turning a blind eye

[Desert Tortoise]

Badger, sorry to hear this happened to you.

When I see someone on the side of the road I've stopped to help and once they even took me up on it. Once there was a guy on the side but he had his cell phone out and was talking on it so I didn't ask. Figured he either had to talk on the phone or had some kind of help worked out. Maybe I shouldn't assume that?

Your unfortunate incident did get me thinking about something else too. There were 2 separate instances (both happened to be right in front of our national park entrance) where each was an obvious bad crash. Not only were people standing around but in one police was there and the other a park ranger.

What got me thinking was if an official is not there but people are, maybe I should stop to check anyway. Just because people are around doesn't mean they are doing anything. Or have I watched too much 20/20 What would you do programs?

Not trying to be funny, just thinking.

[spokewench]

If I see a cyclist or even someone else fall or have a mechanical, I always make sure I ask if they need help. I have changed many a man's flat when they did not have the materials needed, nor the mechanical knowledge to fix it either. Although, since I never had Campy it was an experience to try to figure out how to get the brakes to release from their tight position once! Finally figured it out, however. Thank god

I would always check on someone who looks like they might be hurt or I had seen fall.

I figure if I don't do this, then what are the chances that when I need help that I will get help

Hopefully, my karma will work out okay.

Sorry to hear no one stopped for you. People are so self absorbed in this day and age. That the kindest way I can put it

[Aquila]

I've stopped more than once. Once it was important, because the person who crashed had hurt her ankle. My friend walked her and her bike to the nearest road while I rode back as fast as I could and got my car so we could give her a ride.

Other times, folks haven't needed help. But everyone's been friendly and seemed happy to be asked. And I've been happy to be asked, too, on occasion (stopped for water or something).

[Tri Girl]

blind eye turners suck!

I always ask people on the side of the road/trail if they need help with a flat, even if I can see they have the things they need. Just in case.

I once needed help (my CO2 inflator wouldn't work and I couldn't pump my tire). Not one of the dozen or so people who passed me said anything. I eventually walked my bike 5 miles back to my car.

I would most definitely stop if someone had crashed. I stopped once during a tri to help someone who had crashed badly. Screw the race- it's more important to be a human being.

[soprano]

Out in the rural areas, I stop. When I've been on tour by myself and stopped to rest or eat, other cyclists *always* stopped. It's a great way to meet people

I have yet to come across an injured and alone cyclist, thank goodness.

Riding for transportation here in town, I don't always stop when I see someone with mechanical trouble. There are 6 bike shops along my 5 mile commute. We have a good bus system and cab service. Cyclists who can't or don't feel like doing the repair on the spot have multiple options to get where they are going; most of the university students aren't going very far in any case. If the stopped cyclist looks upset, I stop and see if I can help. However, if he or she looks calm and is walking with purpose, I figure that the situation is under control and generally I go on. When I've had flats, I seem to get the same treatment. If I've already got the wheel off and my hands dirty, a few people might stop to see if I've got everything I need. When I got a flat and decided to walk it out to the shop (not wanting to sit down on a muddy curb) tons of people stopped to make sure I was all right.

[channlluv]

I've had two bad crashes. The first, my husband and daughter were with me, so I had immediate assistance - I had blacked out briefly, but DH got me back on my bike pretty quickly and helped me get the wounds cleaned up and handled when we got home. I tried not to bleed all over the car. Serious road rash.

The second crash happened in the parking lot as I was dismounting and trying not to crash into my car while trying to figure out those da*n pedal cage strappy things. Oy-vey. I landed hard and heard two women behind me laughing at me. It was pretty embarrassing. I unhooked my trapped foot and got the bike off me enough to get up, then looked around at them. "Uh, are you okay?" one of them asked when she realized I'd heard her and her girlfriend laughing at me. "Yeah, nothing bruised by my ego."

I lied, of course. When I got home and checked my hip, it looked like I'd sat in purple paint.


As for me stopping, I came up on a young mother with a toddler in a back-of-the-bike seat and a three-year-old who'd crashed her little training wheel bike into a sticker bush/cactus off the paved path. The little girl was screaming, the baby was crying, and the mom was frantically trying to calm them both down. Luckily, I had a first aid kit in my bag and I had a clean water bottle, too, so I had her cleaned up quick, and we used the adhesive tape from the medkit to pull out the stickers, then I put Neosporin on her scrapes. The mom was so grateful. I was just happy to help, and I told her that if my own daughter was ever in trouble like that, I'd hope someone would stop to help her, too.

I can't believe people get so caught up in their own ride they pass without even inquiring if someone needs help.

Roxy

[Catrin]

I always ask when I see someone standing at the side of the road with their bike - especially if they are alone. Even if they are with someone I have asked - and both times it turned out one of them needed to use my air pump as their CO2 cartridge wasn't working for them and the other cyclist had neither cartridge nor pump.

Every time I've been passed by a cyclist when I have been standing at the side of the road with my bike they have asked me if I needed help, which I thought was nice. I do tend to ride in rural areas so I don't know if this makes a difference.

[KnottedYet]

Badger, I am so sorry your experience was like that!

I always stop, or at least ask if someone needs anything. (If they are on the cell I don't bother them. Either they've just stopped to make the call or they are calling back up, whichever, I don't interrupt their phone call.)

I've given out spare tubes, lent my pump, my tire levers, allen wrench, etc. Usually while I'm helping someone several other cyclists will call out "Got everything?" as they go by.

Women have complained to me that men are patronizing and belittling womankind if they offer help while a woman is working on a mechanical; but honestly I think offering help or tools is just the standard around here among all adult cyclists, male or female.

[OakLeaf]

Man, that's awful. I always stop, or at least exchange thumbs up, and I've had people stop for me before. Bici or moto. Unless someone's on the phone and obviously uninjured, then I'll figure they have things under control.

Even on an organized ride, I stopped, offered a tandem couple my chain tool (they declined, they had apparently had who knows how many mechanicals already and were just fed up and ready to take the sag) - and then I rode on to the next support vehicle and made sure that they knew the couple was back there.

Most embarrassing time I was the recipient of the offer of help was when I got a flat on the bike path. I couldn't get my CO2 inflater to work (turns out it wasn't me, it was a wonky head that I eventually threw out), so I was using my mini pump, which takes forever under the best of circumstances; and the first time I hadn't got the tire bead seated properly, so I had to deflate it and do it all over again. I had just started pumping the first time when a guy on a TT bike threw an offer of help over his shoulder. Twenty minutes later, after he'd been to the end of the bike path and back, he came back the other direction and again asked if I needed anything. "Same flat?" he asked incredulously (and I'm sure he thought I really did need help and was just too proud to accept).

[badger]

I think a lot of people just don't want to get involved.

But, on the flip side, I did read something today that renewed my hope in helping one another:

I saw letters of commendation for 2 civilians who went above and beyond anyone's expectations in helping a motorist who had a cardiac arrest and crashed into a pole. The crash exposed live wires, but these 2 individuals did compressions and the other guy even had his own defibrillator (he's apparently a life guard/ski patrol). If nothing was done until help arrived, the motorist would most likely have died.