Help me settle a debate here.

Posted by Pitiful-MobileGamer@reddit | Truckers | View on Reddit | 30 comments

So a few nights ago I was driving on a major freeway when I noticed an elderly lady walking against the flow of traffic on the shoulder, as I passed her I had not seen any other vehicles stopped.

I don't know how long she's been there, but in such a scenario I wasn't going to just drive by. So I quickly turned on all my lights tractor and trailer flashers and wig wags, got stopped on the shoulder. I was wearing a full bright coverall, so I jogged up the shoulder the 1/16th mile or so.

Turns out it wasn't a case of dementia or another medical emergency. She thought she hit small wildlife, and for some unexplained reason wanted to check on it. I convinced her to go back to her car which was actually a little ahead of my truck on bed on the shoulder, with her pretty frail husband behind the wheel.

I thought nothing of it. Until the next morning when my boss was a little peeved about me stopping.

His concern was that it could have been an attempt to steal the load, force a high value low to stop and check on an elderly. And on the load is jacked, or the driver is forced to hand over the keys, load.

And I told him I could see his point, but in good conscience couldn't drive by that scene without investigating further.

I had nine mid luxury SUVs on me, my total load value is about 1.5 million. There's a substantial risk of course.

So what's your opinion, would you stop, or would you avoid any sort of liability and just drive past.

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Resident-Sherbert-89@reddit

your actions would have ended you up in the company newsletter as a goddamn hero. drivers at our company have pulled over and used fire extinguishers, helped people stranded, etc etc and always get an interview for it. you were genuinely concerned for another person i wouldn't have any shame for that regardless of what anyone said. his concern is real but you would think he would offer you a different solution. when people say things like what was said to you, i always ask questions: "ok, what would you do different that would have helped the person but protected the load?" let them explain, and say "ok, thanks for sharing". as i walk out of the room, i let what they said walk out my other ear.

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firstblush73@reddit

Here's what I would do .... Find the next mile marker, call 911, and ask for a welfare check, explain your situation. They will want details.

I never carried a high value load, but as a female overnights, OTR trucker, I would never in a million years stop unless there was an obvious death that would occur if I didnt.

You're hearts in the right place, but the world is going to hell quickly. People are financially desperate. Protect yourself against harm, and job loss.

**still ... kudos for caring, its nice to see there are still people like you around.

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GordTransport1958@reddit

Ive done this often.. call in a broke down vehicle, person walking in middle of nowhere ( possible dazed state) , etc..

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Emergency_Ad1152@reddit

Correct answer.

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shadowmib@reddit

This is the answer. Call and have the cops do a check. If its a hijack attempt they will get arrested, of its not they will get help

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IfIKnewThen@reddit

I was driving on I-20 in Louisiana one day probably 8 or 9 years ago somewhere east of Shreveport. It was raining like hell, like forced to slow down rain. I saw the taillights of a car that seemed to be well off the right shoulder. I slowed down a bit more because I couldn't really see what was going on.

As I got closer I could tell the taillights weren't side by side, they were one above the other. I turned my hazards on and slowed even more. I saw the tracks through the grass and mud and then the car, rolled onto it's passenger side. Just as I was passing, a young lady was climbing out the drivers window. I could see she was crying, she looked directly at me. I'm going to say that we made eye contact.

My immediate reaction was of course to stop. I thought better of it because it was obviously already a dangerous situation and me stopped on the shoulder would only potentially make it moreso.

I called 911 and gave them the info asking for police and paramedics both. I still feel terrible that I couldn't help her. But I feel confident that I made the right decision.

Still, these many years later, I still think about her and I hope that she was okay and that she understood my decision not to stop.

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Just-a-COUNTRY-guy66@reddit

First off why are you discussing your load? 2nd this stir is all over the place. 3rd if it truly happened your boss is right that people do set up people and you should never stop unless it’s a true emergency. This isn’t the 80s and 90s nowadays. Heck truck drivers don’t stop and help other truck drivers like back in the day.

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LikwidHappiness@reddit

Bro this ain't some super top secret shit. And even if he was hauling some top secret shit bros profile is locked down.

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Pitiful-MobileGamer@reddit (OP)

Open deck car hauler, the load is kind of out in the open.

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AshamedHome@reddit

He "had" the load, you can talk about a past load, I've had a Nintendo Switch 2 load, doesn't mean I can't talk about it.

How is the story all over the place? Do you have an 8th grade reading level? And who cares if it's fake, there is no harm done to anyone telling some made up ass story on the internet with fictional characters.

Yes, if it occured he should not have stopped with such a load on his back unless directly affected, I usually just blow my horn and drive past, I did it to a lady stopped in the right lane and she started crying. It's unfortunate but Pre-Trip your car next time and get it out of the travel lanes. 🤷

I always help the brotherhood, I'm waiting for the old heads to die off and start my own with the next generation of truckers since they act like "back in my day" was the greatest times ever, sounds like a racist trying to cope, but I digress.

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BedAdministrative619@reddit

Merge away from them to give them space, note the mile marker, call 911 and report it. No need to put yourself and your equipment in danger.

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mike-2129@reddit

Uhhh. Honestly I woulda changed lanes to the left. Maybe slowed down maybe not and rolled on. But im an asshole.

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Jondiesel78@reddit

I'm old school. I would have stopped. I haul my own equipment, and it isn't unusual for there to be close to a million dollars of equipment on the trailer.

I travel armed. I always have at minimum a handgun on my person and one in the truck.

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FrostyInstruction912@reddit

If it were me the first thing that would prevent me from doing this is simply the dangers to both myself and others pulling off to the side and in addition exiting the truck just to much risk day or night. Make the call to 911 and let them take care of it. Better only one dummy out of their vehicle than you and them.

Yeah your heart is definitely in the right place. When my kids started driving I told them don't ever get out of your car to help push someone stuck in a snow storm anywhere near involving moving traffic it's just not worth the risk.

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1Stack_Mack@reddit

You did the right thing. Proper humans are a rarity recently. There's nothing wrong about looking out for another person.

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pingus3233@reddit

I'd have called 911 to report someone in distress, but I wouldn't have stopped unless I had good reason to assume it was a life-or-death emergency.

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BB5er@reddit

911 would’ve been the best option.

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Mohit-90@reddit

Honestly I get both sides, your boss is thinking risk and you were thinking human first. With that kind of load value, companies lean hard toward “don’t stop” and call it in instead, just for safety. You did the right thing morally, but next time it might be smarter to report it and keep moving.

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deezkeys098@reddit

🤷‍♂️ unless your near the Mexican border I doubt your going to get your load stolen lol

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Mental_Chef1617@reddit

Don't have to be near the Mexican border to get your load stollen. Can happen anywhere. You could stop in a rest area to use the restroom and come back to find your truck is gone.

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Pitiful-MobileGamer@reddit (OP)

We had a guy lose his load at a truck stop, left his truck running in the winter and ran in. Somebody took the advantage and stole five trucks.

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18-Spinning-Wheels@reddit

When I started out driving, over 30 years ago, yes I would have stopped. Society was much different then.

I picked up hitch hikers, stranded motorists and so on. Again many years ago.

In today's society, I will notify the authorities of what I witnessed. Not stopping for anyone who isnt family or a driver with the company I work for.

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Spitfire954@reddit

It’s really not that different except for all the media people consume on the internet telling them that it’s different. I’ll still pullover and give people rides in my personal car from time to time. I do have weapons and a plan if things go wrong, but it never has. Even if it did, at least I might have saved some elderly couple or family from picking up the axe murderer instead.

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PDXWiLdBoii@reddit

You know what got the cat killed? Curiosity.

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Pitiful-MobileGamer@reddit (OP)

I would place the lady to be late 70s early '80s, and that's kind of how I approached it.

I was wearing a traffic fluorescent long sleeve shirt, and traffic pants. And I told her I work out alongside vehicles all day long, and I don't even want to stand out here any longer than I want to.

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Possumjones@reddit

When I ran high value freight I had a security team I would check in with when I needed or wanted to stop. If I ever stopped with out first checking in I would get a call from them immediately. If I did that more I would’ve been fired. Money is the only thing that matters in this industry, put the money at risk? They won’t like that…

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Pitiful-MobileGamer@reddit (OP)

Doesn't work that way with car hauling. At least it open deck everything's out in the open and visible.

This was in Canada not the US which I feel does make a bit of a difference, I don't know if I would have stopped in the United States unless rather rural market.

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