The Annoyed Man wrote:I was just thinking about this stuff the other day. My son just bought a new (to him) pickup truck and installed a CB radio in it, which has a "megaphone" function built into it. I was considering getting one like it for myself. It occurs to me that, with such a setup, if you pull over at night to help someone, and you park behind them a little ways, you can use the CB's megaphone function to tell them to stay by their vehicle, to not approach yours, and that you are calling 911 for assistance for them, and that you will leave when that assistance arrives........or something like that.E.Marquez wrote:Absolutely....in this day and age of cell phones, instant communication, availability of wrecker service, ect Im not apt to stop for every broken down car on the side of the road..KC5AV wrote:There have been times that I've stopped to render assistance to somebody on the side of the road, and there are times I've just driven on. There have been plenty of cases where a 'break down' has been used to facilitate a carjacking. I will typically assess the situation as I drive up. Is the person male or female? Young or old? Is the vehicle close to cover where another person could be hiding? Are the temperatures extremely hot of cold? Does that voice in the back of my head tell me something smells fishy? All of that, and more, usually determine whether I will stop.
Limited cell coverage, bad weather, accident, sure....
Of all the car side of the road scenarios that red flag the most for me it is that single female looking hapless next to her car in the dark....
"Look Im helpless, come save me, never mind you can not see into the dark what is just over there in the grass"
I'll call 911 and report it in a heart beat....if I have a clear line of sight all around the vehicle I might stop well back and assess the situation, drive up with some lateral space and speak to her though a partially open window, doors locked, weapon out, but out of sight.
As I've aged and gotten less physically able, I find myself less and less willing to insert myself into those kinds of situations. I used to think nothing of it. But we don't live in the same world today as we did then.
That's a good idea, I had forgotten about a megaphone, but I had one on my truck back in the 70's when I had a CB radio. As well as one on the patrol cars. You can install just the megaphone if you want. I may look into one.
