This morning I did. I saw a badger by the side of the road, and I didn’t stop to check he was dead. Should I have done? I don’t know.
This evening, as I left work, I drove out of the industrial estate towards the main road. I saw a young girl sitting on the pavement at the opposite side of the road, all curled up on herself in that exhausted or saddened way they have. I drove past, in the left hand lane, intending to take the second turn up the hill. Somewhere in the matter of yards before the decision was irreversibly made (it’s a sliproad onto a dual carriageway and the next junction is over a mile away) I swung over into the outside lane, around the bizarre double roundabout and back into the industrial estate.
I pulled up next to the slightly startled girl, leant across and wound down the window. “I’m just checking, are you alright? You just look a bit abandoned, that’s all.”
She gave me a beautiful smile “yes, I’m fine.”
“OK then.”
And I drove off again. I didn’t have to drive home wondering. I don’t know what I’ve have done if she’d said no, I guess I’d have made it up at that point (no point in having a motto if you don’t live by it 
) but I guess in that split second of decision where I changed lane and drove back around, I’d managed to think ‘what if that was Big out there, and she wasn’t OK’ and I guess I’d hope at that point, that there would be someone who wouldn’t drive by.
I did that last week when i saw a little girl sitting by the edge of the road, who i happened to know. I drove back round, stopped – and scared the life out of her dad, who was doing laps of the roundabout on his motorbike (????) – who thought i was possibly abducting her
But at least *I* didn’t drive home worrying either
I always think, if that was one of mine, I would like someone to stop and help, if it was needed. But in todays society you can be wrongly accoused just for trying to help, its a very tough decision, either way it can have you thinking all the way home.
Glad the girl was OK though.
I think it’s possibly an easier decision if you’re a woman – right or wrong, women seem less threatening I think. I’d certainly stop (although not for a badger
) if it wasn’t going to compromise my own children. As a nurse, I’m obliged to stop at accidents and do *something* even if that something is just to call for an ambulance. Since having children I’ve often wondered how far I’d go with that if I had the children in the car but could see someone needed immediate help…difficult decision to make!
Yep, right decision……:0)
“women seem less threatening I think” – very true, but sadly not always accurate. I heard shouting and crying late one night and looked out of my house to see a girl lying sobbing on the floor and another girl standing next to her. I assumed the standing girl was trying to help the crying one and came out to see if I could do anything, but it turned out that she’d been the one who’d been beating her up!
I wouldn’t stop for a badger (obviously not, they’re fake) but I have got off a bike for a cat. And I’ve spoken to several distressed-looking people in the street, though I’ve never had to stop a car for one.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen one to stop for! Have slowed down a fair few times though when I’ve seen situations which looked at first glance as if help might be needed. Sped off from a road rage incident though because it looked dangerous and I had the little ones with me. That’s a tough call because on my own I could have helped. Are self-defence skills applicable to defence of passing strangers though? Sometimes it’s also hard to work out who needs the help.
“I’ve spoken to several distressed-looking people in the street”
Were they distressed before or after you spoke to them?