had gone numb. And nobody had stopped Well anyway, we got the wife and daughter all loaded up in the truck, and then me and the husband went and got all their gifts and stuff and loaded all THAT into the truck, and off we went. It took up probably around 4 hours to make it to Albequrque with all the snow on the road, and I pulled into a mall parking lot, where he called the relatives, who came to pick them up. They all had a ball riding way up in the truck; I think that was the first time they'd ever even seen a big truck up close. Anyway, I got 'em to the relatives in time for Christmas (it was 4am Christmas Eve when we rolled into the parking lot). Normally, I have a really tough time getting "into the spirit", but helping that family out really made my Christmas.

Yup.  Once or twice a year as the opportunity presents itself.

I have been helped, so I have helped others in return.    I won't go into how I was helped but I found two fisherman stuck on a country road.  They were wearing waders and would have had to walk a couple miles in them..lol!  

Quoted: I have been helped, so I have helped others in return.

Same here and many times. I think a good deed aways gets returned one way or another.

Every chance I get. Half the time it is a motor vehicle collision or medical call and I end up being the first one to arrive on scene. It happens quite often when I'm out on my bike with no gear and no jump kit.
    I always remember something my mother told me as a child."Everybody needs help at least once in their life."

If I'm in no hurry, all the time.

I've taken people to get gas, helped push vehicles to gas stations, given people rides home from dead cars, dug cars out of the snow and pushed them back onto the road and given jumpstarts in parking lots. Never once accepted the money offered.

Its great hearing these stories, of people helping other people.

Many times.  What goes around comes around.  I've had people stop to help me before too.

I am more cautious about who/where in Houston though.

Had some people jump start my truck for me in Houston once in a not so nice area.  Got to talking to them and found out they were from Louisiana and had run out of money and were trying to get gas.  I didn't have cash on me so I used the gas card to fill their tank and get some food at the store.

There isn't a country road left in CT :(

I've helped a lot of folks... Either by stopping to help or by calling *999 the state police emergency number for them.... That's a great number to call,  they jump right on helping  folks stuck on the highway....

Often.

Never take money when offered.  I always tell them to make sure they repay by helping someone else.


Most recent was in a parking lot, a MILF in a Mercedes with a flat.  I, my wife & two sons (19 & 20yrs) helped change the tire.  {Them Euro's sure do have a screwed up way to jack a car up }  The lady was appreciative & offered my son's 20 each.  

They both refused, told her to help out someone else in the future.

Made me pretty proud of my sons.

Yes, I have helped several.

I'm a mechanic and keep a set of emergency tools in my truck including my break in set -mainly for my POS truck- so I stop for stranded motorists often.

However, I rarely stop when I have my kids in the car unless I see a family or have a weapon handy, and I always pull up far away, so if they had any bad intentions my kids could get away. Too many crazies out there today.

When I'm alone I will stop and at least ask if they need help, especially for the elderly and women, but I also stop for you gents too.

I would hope that if my wife was stuck - and that's entirely possible in that POS truck- that someone would do the same for her. I've been stuck and had people come over so I know that others aren't afraid to help.

There was once a bum urban outdoorsman on the on ramp to I-75 holding a sign, as I approached him I noted that he had nodded off, so I slammed on the brakes and hit the horn.  As he jumped and screamed I think he shat himself.  So the answer is no.

One night there was a car stuck in the ditch and they were rodding the piss out of it trying to get out.
There was no way since they were in a little import 30 feet off the road in three feet of snow.

I walk down there and it's this chic with a buzz cut just drunk off her ass. She wanted pulled out and I told her no, that;s the best place for your car tonight. I'll give you a ride or you can wait here and get a DUI.

I gave her a ride to a local bowling alley.
Next morning I found $50 on the floorboard of my truck.

I do it fairly ergularly. I was returning from LA and MS yesterday (on I-20)  and decided to look for people that were either broken down or in need, on my way back to the DFW area. I ended up stopping five times and gave out a lot of bottled water, soft drinks, granola/breakfast bars, etc. I think those people were fairly appreciative.

 I've helped a good many folks over the years. It is suprising how many people don't even have a spare tire, jack, or anything. One nasty night I picked up a very nice, pretty girl named Paula walking down the road in freezing rain. She had a very worried look on her face when I stopped but it was me or walk to who knows where in freezing rain dressed in a cloth coat. Her cell phone was as dead as her car. I dropped her off at a gas station and told her she needed to get a small revolver to keep in her trunk for the future. City people aren't the best survivors.

The last time I stopped to help a woman with a flat, I was rewarded by having a Taurus PT 92 shoved in my face and told to fuck off.

That was in August of 1988 (I remember it well) and have not bothered to even think about stopping for anyone else since. Which makes me mad because I am usually the first one to try to help someone in need. It's not worth getting shot by some crazy ass bitch.

Sorry.

Years ago I worked at a gold mine in the middle of  the Mojave desert, my work mates and I were on our way home after a 12 hour shift in the middle of the summer, outside temp was about 120 that day.

We were driving down a two lane highway headed to Yuma when I came upon a car off the road in the opposite lane, it was off in the heavy sand and I thought it may have got stuck, I noticed an older woman behind the wheel so I turned around to see if I could help.

My self and two other very dirty Miners got out of my Toyota Tacoma (very little room for three big men) and walked over to her window, the woman looked to be about 65 or 70 yrs. old and was scared shitless!!! (Who could blame her three large and very filthy hispanics, surely we were up to no good)...

She barely cracked the window when I went asked her what was wrong, she said she was driving along and the car just suddenly quit, I asked her to crank it, but it made no effort to start. I had her pop the hood and soon discovered what the problem was, her distributer wire had come loose and got mangled in the belt.

I removed the wire and showed it to the woman who just started crying, in between sobs she explained that she had just had the car servieced before her trip and had paid to have it tuned-up.

She was just about to go into complete melt down when I told her I could fix it, she was still scared and I could tell she thought we were there to rob or rape her (yeah like that was going to happen).

I reassured her it would take only a couple of minuets,lucky for her I had just tuned my pick-up the weekend before and had saved the ignitian wires from my truck as a 'just in case'. I retrieved the coil wire from uner the jump seat in my truck an plugged that puppy in and tied it so it would stay in place as it was considerably longer than hers.

I told her to try it, and it fired right up!! The look on her face went from distress to total relief instantly!!!  She was much friendlier now that she saw we weren't out to harm her, she said she had sat there for over three hours in the heat and no one had stopped!! We gave her a couple of sodas and got her calmed down and back to normal, I handed her my cell phone and told her to call ahead to let them know she was okay and would be there shortly, her people were relieved to hear from her and were just about to launch a search for her as she was well over due.

In the end she offered me a few buck which I refused of course, but she insisted on my name and address, about a week later I recieved a very nice thank you card from her and her grand daughter thanking me for helping out her 'Granny'.

That was one of better experiences in 'helping' someone out......

Been helped more times than have helped, due to circumstances.  One, however, I vowed to repay when I have the time and ability by any means possible.

I ride a motercycle it is unwritten law that you keep an eye out for one another.

Yup. If I'm armed and alone I always stop. Usually I stop when I have the wife. I won't stop to pick up solo guys if I'm alone and unarmed though.
The last was a guy and his kid, hiking down a country road with gas cans. We loaded them up and took them to the gas station, then back to their car.
Before that, I helped a drunk guy with a flat, because it was raining,and his kids were crying. Someone else came to drive the car away. What a disgrace he was....
The most fun was a carload of teenage exchange students and their American "mom" who were stuck along the interstate at 11pm with a recently bought car that had just thrown a rod. We loaned them a cell phone and some blankets to keep warm and then kept them company until the tow truck came.

I've been rescued by others a few times as well. I think it's one of the best charitable expenditures of one's time and efforts,as it means so much to many people.

Sure, depending on location and circumstances. But if it doesn't "feel right", I don't stop. I've helped people change tires, pushed cars out of the road and allowed people to use my cell phone, and given people rides.

It feels good to help people out, especially when they're grateful for your assistance.

all the time

yup, pulled old and young ladies out of snow banks, stopped to assist start cars or give rides when I can.  If it doesn't look ok, I keep going , especially when I have my kids with me.

I try to.

Strangest one I had was finding some woman in a crumpled heap on a busy local road.

She took one heck of a spill and was all scratched up.

She was talkative and explained that she was argueing with her boyfriend and he pulled a knife on her. Rather than take a chance of getting stabbed, she jumped out of the car.

While I was calling 911 and trying to make her a bit more comfotable (this was in August and she is laying on the blacktop), the boyfriend returned to "collect" his woman.

He was quite angry with me for touching his woman, and still had a knife in his hand.

The police arrived right then, and took him into custody after drawing down on him.

EMT's took the girl to the hospital.

A few weeks later I recived court summons. He had managed to rack up several charges (DWI, weapons, reckless driving, illegal detainment (?), and some others.

At court he claimed I was the guy who was sleeping with his GF and I was framing him. He ranted and raved thoughout the trial, and was removed from court.

I went home and never heard anything again. Never had to go to court other than the one time, and never saw anything in the paper.

I'd like to belive he is still behind bars somewhere.

Av.

Edit: Oh yea, I helped a blind guy cross a street in Chicago. He was standing on the corner waiting for some help and asking if it was safe to cross. He had been there 30 min before I helped him. Well dressed, and smart, but nobody wanted to help the guy.

Was in my jeep...snow already a foor deep and snowing like it was never going to stop...passed a woman in a dress and heels walking and stopped to offer a ride... her car was down in a ditch and no way was it coming out anytime soon...I offerd her a ride home but she only wanted a ride to the local shopping center... said her hubby would come get her... I honestly think she was scared of me, oh well...my good deed for that year...

Yeah, although it's been a few years.  I don't have a car, so it's very hard for me to drive by and see someone in distress.  

Last time was when my buddy Pat and I were jogging around Kelly Drive in Philadelphia.  There was this guy whose car was stuck in a large pothole.  Now I don't mean a pothole like 1' across, this thing was maybe 10' across and 1-2' deep.  It was not on a major road, it was a combo dirt/pavement road leading into the Fairmount Park area.

His car was in pretty bad shape as is. It was very rusted and beat up.  We could tell he didn't have enough money for a tow.  

So we rooted around and found a long (rusty) pipe and after 30 minutes of work, levered his car out of the hole.  Wasn't it Archimedes who said "if you give me a lever long enough and a sturdy place to stand, I can move the Earth"?  Well, if he said it, it's true.  

In the process, we ended up doing some more body damage to the undercarriage and sheetmetal around the passenger side door but he didn't care.  He offered to pay us $10 but we refused.  

(it was only after we got his car out of the hole that he discovered that he had a car jack in the trunk).  

Quoted: I yanked his car out, and he thanked me for coming back. He said it would have been easy for me to keep driving. He told me to watch those construction zones and have a good night.

Ah ha!  Even after you pull him out of a ditch he has to lecture you.  A good response would be, "You're right officer.  And you keep an eye on those sharp curves.  It's getting pretty slick out here."

I've stopped for strangers before, but I doubt I'd give a hoot about a cop that wrecked while chasing me down for "speeding" through an abandoned construction zone (at midnight I'm guessing no one is working there).

There was an old guy who lived down the street from me, we called him stinky. He was a vet and drunk. I would give him rides to the bar and DAV.

He's dead now

I have passed two officers that were stuck in ditches.  The first was where the guy was sitting in the icy median waiting to catch a speeding college student returning from winter break.  He saw one (I later found out the speeder was a friend), hit the gas, lost control, and promptly slid down a small embankment, no visible damage to the cruiser or officer - he was just stuck.  I was also driving a Crown Victoria, and did not have a towstrap, so I kept on going.  

The second one was after getting 8 inches of snow in 8 hours on the night before a holiday.  The highway was absolutely packed with people, everyone was sliding around, lots of people had minor fender benders.  I presume the cop had pulled off the highway at the scene of one of these crashes, written up the incident, and tried to take off, only to find that he was too far into the snow to get back on the road.  I had a tow strap, but was driving my Hyundai Elantra, and with the volume and idiocy of traffic it was safer to continue on.

I have stopped at the scene of a crash to check on people and call 911, and I have called 911 to report  two other crashes.

Quoted: Well anyway, we got the wife and daughter all loaded up in the truck They all had a ball riding way up in the truck; I think that was the first time they'd ever even seen a big truck up close.

LOL, did you remember to hide your pornos and amphetamines before letting the little girl on?  I know how you truckers are!  

The time I remember most is late one night I picked up this hot gal at a bar, we leave, fool around a bit, decide it's time to do it but she wants to get cigarettes 1st.  No problem, we go to the store near my house and there's an old lady with a flat tire in the parking lot.  I say to the girl, "Well, let's see if she has a spare; I can change the tire in 10 minutes."  She has a trunk full of crap, a jack and no spare tire.  She says she has a spare tire at her place "just down the road."  Oh, did I mention that this woman was going senile?  I would repeat things to her 5 separate times, but a minute later she just keeps on with her thought.

Example,

Me:  How far did you drive on the rim like that?
Her: Oh, it just happened a block ago.
Me (noting the stress marks and cracks on the tire):  Um, no it looks to me like you've been driving several miles on it.
Her: Maybe I ran over a nail at work, or maybe I hit a curb.

Anyways it's 3 in the morning and my buzz is wearing off and I got a hot horny girl with me I figure what the hell, let's go to her place and get this spare tire she's talking about.  It's about 15 minutes 1 way.  10 minutes into the drive I ask her why she has spare tires at home but none in her car.  She says she just bought 2 new tires.  "Oh shit" I'm thinking.

Me: Are the tires on the rim?
Her: I don't know.
Me: Well, figure it out because if they aren't on the rim they won't do you any good you have to go to the tire shop or a mechanic.
Her: I think they are.
Me: Are these the tires they gave you when you bought new ones?
Her: I don't know.
Me: OK, is there a big piece of metal in the center of the tire, or is it just the rubber part?
Her: I don't know.
Me: OK, let me put it this way, can you stick your arm through the middle of the tire or is there something there?
Her: Let's just go get the tires.

Shit....

Sure enough, no rims.  On the way back with her tire, I explained to her 5 more times that her tire was no good without a rim and she needed to see a mechanic.  I didn't bother explaining that she had just wasted 45 minutes of my time.

Finally dropped her off at her boyfriend's house around 4am and I took care of my other business.  I know she's old and all, but she was really trying my patience by the end of the journey!