Academics stage cycling "accident" to see how many passers-by stop

I hope that you find my "Rescued by a Singing Fire Chief in a Kilt" story amusing.

Please click on the links as they illustrate the story.  

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What have I been up to? Why, having “adventures” bicycling on the Blue Ridge Parkway (in North Carolina, USA) - one being in July when a huge windstorm came up out of nowhere. Clocked at 59 mph with gusts to 86 mph, I had to hold tightly onto the Pilot Ridge Overlook sign (http://www.virtualblueridge.com/parkway-place/pilot-ridge-overlook/) to keep from being blown away. 

After the wind subsided and I started weaving my way back home, I noticed red flashing lights in my rear view mirror following close behind. It turned out to be the chief of the Blowing Rock Fire & Rescue Department, Kent Graham (http://www.blowingrockfire.org/members/kent-graham/) on his way to work the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games (http://www.gmhg.org/homepage.shtml). 

Advising me that there was lightening up ahead (NC ranks 8th in lightning deaths -  http://www.gastongazette.com/news/20160716/lightning-kills-gaston-church...) quickly convinced me to hitch a ride with him back to Linville. When I saw he was wearing a kilt and asked him if he knew the song about the drunken Scotsman, (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dl96vNqNjlg   he proceeded to sing it to me from beginning to end!
 

Having been witness to a road accident whilst cycling in France (car heads into ditch on bend) I also saw the response of the next cars to arrive - 100% stop and help response. Unfortunately it wouldn't help the academics altruism study as it probbaly has a lot to do with French law under which it is a criminal offence not to stop and assist if you see an accident or its aftermath. 

Motorists don't help each other either, ime.

I've pushed four broken down cars out of junctions/to places where they are no longer blocking the road.  Usually the driver and I have been the only people pushing, occasionally other cyclists have helped.  Other drivers simply went around the "obstruction" in each case.

Interesting thread.  +1 for experiencing lack of empathy from car drivers.  I had a big crash one Summer evening, smashed helmet, a lot of skin loss and ripped clothing.  I got myself to the edge of the road and watched people in cars drive past without a glance.  Sad.

When I crashed last summer, and lay in the road for 45 minutes waiting for the ambulance, EVERY cyclist who went past either stopped or at least slowed to find out how I was.  In the same 45 minutes, not a single car driver did.

and they wonder why I hate them.

I snapped my chain doing megawatts (honest) up a hill the other day.  All the cyclists going past asked if I was OK and one stopped to rummage through his bag to see if he had a suitable quicklink and to offer to lend me some tools and make sure I had a phone if it came to that.  I managed to fix it myself by breaking off another link and rejoining it, but it was nice to be offered help.  I always make a point of asking if people have got what they need when I see them stuck at the road, as I'd like to think they'd offer the same to me if I was in dire straits!

Must be a Devon thing,

Knocked off bike by a driver using a right hand turning lane as a slip road from a junction in morning rush hour traffic in February 2014.

Within seconds 5 drivers had stopped three offering their details as witnesses to the accident and one, a nurse admittedly, came across to check on me.

Another driver had already called the Police and the Ambulance to the scene. I had only cuts and bruises thankfully, and one knackered bike.

The only rubbish behaviour was the flow of traffic not allowing the Ambulance to cross to my side of the road where I was discussing matters with the driver.

When I witnessed a collision between a cyclist and a lorry also in Devon ten drivers had stopped to assist.

Like handlebarcam I am also surprised that they chose the autism angle on this. I have 2 sons with autism and it is true that they would quite possibly not have stopped. Empathy is just a small part of it though, their ability to determine stress / emotion is somewhat lessened plus they live in quite a structured 'bubble', anything out of the ordinary would stress them out. However, if they were directly faced with an incident I couldn't tell you how they may react on any given day. They are both very kind and loving children but they see the World quite differently from you and I. To suggest all autistic people lack empathy is like suggesting all young black males should play basketball. You also take the 'c#nt' factor massively out of the equation, some people may have a level of empathy but decide they are safe in their car, late for work and about to complete level 142 on Angry Birds.

As an aside, some years back I was mugged between Bedford and Northampton, crawled / stumbled some 3 miles bleeding profusely with cars passing without a care in the World. Maybe as a young male I was seen as a threat...

I stopped to help a guy who had a puncture last year.

He was out on a club ride and had all the bits to change his puncture, and had told the group to go on with out him.

I found him at the side of the road struggling with his spare tube as his CO2 canister had gone off prematurely.

I offered him the use of my pump. He managed to pump up his tyre but couldn't get my pump off the valve, seems there was a problem with it.

By this time his club mates had returned looking for him and one of them (his daughter) gave him another tube.

So there's me with a my pump stuck on his busted valve. The whole thing making my pump completely unusable.

What did he do?

Took my phone number and a couple of days later text me for my address and 2 days later I got a cheque from him for £25 to buy a replacement pump.

Top guy and his daughter is actually one of the top 10 female triathletes in the UK.

More data:

Face-planted on a country lane on a Sunday, and three or more drivers stopped to help, call for an ambulance, look after the bike.

I'm amazed, and pleasantly surprised, that not one of those drivers tried to finish the job, given the views of all right-thinking people espoused by our noble judiciary.

It's not all doom and gloom.  I've had experiences on country roads where many people have stopped.  In fact, every motorist who came my way stopped and offered help of various kinds.  I wonder if this experiment was done in a less urban area, the results might be different?  

I'm certainly not saying  people in rural areas are kinder/more altruistic by nature, but there may be the feeling that no one else is likely to "do the right thing" given there are fewer people around to do it.  Just a thought.

Curious, all this.

I stopped to help someone with a broken chain once.  Knackered old bike-shaped object, but I donated a spare power link, got covered in grime fitting it for him.  He just said 'Fanks' and rode off - leaving me to try to clean myself up with some muddy grass, pack all the bits away and be on my  way in due course.  Left me rather hoping that his chain would break again.

Riding down the Bath-Bristol bike path once, I went around a corner and, lying on the path, was a lady of a certain age , bike nearby and a very obviously broken ankle - courtesy of another cyclist, who had ridden on without stopping.  There were two people standing around at a 'safe' distance.  They had called an ambulance, but she was just lying on the path (it was freezing too) and they just did nothing.  There was nothing to do but offer some comfort, so I held her hand and talked to her for about 45 minutes until an ambulance turned up, found someone who could look after her bike etc.  The others legged it pretty quickly given the chance.  No medical skill needed, just a bit of decency and compassion. 

Donated CO2 and tubes to good causes in the past - karma and all that, and I'm usually offered help if doing some roadside fettling myself.

I think the majority of cyclists will stop to assist others.

best one I helped was a busted chain who said 'no all fine!' When I shouted did he need help as I rode past!! I did fix it but it was a knackered mountain bike and the chain was more rust than metal. Bloke wasn't a regular rider.

as for not stopping because of a Strava segment, nothing sadder mate!

the feeling of security, being in ones own private space and disconnected from the rest of the world by being in a vehicle are major factors to cars not stopping, then there's the 'don't rubber neck', don't cause a blockage stuff too.

its true of all accidents, I saw a van be hit by a right turner in front of me (all in cars) on a 60mph road. We were approaching on the other side of the road, Car in front of me had to swerve sharply to avoid the van as it speared off across the road into a tree without a front wheel. 

Car in front did not stop! I thought it was going to be a fatal, but fortunately only minor injuries and concussion. I was the only witness out of about four vehicles to stop and make a statement.

I must say to my shame I have ignored a fellow cyclist probably in need. Some older lady was at the side of the road looking a bit befuddled, probably a puncture or something but I was in the middle of a hotly contested Strava segment and pushed on as I had about 3 miles to go and ahead of schedule.

I reasoned with myself that it was a popular piece of road and another cyclist would be along to help. Maybe it's karma that my knee is now buggered and I can't cycle at the moment.

Car from left turning right of course... on the roundabout... in my defence of this error, it's early, I'm old and I didn't see him officer!

It is scary to see how motorists react within the comfort and security of their box. My own experience varies (more than one RTA unfortunately).

worst one was a summer evening rush hour, taken out by a car coming out of a junction, flipped over front of car and head butted the road, ended up in a turn right box. No idea how long I was unconscious awoke to find the traffic flowing freely both sides of me. I guess I should feel lucky that a lorry didn't SMIDSY who wanted to turn right! It is galling having to stand in the middle of a road bleeding with your bike impaled in a car and the traffic not allowing you off the road.

in other news Inwas taken out on a roundabout, me going straight on, car from right SMIDSY. Driver went round the roundabout I thought for another go! But he did so to place his car where it would protect me, he destroyed my rear light and bidon which had come of but hey ho. Again full daylight but I had to persuade the two or three who had stopppedmto help to NOT get the air ambulance! 

So lots of help that time, police got involved, I was cautioned prior to interview 'in case I provided evidence for charging me'! Really! The driver admitted he was tired, that he had not seem me on the middle of a roundabout in broad daylight so had pulled out just in front of me. So when I was interviewed he was bang to rights. I got told they would not proceed against him as he was over 70 and had been working doing fencing so I should have sympathy! So unimpressed that the freedom to drive was more important than not killing or nearly killing another human. Still that was years ago and it's got better now, Er it has hasn't it?...

personally I think that these incidents build up ones insensitivity and aggressive response to poor driving

I find it interesting that this research was conducted by the Cambridge Autism Research Centre (incidentally, run by a cousin of Ali G) and aimed to test the proposition that autistic traits indicate a lower likelihood to help. I have a theory that the typical cyclist-hater represents the polar opposite of autism, in that they not only understand the unwritten rules of society that an autistic person struggles with, they go further and make up new ones just so they have more to follow. These are the kind of people who think there is a minimum speed limit, or that vehicles which pollute enough to require payment of Vehicle Excise Duty have priority, or that the council painting a few bike symbols on the pavement makes the adjacent roadway a motorized-traffic-only zone. The most extreme sufferers of this condition feel that they so wholly represent the "silent majority" that a cyclist holding up traffic for a few seconds means they can legitimately terrorize and even physically assault them, then stop to lecture them on their flouting of social norms, despite this adding far more time to their own journey. For those people, passing by an injured cyclist wouldn't be a matter of selfishness, or not being able to relate to another human being, but satisfaction at the thought of outsider getting what was coming to them.

I had a big crash where i broke my Shoulder Blade and had  Concussion. It was on a remote road with my mate, my mate did not know what to do because his friend (me) was lying on the ground in heaps of pain, the next two cars that came down the road behind me stopped and rang the ambo. I am very thankful for those guys that stopped. It shows ya not all drivers in Australia are road hogs.

Score one for my state, I guess.  I fell in an intersection on a highway overpass and it seemed like every motorist stopped.  There were cars everywhere.  A couple strangers disentagled me from the bike and helped me off the road and I eventually got a ride home by an off-duty cop.  As we were leaving, a bunch of people were still on the phone to emergency services.  I was a bit surprised.

Funny story:

here in the US i got hit by a car a couple years ago. i walked back to the office (1h walk).

when i arrived i realized my face was full of a mix of fresh and dried blood. nobody said a thing on the way or even looked at me.

(also i ended up having to go to the hospistal, broken hand. yes yes should've dial'd 911 but its not cheap to do that in the us)

I've heard of some similar experiments which pretty much put responses down to a person's current situation at the time they encounter the person in distress, something that's extremely difficult to control in an experiment like this.  Unfortunately I can't find the details but I believe the other experiment goes something like student group a told go to classroom on other side of campus for exam, no rush see you there later, on their journey they encounter person x in distress.  Student group b told to get to classroom on other side of campus in 10 minutes and if they are late they will lose marks on exam, on their journey they encounter person x in distress.  The %ge of group a that stopped to help was significantly higher, I think the sample was large enough that the time pressure was deemed to be the key factor but again can't find the details.

 Very few people give a toss about injured cyclists lying in the road but when a footballer twists an ankle grown men cry.

Le Royaume-Uni est un pays malade.

at the end of this video my mate hit a sign and then the deck. quite a few stopped but look how many just drove past!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kD-ZsH6g1aM

the nurse that stopped was brillant though big thanks to that lady.

I really love it when you've just been knocked off, and you're sprawled out in excruciating pain in the middle of the road, and the drivers beep at you. LOVE IT.

My biggest "off" was a spectacular self-induced miss judgement of a corner opposite a packed pub garden. I got a standing ovation but no help, even though I was bleeding profusely.

First on the scene at a motorbike v car RTA. One nurse helped me try to cope with the casualties while others people slowly gathered around an invisible circle, about 5 metres from the carnage (20 or more). My wife was on the phone with the EMS, relaying instructions. When the instruction "get his helmet off and try resuscitation" came, the onlookers gasped and several shouted "no!". Sadly he was dead already (80mph broadside from the bike had rolled the car). Took me weeks to get over that.