With our modern world where there is so much hustle and bustle, at times it seems like people don’t slow down or take the time to help others. A few weeks ago, a group of people restored my faith in people helping people.
I was driving to Costco early one evening when I came upon the traffic light before Costco where I saw a car turned on its side. I didn’t see any emergency lights, so I knew that the accident happened a few minutes ago (average response time in San Diego is not great, but is still less than 10 minutes). I pulled over, got out of my car and went over to see what I could do to help. Already, there were at least 5 men holding up the car and trying to get the last passenger out (the 3 other occupants from the overturned car were out and the 4 from the other vehicle were also out). I made sure that someone was calling 911 and started to assess the situation (just as a side note, always make sure that someone has called and don’t assume that in a group anyone will do it). A number of other people came over to try to free the last passenger by using a baseball bat to pry open the door; luckily the passenger was able crawl out on her own. At the same time, other people were making sure that the 7 people already out had something to eat, drink and weren’t injured.
Once the woman was out of the car, someone had already setup a folding chair for her and she sat down. I went to my car and got my first aid bag and with the assistance of another good samaritan, I bandaged the wound on the woman. A woman came over and said she was a nurse offering to help and another man was in the intersection (the 2 cars were in the middle of the intersection) starting to direct traffic around the accident.
By the time police and fire arrived, the bystanders had started to disperse. It was almost amazing to see so many bystanders come together and help complete strangers. While I don’t want accidents to happen, I hope that as many caring and selfless people come out and assist.