For a few years now, I have been listening to people tell me stories about how passers by never help when someone is injured. Here are a couple of examples. A work colleague recently told me of a friend who had been cycling down Oxford Street when a taxi took an unexpected right turn and she ended up over her handle bars and across the bonnet. According to her bruised and aggrieved friend, the taxi didn’t stop and not a single passer by tried to help her. An earlier example came from a friend of a friend’s boyfriend. The boyfriend claimed that he had fainted at a bus stop and when he came round, no one tried to help him.
I have always treated these stories with quiet scepticism, but now I am becoming a bit more militant: I think they are all total rubbish. When trying to find an accurate version of events, I don’t think it’s a good idea to trust the retelling to the recently concussed or unconscious.
I base this on a wealth of experience. I have been sent arse over tit by the lovely drivers of London four times and every time someone has come to my aid. I remember one time when I was sent flying and a lady came up to me and said we should call an ambulance. I disagreed and insisted on getting back on my bike and cycling to work. On arrival, my boss wasn’t convinced that having an employee at work that was covered in blood and insisted he was fine but couldn’t put a coherent sentence together, was a good idea and sent me home for some rest. My point is that I clearly wasn’t thinking straight and this is where people who have similar experiences but are more prone to exaggeration may later cry “but no one even called me an ambulance!”. I have an image in my head of this woman that took a tumble on Oxford Street growling and lashing out at passers by like a feral cat as they tried to help, and then later claiming that nobody tried to help. The effects of shock can be pretty powerful.
My mind was finally made up last week. I was cycling to work when the delivery van in front of me turned right and hit a motorcyclist that was coming past him. It wasn’t pretty and I really hope the guy was ok. As soon as I saw it happen, I put down my bike and crossed the road to see if I could help. In the time it took me to get to him there was already four members of the public around him. One guy was leant over him reassuring him and keeping him talking, the delivery van driver called the ambulance and two people stood in front directing the traffic around him. I stood there, and along with another lady, it dawned on us that we were surplus to requirements. I twiddled my thumbs for a little while but in the end just got on my bike and continued back to work.
Next time I hear one of these no one ever helps stories, my scepticism will not be so quiet.
R
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