OK folks, a little Rant... just a little bit of advice for good Samaritans out there who help people whose car has broken down.. No1. Ask if they have called roadservice for help.. If they have, then please leave without touching the car.. No2. Unless you have a meter for checking alternator outputs, DONT jumpstart their car... In the past 2 days ive had 3 situations where good Samaritans have hindered and made things a lot worse for people.. 1/ I went to a wheel change on the freeway where someone had stopped to help change a wheel for a lady who had a flat.. Apart from the dangers of working on a freeway, the man put the jack in the wrong place, the car fell off the Jack and damaged the sill of the car.... Luckily I got the wheel changed and the lady (with her now damaged car) was on her way.. The man mysteriously Disappeared as I turned up. 2/ I went to a normal flat battery job outside a house.. Again the lady said a neighbor had tried to jump start the car without success. (a common story).. After doing my checks I had found the neighbor had put the jumper leads on backwards, blown the main fuse on the car (a major workshop job to fix) and fried the Alternator wiring.. that one left on a tow truck.. 3/ Another job today, A lady with a young baby on board, broke down in the middle of the road.. a good samaritan pushed her off the road, decided he could Fix her car, put his jump pack on, started the car and said youll be right love, and left.. The car got 50 meters up the road and died AGAIN in the middle of an intersection.. Now imagine what that young mum had going through her head with a young baby on board put in danger.... The alternator on the car had failed, so a jump start would not have fixed it... The lady had actually cancelled the job after the man jump started her car, but seeing I was nearly there, I thought Id double check.. Lucky I did. After we got her car out of the intersection, i organized a tow for her, a drink for her and bubs... This would have taken half the time and danger if she had just waited for roadservice.. I understand people like to help & I have not got a problem with that as long as they know what they are doing.. Unfortunately many think they do, when they clearly dont and end up making things worse. We have the equipment, the safety training, the high Vis vehicles with lots of flashy lights and the qualifications to help people as quickly as possible.. My advice for what its worth is ask if roadservice has been called, stay with the person if they need help, but leave the hands on to the professionals... Rant Over..
Posted on: Thu, 06 Nov 2014 10:41:09 +0000
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