Just wondering which of us professionals, when we see an incident, be it accident, breakdown, or crime report it to the relevant authorities?
If I see dangerous breakdowns or accidents, I’ve got the Highways Agency on speed dial, and/or Police.
Also from a local perspective, if you see anything suspicious around your home do you report it? Police resources are allocated based on reports from the public so if no-one reports anything the Police ain’t gonna patrol there.
Just interested.
There’s a fine line between being a good citizen and just being a nob. If for example I passed a vehicle in a ditch with no Police aware tape around it I might conclude that from my vantage point I had spotted something that other road users may not have, in that case I’d ring it in. However if I saw a guy driving along with his laptop open I’d shake my head and ignore it as it’s not my job to police the roads.
If its a smash or a breakdown that can turn into an accident then yes I will report it. General idiocy or pigheadedness I don’t bother with.
^ What he said, more or less… always report incidents such as debris in the road where nobody can stop to remove it, or accidents etc where it’s obvious - or seems like - nobody has reported it. I’d rather phone and be told they already know, rather than leave it for somebody else, but I’m not a curtain-twitcher.
Although once years ago I reported a car at the side of the road early in the morning, obviously nicked - back window smashed, baby buggy at the side of it… got quizzed like a mofo by some ■■■■ copper about where I’d been, why I’d been driving there, why did I report it etc etc… talk about ■■■■ up!! 
i guess it depends for me if its dangerous or someone in need then yes i will tyr to assist.
if its some pleb then no sod them.
My son and his fiancé where in a serious car crash on Tuesday where the car skidded and they smashed into a lamppost. This was on a main road and he phoned the emergency services himself while trapped in the car. He told me afterwards that he counted at least 26 cars drive past before 1 stopped to help. Even the car right behind only stopped to take pictures :twisted. I got to the scene as the fire brigade where cutting them out of the car and I was amazed at the amount of people slowing down to rubberneck and take pics. What happened to days where people helped each other?? Is society that bad now?
If people can’t help for whatever reason, then they’re better off just going on their way. I’ve come across accidents where, say 4/5 bystanders are only there to say “I think this happened…”
Minor bumps I can’t be arsed to stop and get involved, and as for ringing ■■■■■■ Traffic and the like, I don’t bother.
Ive stopped several times to help at the scene of accidents.if its just to use my truck to protect the other vehicles.a artic with hazards on is much easier to see than a damaged car with no lights on. If i can provide medical assistance i will do as well.being military trained it feels wrong not to stop and help.
just to make you feel warm and fuzzy, i picked an old man up on wed when he fell down in town and everyone walked past him, made sure he was ok, with his wife… and i left them to their own devices i was holding the traffic up…
hedg70:
just to make you feel warm and fuzzy, i picked an old man up on wed when he fell down in town and everyone walked past him, made sure he was ok, with his wife… and i left them to their own devices i was holding the traffic up…
Ferk the traffic mate, you done good. They’ll only be two minutes late for rheir visit to the garden centre, you on the other hand did something worthwhile. Fair play to you.
Er, what have I done. Blew a tyre that chucked bits of mudflap and tyre onto M25. Rang that in (pre hato days). Other than only thing was kids trying to drop half bits of brick onto M62 which looked to me like they could really hurt somebody. I don’t ring in or agree with people ringing in for ■■■ for tat he said, she said driving stuff. There’s a difference in my book from say foiling a robbery and just being a tell tale ■■■. Glass houses and not throwing stones etc.
Oh, edit as forgot, did my one bit of good citizen bit! I was out 5-6 months ago in a town in NI. A quiet mid week night. There was a fight down side street of a pub I had been at. Late teens/early 20s. About 4 blokes and 1 girl sprawled on the floor screaming, the street was deserted otherwise. I went over. This girl reckoned she’d been stabbed in the stomach. She was screaming so ■■■■ loudly. She was just shocked and had recieved a clip to the eye. Had to be careful making sure as was (rightly or wrongly) worried about any come back from checking (you unfortunately know what its like these days).
Bloke next to her had taken a blow to the face. Looked pretty mashed up and possibly fractured eye socket. He was stable enough. Various others about. I’d seen the 2 rough necks who did it. Lots of people walking on by. Only bloke who stopped with me stayed then bottled it, muttering something about UFV family infighting (probably cods wallop). I rang for ambulance.
coreysboys:
Also from a local perspective, if you see anything suspicious around your home do you report it? Police resources are allocated based on reports from the public so if no-one reports anything the Police ain’t gonna patrol there.Just interested.
The street where i live was plaugued by people coming to buy drugs off a neighbour in the street. It was usuall to have six cars an hour turning up to collect, often many times more. After about six months of complaining to the Police about the problem (by virtually everyone else in the street), the police never even turned up. Eventually they done a “drugs bust” one Sunday morn and found nothing !! 
Only thing that stopped the dealing going on was another dealer further up the street gettting his car wrecked and his house shot up !! Don’t get no Police patrols in Liverpool. Well, apart from the city centre (looking for drunks and fights), the roads(looking for people not wearing seatbelts) and of course they patrol the internet. I’m not having a dig at Coppers, but i don’t think there is a budget that allows for “Patrols”, they usually act when they have to as a matter of priority. Seatbelts and the like are apparently a priority, maybe i am having a dig !!
Anyway, i’m fully in the mind my own business camp unless i’ve seen the full story. I wouldn’t stop for or report a person lying in the road for example, from past experience. And i’d never grab a kid again who’d been throwing stones at cars and march him into the police station. Doesn’t make you feel good when you have to apologise to his parents.
I worked with a guy who was an Inspector with Manchester CID. I asked something along similar lines about police presence and activity- certainly to the public eyes and going off all the Damm tv shows that are piped down our throats- seems centred on patrols and street policing?
He said that they actively hold off drugs busts in local streets for a reasons - as they are more often than not trying for a larger fish eating further up the stream rather than the minnows. Busting a small time dealing ring in a house would jepardise the ongoing case on a larger supplier, which you don’t hear about when they do bust it. Doesn’t help joe public as the scummers just move onto another dealer but Mr CID gets his gold pen from the boss. Police are not so different from salesmen it seemed to me, they are performance driven and that seems to conflict with what’s actually right and wrong.
I’ll always stop and help. I spent many years as a paramedic (and still registered to practice in the UK), I used to carry a substantial amount of kit in my car.
Always look at it from the point of view if it was my wife/parents in need of help I would hope someone would stop for them in the same way as I would for theirs/yours.
W.
I report things if I think its justified. A breakdown in a dangerous position will get a 999 call, lesser things will get a 101 call such as someone walking on a dual carriageway or the guy who went to court yesterday for theft from vehicles. It was me who reported him a few weeks ago and they caught him that night. I have been kept informed even though he didn’t get into my car and I am only a witness
the maoster:
if I saw a guy driving along with his laptop open I’d shake my head and ignore it as it’s not my job to police the roads.
I take your point and I understand what your meaning but your example is a bit extreme. If I saw someone with an open laptop or reading a book when driving you better believe id report it. That’s the sort of thing that gets people killed. It might not be my job to police the road but I couldnt live with myself if I read a few days later about a fatality caused by said idiot and I did nothing.
But like I say,Im with you about shaking my head and carrying on for other stuff,like undertaking etc.
We had a lorry go down the ditch a couple of months ago ,rubber neckers were driving past with iPads & camera phones ,in the end there were 4 of us standing with our phones pretending to photo them back !
The-Snowman:
the maoster:
if I saw a guy driving along with his laptop open I’d shake my head and ignore it as it’s not my job to police the roads.I take your point and I understand what your meaning but your example is a bit extreme. If I saw someone with an open laptop or reading a book when driving you better believe id report it. That’s the sort of thing that gets people killed. It might not be my job to police the road but I couldnt live with myself if I read a few days later about a fatality caused by said idiot and I did nothing.
But like I say,Im with you about shaking my head and carrying on for other stuff,like undertaking etc.
I understand where you are coming from Snowman, but where do you draw the line? We keep getting told that speed kills, so would you report a car travelling at 100mph on a motorway? We get told that cases of skin cancer are on the increase, would you report a sunbather who used no suntan cream? Yeah I know that was a bit extreme but I’m sure you get my analogy.
The guy with the open lap top may very well kill someone down the road but that’s his responsibility not yours. It’s unfortunate but nobody said life was fair.
shortly after joining the M54 (so I knew where I was) I saw some little children playing in the central reservation. Called 999 (on hand held phone) It was few seconds before all the message boards and limits lit up.
Other times at accidents and breakdowns it always annoys me that I struggle to reply to the question, “Where are you?” I suppose that 90% of the time, I’m on autopilot.
the maoster:
The guy with the open lap top may very well kill someone down the road but that’s his responsibility not yours. It’s unfortunate but nobody said life was fair.
I do get your analogy and as to where to draw the line then that depends on the situation as they are all different. Plus I didnt say you had to report every little thing you see. But a guy with an open laptop,if spotting such a thing,does definitely deserve reporting due to it’s staggering disregard for other road users… And hopefully he will get caught. But to say I should ignore it as its his responsibilty if he kills someone is a bit much. If you happen to be the poor sod coming the other way that this guy ploughs into then im guessing you’d have a different opinion. Think about this for a scenario. Two eldelry people pick up their son and daughter in law from the hospital with their new born baby. There on their way home when someone who thought that when he was driving was the perfect time to check his facebook ploughs into them and wipes them all out. Three generations killed in an instant. Still think “it’s unfortunate,but life isn’t fair?”. If it was just laptop guy who’d end up injured or worse then id leave him to it. But its the innocent people who suffer. What if it was your wife,GF,parents or child who ended up on a mortuary slab? Would you still be so philosofical?
But as I say,I take your analogy. Your right,its not my or your responsibility to police the roads. You cant report everything and deal with it all yourself. And your right,life isnt fair if something happens. I do night trunks and I regularly see cars doing well over a ton bombing up the M6. But you need to know where to draw the line based on your own moral compass and the full extent of the circumstances. But we also need to know when to try to even the odds in favour of the innocents too if need be.