Hog Wild
- Thread starter aristotle
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??? Greg, if you should have the misfortune of wrecking at night in a remote area you will pray it is a harmless fellow who comes along next. Otherwise, you will not be amused at all.
greg334
Veteran Expediter
I am talking about liabilities, lawyers and all that, not you.
But I have been in that situation on both sides.
See I commend you for helping, a lot of people won't. A lot more won't bother to call it in, so it isn't I am amused by you, but the concern for trivial issues by others.
If we all had to stop and think for a moment about what the impact would be to us as individuals, than we would not see any help being extended to others who need it.
As for guilt, you have nothing to be guilty about.
But I have been in that situation on both sides.
See I commend you for helping, a lot of people won't. A lot more won't bother to call it in, so it isn't I am amused by you, but the concern for trivial issues by others.
If we all had to stop and think for a moment about what the impact would be to us as individuals, than we would not see any help being extended to others who need it.
As for guilt, you have nothing to be guilty about.
In these lawsuit-happy times, how can you call concern about potential liability 'trivial', and 'amusing', even 'funny'?
It's great to be a hero and be helpful, and be the Good Samaritan, but unfortunately the world IS different now. If we happen upon a crash and want to help a bleeding person..... we are now, if we are smart, also thinking about possibilities there as well... AIDS comes to mind. Likely? No! Want to take the chance? No! Likely the guy is going to die in your van after you give him a ride? No! Likely his family might even TRY sue you if he did? Who knows? Even if they wouldn't win, you'd be stuck paying to defend it.
The thing is.... that is exactly why Aristotle is feeling conflicted. He's smart enough to know what his risks were, and sensitive enough to have wanted to do more. Even as a woman, I feel conflicted every time I drive past a hitchhiker! I felt horrible when I drove past an elderly woman running in the rain trying to take cover... but I also know that it would have probably scared her to be offered a ride, even from another woman. The bad guys have made it really suck for everyone. And it's definitely NOT funny.
I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the notion that a carload of gun toting ruffians would run over a pig and then cross the median, go airborne, and crash into a wall of rocks, just to lure someone in.
Bad guys driving along a rural west Texas interstate in the hopes of coming upon someone walking around outside their vehicle? Sure, it's possible. Highly unlikely, but possible. It simply doesn't happen very often. A more realistic worry would be rattlesnakes or a pack of wolves, or an even larger pig.
As for taking the guy to San Antonio, the FMCSR's are very specific when it comes to the transportation of unauthorized passengers...
But whether it be a cargo van under load and thus under authority, or a real CMV, you can carry a passenger to render aid in the case of an accident or other emergency. This includes taking someone to the hospital, or taking them to a safe place, like an Air Force Base. It also includes giving someone who ran out of gas a ride to a gas station, and back, if the only other way back would be for them to walk. Remember, the FMCSR's are all about the safety of the public, and and leaving someone out on the road in an unsafe situation wouldn't be good.
In this case, though, with the police there, he was in good hands.
Bad guys driving along a rural west Texas interstate in the hopes of coming upon someone walking around outside their vehicle? Sure, it's possible. Highly unlikely, but possible. It simply doesn't happen very often. A more realistic worry would be rattlesnakes or a pack of wolves, or an even larger pig.
As for taking the guy to San Antonio, the FMCSR's are very specific when it comes to the transportation of unauthorized passengers...
Of course, these rules apply to CMV's and not to non-CMV's. Most carriers extend these rules as a matter of policy to their cargo vans, however.
But whether it be a cargo van under load and thus under authority, or a real CMV, you can carry a passenger to render aid in the case of an accident or other emergency. This includes taking someone to the hospital, or taking them to a safe place, like an Air Force Base. It also includes giving someone who ran out of gas a ride to a gas station, and back, if the only other way back would be for them to walk. Remember, the FMCSR's are all about the safety of the public, and and leaving someone out on the road in an unsafe situation wouldn't be good.
In this case, though, with the police there, he was in good hands.
Thank you for that Turtle. That is very good information to have.
Turtle, are you saying the young man was not in good hands with me? Are you implying he was in good hands only after the cops showed up?
Of course, no one wrecks just to lure someone in. You can ridicule my fears of walking upon criminal types. May I call you next time I come upon a wreck late at night? I want to make sure I do all the right things. At the scene of the accident, acting in real time, I didn't have the luxury of hindsight as you do now.
Absolutely not, to both questions. I'm saying that with you leaving him there, instead of taking him with you to San Antonio (or to the hospital or someplace else), that you weren't leaving him stranded and in danger, and were instead leaving him in good hands. Note the last sentence in the previous paragraph, "...and leaving someone out on the road in an unsafe situation wouldn't be good." And in this case, with the police being there, your leaving him in their hands wasn't leaving him out on the road in an unsafe situation.
Calm down. Just having some fun with the hindsight of a stressful situation. It's hard to think clearly during an unexpected stressful situation like that. It's not one I would have (or have had in similar situations), but it's an honest fear and just the same.
Of course. You can call me anytime for any reason. If I'm awake I'll answer, if I'm asleep I won't.
I don't even have enough of the particulars to have any kind of hindsight, really. That's why I haven't posted what I would have done in the same situation, because I really don't know what the situation really was. I have come upon a few accidents where I stopped to help out. A couple of them were pretty bad. I lost a necktie once to use it as a tourniquet. But discussing the situation here, and the fears both rational and irrational, will only benefit the next time a similar situation arises, and may help those the first time they come upon a situation like that.
Understood. If you want particulars, call the Ozona,TX Sheriff's Dept and ask questions about the accident. Ask to listen to the 911 call I placed. You have to listen to the very end as the very last question they asked was my name. Of course the incident is odd. No one expects to strike a pig on the interstate. I did my best.
I won't NOT be surprised at all to hit a pig on the express way in Texas. There is a huge feral/wild pig population down there.
Well, by particulars, I was thinking more along the lines of what all was said and done after the police arrived. At the time of the accident I wouldn't have given it a second's thought to jump out and help, but then again I've been there before. There are no doubt times that I have had no fear when I probably should have had a great deal of it, like when I'm in Memphis or Detroit, but I don't. I have this really wacko fear of wasps, tho. But in an accident situation, none of that stuff occurs to me.
Now, coming up on a stranded automobile, that's another situation, where it's prudent to at least be wary, listen to the chatter on the CB to find out if anyone saw or knows anything. Pulling over to a stranded vehicle with a single person in view is not something I'd be all that eager to do. Rather, I'd just call it in to the police and let them deal with it.
But I was thinking more along the lines of whether I'd have left him there or not. I don't know what all was said, what the situation was, or anything like that. If the police needed him for quite a while longer, then I'd have gone on to the delivery. But if they had all they needed, and he was fine, and was OK with having his car towed to who knows where, and the police had no better suggestions, I'd have offered to both the police and the kid for me to drive him to San Antonio. But again, I say that in complete ignorance of the particulars. I also say that as a pure hypothetical, as the only seat I have in the van is the driver's seat, so for me to actually transport someone in this van, it would nearly have to be to the hospital in a serious emergency situation, or for a very short trip to the next exit or something.
I read a story not too long ago where feral pigs and wild boar are getting both larger and more aggressive, especially in Kentucky and, of all places, New Jersey. But it's a particularly bad problem in places like Texas, where pigs will run deer and cattle away from feeders. Hunting pigs is fun, but not if you're out there to hunt deer. And cattle ranchers are really ticked off. Farmers are less than thrilled, since feral pigs will destroy crops. The story said there are more than 4 million feral pigs in the US. Pigs eat people, a lot of people don't know that.
Now, coming up on a stranded automobile, that's another situation, where it's prudent to at least be wary, listen to the chatter on the CB to find out if anyone saw or knows anything. Pulling over to a stranded vehicle with a single person in view is not something I'd be all that eager to do. Rather, I'd just call it in to the police and let them deal with it.
But I was thinking more along the lines of whether I'd have left him there or not. I don't know what all was said, what the situation was, or anything like that. If the police needed him for quite a while longer, then I'd have gone on to the delivery. But if they had all they needed, and he was fine, and was OK with having his car towed to who knows where, and the police had no better suggestions, I'd have offered to both the police and the kid for me to drive him to San Antonio. But again, I say that in complete ignorance of the particulars. I also say that as a pure hypothetical, as the only seat I have in the van is the driver's seat, so for me to actually transport someone in this van, it would nearly have to be to the hospital in a serious emergency situation, or for a very short trip to the next exit or something.
I read a story not too long ago where feral pigs and wild boar are getting both larger and more aggressive, especially in Kentucky and, of all places, New Jersey. But it's a particularly bad problem in places like Texas, where pigs will run deer and cattle away from feeders. Hunting pigs is fun, but not if you're out there to hunt deer. And cattle ranchers are really ticked off. Farmers are less than thrilled, since feral pigs will destroy crops. The story said there are more than 4 million feral pigs in the US. Pigs eat people, a lot of people don't know that.
I understand the points you make, Turtle. Like yourself, I have just the driver's seat in my van. I didn't want to jeopardize the man's safety if he became ill 20 minutes later. And truthfully, I didn't know if I could legally transport him in a commercial vehicle. The cops took over, he appeared fine but shaken. I moved on.
Looking back, with the mood swings the guy was having, I am glad the cops came quickly.
Looking back, with the mood swings the guy was having, I am glad the cops came quickly.
Michigan is starting to have a problem with feral hogs as well. You can shoot any you see with ANY hunting license. Texas causes much of their problem with hogs. Too much land restricted from hunting them.
Holy crap! They're not vegetarians? They're cannibals?
Hogs are omnivores. They will eat what ever then can when ever they can. They are aggressive, mean and very territorial. They are though, at least in the wild, very clean. They can wipe out a corn field in a heart beat.
May be - but I'm highly skeptical of the reasons any company cites for cutting costs, particularly when they cite lawsuits.
The insurance companies made a huge deal of 'outrageous verdicts' as a reason to hike medical malpractice premiums sky high - but they said not a word about their earlier cost cutting rate wars to gain new clients, many of them being the marginally competent docs with a history of judgements against them, [good docs already had good coverage at a reasonable cost], or of using the additional premiums for speculative stock market gambles that tanked, so that when their new clients began getting sued [surprise!] the insurance companies found themselves short of cash to cover the losses, and looking for somewhere else to lay the blame.
The whole issue of excessive malpractice awards was a successful campaign of smoke & mirrors by the insurance industry to cover their own ineptitude & greed. The 'lady burned by hot coffee' is a classic example: cited by those who know nothing of the facts, it actually was a quite different situation than the insurance companies would like us to believe.
Insurance companies rule us all, and given their past performance, that worries me more than a little.
I was an practicing EMT for only 2 years in PA. I had to testify before boards twice in those 2 years. Both times due to potential law suits. Once by a family member of a guy that died under my care. The other by a person that claimed that they were not treated correctly. In both cases the charges were unfounded. In both cases the charges were dismissed. Far too many people have no idea that people die. They assume that when people show up to help that we are above god and can fix everything. Then scumbag lawyers get a hold of them and convince them that they were wronged. Normal well meaning people, EMT's . Paramedics, Doctors, nurses etc get reamed all the time. That is just ONE of the reasons that many leave that service.
That's the problem with having just the driver's seat. They can sit on the floor in front of the bunk, there's room for that, although it would probably get uncomfortable after 15 or 20 minutes. Same with the cargo area, only that would get uncomfortable after about 3 minutes. They could sit on the bunk, but without a seatbelt, all it would take is one press of the brakes and they'd go flying.
So for someone like us with only the one seat, any ride would have to be really short, like to the next exit, or for something seriously serious like a fast trip to the ER where it's either in the van on the floor or die.
I would imagine that most people in cargo vans and trucks alike are not aware that you can give someone a ride in an accident situation, or in some other emergency, which includes emergencies other than life-or-death emergencies. If someone runs out of gas or their vehicle breaks down, it's an emergency situation because it's not safe for them to be walking around out there on the side of the road, especially on an Interstate, so it's fine to give them a ride to safety, even if it's a few hundred miles to their destination. Not many people realize it because very few people hear about it in orientation. Rather, they hear "No passengers without written permission and an insurance rider!" and the emergency situation exemption rarely, if ever, gets mentioned.
That's why I said I'd make the offer to the police and the kid. As in, to the police, do they think it would be OK for me to give him a ride, or did they think he should probably go to the hospital to get checked out, or did they have a better plan. In other words, once the police arrived, it really wasn't a classic emergency situation anymore (even though it was still an accident emergency situation), so any ride I'd give would have to be OK'd and condoned by the police. I wouldn't give him a ride if the police had any objections or reservations at all.
Yeah, they'll eat other pigs, especially if there's a dead one laying there, but will also kill and eat young pigs if they are stressed out.Holy crap! They're not vegetarians? They're cannibals?
We had a lady here in town, just a few miles out in the county, who had 20 or so hogs. She'd go into the pen to feed 'em every day. One day she must have tripped and fell or had a heart attack or something else no one will ever know, because they found her shredded clothes scattered around the pen, and most (or all) of her teeth in the pig droppings. Pigs are normally foraging animals, and not all that aggressive, but wild boars and feral pigs who are really hungry can be very aggressive.
Surely there are others in this forum that have read Hannibal (by Thomas Harris). For those who haven't, I highly recommend it; you won't soon forget the pigs.