Witness?

[AustinBoy]

So the wife and are driving to Houston from Austin on Friday evening.
We are driving through one of those small towns that has an exit to a major highway coming up so there is a lot of traffic in the right hand lane.
A car realizes he is in the left hand lane and pulls over to the right so he can exit.
Yes, it was a little close but nothing insane. I would say he cut the guy off but would not go so far as to say it was dangerously close.
The guy that he "cut off" now pulls into the left hand lane, passes him and pulls in front him.
It was INSANELY close. EXTREMELY dangerous.

The car infront of the idiot now sees a guy behind him 2 feet off his bumper and slows down.
The idiot hits the brakes right in front of the car he just cut off.
Dust is flying and all the cars on the road see what is going on and slow down.
I am right behind all of this in the left lane and see everything that just happened.

No accident. Everyones goes on their way.

Now, what if there HAD been an accident?

I was the ultimate witness. Should I have stopped?

There is already road rage as the idiot was just that, an idiot and obviously mad.

I have my wife and a Springfield XD 40 in the car.
It is in my nature to do what is right and stop.
I have been reading "Thank God I had a gun" and a lot of scenarios have been going through my head.

1. Its not me or my family. Leave it alone and keep driving.
2. In the book, a guy was spared by a 911 caller backing his story. Do I leave this guy and hope the cops believe him over the idiot?

After another hour of driving, I came up with this:
1. Pull over further down the road, call 911 and wait for the cops. Provide witness information.
2. If idiot and the other guy get into it, life threatening or not, stay in my car until the cops get there.
3. If idiot comes after me some reason, already have the wife on the phone with 911. Be ready to hit the gas and get away from him but go back when cops get there.

Half the reason I am posting this is that I have never been in this situation before and if I didnt have an hour to think about it, I would have probably made some really bad mistakes.

Another scenario to put some thought into before you are in the situation.

Good plan?
Am I missing anything?



Thanks
Ty

[KFP]

I think you've got it pretty well covered.

I had a situation a couple of months ago that was nearly identical. It was on a main road, entering the highway. I was driving in the far right lane to enter the access road, behind a truck. A coupe that was driving too fast and carelessly changing lanes, cut off the truck badly, so that he could get on the access road up ahead. The truck responded by pulling around the coupe's left side and cutting him off, which prompted the coupe to cut him off for a second time.

At this point both vehicles are in the turn lane for the access road, pinned in with traffic in the front and my truck in the rear. The driver of the coupe stops HARD, causing the truck involved to stop harder, maybe hitting the coupe. The driver of the coupe then gets out and marches back to the truck involved. The guy driving the truck gets out as well. That's when I made my phone call to 911.

I had all of the potential scenarios running through my head. They continued with their shouting match, and it started to look like it was about to get physical. At some point they look back at me and realize that I'm the only car not changing lanes to move around them, so they move both of their cars onto the access road, and continue with their argument. At this point police were on their way and the argument had calmed down. I think my pulling behind them on the access road may have had something to do with that, because now there is a witness who had stopped and can tell the whole story, without prejudice - and they were both wrong.

After they had said everything that they had to say to one another, they both headed back to talk to me. I cracked the window of my truck, and said something along the lines of "Police are on their way, arguing about it isn't going to accomplish anything. Go sit in your cars." They were a surprised that I wouldn't respond to their questions, so I repeated it, and amazingly they complied. Moments later police arrived on scene, talked to the two guys who were now best friends, got my statement, and I left.

I wanted to be a good witness in case anything happened, but had made the decision to not get directly involved.

[Liberty]

I would stop to render aide to the injured. I would leave my wife with the phone, and a gun, if I had another on me I would take that with me also.

I don't feel as obligated to be a witness, as I do to give aide to the injured.

[rdcrags]

I think I would drive on and tell the 911 operator where I can be reached later if needed as a witness. Cell phones have changed many things.

TX CHL 1997
CO CHP 2005

[Hoi Polloi]

I think I would drive on and tell the 911 operator where I can be reached later if needed as a witness. Cell phones have changed many things.

TX CHL 1997
CO CHP 2005

I would do the same. I'd call 911 as I kept on going down the busy highway in that scenario.

[Purplehood]

I think you've got it pretty well covered.

I had a situation a couple of months ago that was nearly identical. It was on a main road, entering the highway. I was driving in the far right lane to enter the access road, behind a truck. A coupe that was driving too fast and carelessly changing lanes, cut off the truck badly, so that he could get on the access road up ahead. The truck responded by pulling around the coupe's left side and cutting him off, which prompted the coupe to cut him off for a second time.

At this point both vehicles are in the turn lane for the access road, pinned in with traffic in the front and my truck in the rear. The driver of the coupe stops HARD, causing the truck involved to stop harder, maybe hitting the coupe. The driver of the coupe then gets out and marches back to the truck involved. The guy driving the truck gets out as well. That's when I made my phone call to 911.

I had all of the potential scenarios running through my head. They continued with their shouting match, and it started to look like it was about to get physical. At some point they look back at me and realize that I'm the only car not changing lanes to move around them, so they move both of their cars onto the access road, and continue with their argument. At this point police were on their way and the argument had calmed down. I think my pulling behind them on the access road may have had something to do with that, because now there is a witness who had stopped and can tell the whole story, without prejudice - and they were both wrong.

After they had said everything that they had to say to one another, they both headed back to talk to me. I cracked the window of my truck, and said something along the lines of "Police are on their way, arguing about it isn't going to accomplish anything. Go sit in your cars." They were a surprised that I wouldn't respond to their questions, so I repeated it, and amazingly they complied. Moments later police arrived on scene, talked to the two guys who were now best friends, got my statement, and I left.

I wanted to be a good witness in case anything happened, but had made the decision to not get directly involved.

That sounds exactly like I would have done.
I always stop when I witness accidents.
I witnessed one where a lady stopped at an intersection, looked both ways and made a right turn. I have no idea why, but I just happened to be watching when a little pickup truck swerved from the center lane of oncoming traffic and rammed into her side.
He then jumped out and started yelling at the lady. An LEO almost immediately appeared and the pickup driver started going on about the lady making a right turn in front of oncoming traffic.
I took the LEO aside and advised that the lane was clear, that the guy made an illegal and sudden lane change within 150 feet of the intersection (which I understand is illegal specifically to avoid these situations), and that the Officer should look in the pickup truck in order to see the tiny girl sitting in the front seat without any form of safety restraints.
I gave my statement and left with the lady thanking me profusely for my time.

I cannot stand seeing someone try to pull a fast one over people.

[Excaliber]

Like with most things in life, the best thing to do depends on the situation.

If an accident that was likely to have produced serious injuries occurred in front of me, I'd stop to help if I was in a position to safely do so.

If the accident produced a serious traffic hazard that was likely to cause additional serious collisions, I'd stop to help until first responders arrived.

If an accident that didn't meet either of those criteria happened in front of me, I'd most likely drive around it, and use my cell phone to give witness info to the agency with jurisdiction in that area if I had been able to see exactly how it occurred.

None of those are absolutes, and the circumstances in each case would determine my actions.

[Hoi Polloi]

I was feeling rather curmudgeonly and wondering why I would be unlikely to stop except in the most extreme situations and the answer was obvious to me: my kids.

It is so rare that I drive alone that I take it for granted that children will be with me, in which case, my priority has to be them. Leaving them alone on the side of the road near a collision (increasing the odds of them being hit by someone who comes upon the accident too quickly to stop) and putting myself in harm's way by walking into a known dangerous situation so I can take care of someone else would require some serious circumstances.

If it were just me, or even more so if it were my husband and me together, I'd be much more likely to stop.

[Excaliber]

I was feeling rather curmudgeonly and wondering why I would be unlikely to stop except in the most extreme situations and the answer was obvious to me: my kids.

It is so rare that I drive alone that I take it for granted that children will be with me, in which case, my priority has to be them. Leaving them alone on the side of the road near a collision (increasing the odds of them being hit by someone who comes upon the accident too quickly to stop) and putting myself in harm's way by walking into a known dangerous situation so I can take care of someone else would require some serious circumstances.

If it were just me, or even more so if it were my husband and me together, I'd be much more likely to stop.

For those situations when you choose to stop, consider stopping on the shoulder just past the incident scene.

Reasons:

1. You don't have those pretty blue and red lights on your vehicle that inspire folks to slow down and move over (sometimes).

2. If somebody approaching the scene isn't paying attention and can't stop, the rearmost vehicle is the one that gets hit.

[Liberty]

For those situations when you choose to stop, consider stopping on the shoulder just past the incident scene.

Reasons:

1. You don't have those pretty blue and red lights on your vehicle that inspire folks to slow down and move over (sometimes).

2. If somebody approaching the scene isn't paying attention and can't stop, the rearmost vehicle is the one that gets hit.

Also if you pullup ahead of the accident, your more likely to be able to leave if the police block all the traffic.

[ELB]

I think your number 1 option was the best choice. Even better maybe, go to the next exit, pull off into a safe area like a gas station, and call 911 to report. The cops can come find you there when they need a witness report.

Ditto on finding a safe place PAST the incident site to park. This is true regardless of the hostility of the incident participants. Other traffic is likely to be a bigger threat.

Don't walk or stand in the roadway unnecessarily (like not at all if you can at all help it). Cars can come up on you fast, particularly if they haven't seen and processed that in incident is happening and are just blasting along.

Note that even if you have them, red and blue lights do not make you bullet or car proof. In fact, there is some thought they they contribute to secondary crashes, because they attract people's eyes and people tend to drive where they look. One state police agency looked at the issue and started requiring their patrol officers to use only amber lights once they were stopped. Officer deaths from cars crashing into them during stops were cut in half. Hard to say the new policy was absolutely the reason, but it is thought provoking.

All of the above X3 at night. Wear a reflective vest at night (heck, wear it in the daytime). Don't have a vest because you are not an official responder? BUY ONE. Nobody says you have to be official to be safer.

[InfoTechCHL2007]

I think you've got it pretty well covered.

I had a situation a couple of months ago that was nearly identical. It was on a main road, entering the highway. I was driving in the far right lane to enter the access road, behind a truck. A coupe that was driving too fast and carelessly changing lanes, cut off the truck badly, so that he could get on the access road up ahead. The truck responded by pulling around the coupe's left side and cutting him off, which prompted the coupe to cut him off for a second time.

At this point both vehicles are in the turn lane for the access road, pinned in with traffic in the front and my truck in the rear. The driver of the coupe stops HARD, causing the truck involved to stop harder, maybe hitting the coupe. The driver of the coupe then gets out and marches back to the truck involved. The guy driving the truck gets out as well. That's when I made my phone call to 911.

I had all of the potential scenarios running through my head. They continued with their shouting match, and it started to look like it was about to get physical. At some point they look back at me and realize that I'm the only car not changing lanes to move around them, so they move both of their cars onto the access road, and continue with their argument. At this point police were on their way and the argument had calmed down. I think my pulling behind them on the access road may have had something to do with that, because now there is a witness who had stopped and can tell the whole story, without prejudice - and they were both wrong.

After they had said everything that they had to say to one another, they both headed back to talk to me. I cracked the window of my truck, and said something along the lines of "Police are on their way, arguing about it isn't going to accomplish anything. Go sit in your cars." They were a surprised that I wouldn't respond to their questions, so I repeated it, and amazingly they complied. Moments later police arrived on scene, talked to the two guys who were now best friends, got my statement, and I left.

I wanted to be a good witness in case anything happened, but had made the decision to not get directly involved.

Just curious....where was your weapon while they were at your window?

[KFP]

Center console of my truck. The window was cracked only the slightest bit and I had placed my truck in drive, so I felt comfortable with my weapon accessibility and escape plan.