MySwag.org The Off-road Camper Trailer Forum
General => General Discussion => Topic started by: Top.ender on December 31, 2013, 11:36:04 PM
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After blowing a head gasket 200ks south of Coral Bay and waiting for 4 hrs for a tow in 50 degrees + with the wife and 4 kids I was more than a little disgusted with the 50+ cars that drove passed without so much as stopping to see if we where alright. Yes we had plenty of water and yes help was on the way but how hard is it to slow down and ask , you don't have to get out of your car you don't even have to turn your car off... So much for the Aussie Spirit and looking out for each other >:( >:( >:( >:(
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Unfortunately it's the way society has gone.
I personally would try to assist where I can, but it depends on what the people who are broken down act like as I'm approaching them, as to whether or not if I got out of the vehicle.
But honestly if I was driving past you in this circumstance then without a doubt I would stop and offer my assistance even if it was only water and food.
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The Aussie spirit is still here,just not in the same quantity as it once was.I'll always slow down,or stop to see if someone needs a hand.If they see you slowing and they're ok,you'll get waved on. Motorcycle riders are probably better at this because being a minority group on the road most riders tend to look out for each other just that little bit harder.
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G'day Top.ender :cheers:, I reckon that's coz you live in WA, Mrs T & I are easterners and we always stop, and often see others stop too. :angel:
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I can understand that a lot of people worry about wierdo,s out there
If i seen a Family would stop no problem
I had a flat tyre about 30 kms from town once and could not wind the chain down for the spare a few cars drove by then a ute with a single lady occuant pulled up she talked to me with window up and doors locked and was very reluctant to give me a lift to town untill i showed her my two year old son was with me in the car, now i would not have blamed her if she drove by i can understand some people,s concern but she took precautions seen we where a family and all was good
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Yep had a similar thing happen to me on the recent forum meet, on our way across the mountain to the coast, I did a tyre on the CT, which had us changing it on the side of a very narrow, windy road, on a piece of dirt no bigger then a tent site, we got the job done, but out of all the people who drove past, one person stopped and asked if wanted help.
By that time though I was putting wheel nuts back on to get going, so didn't need help.
Swanny
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I try & stop for people when I can. Even if it's just to ask they are o.k.
Have even stopped to help a fellow truck driver to change a tyre & I wasn't even in the truck. He appreciated very much, stinking hot day. I pulled up one day to a young lady sitting on the side of the road with a flat & she's got the phone out walking around in circles (trying to get reception), offered to change the flat only for her to say she doesn't have a wheel brace. Luckily mine fitted.
I'm a big believer in swings and roundabouts. One day if I need a hand I'd like to think that someone will stop & help.
Cheers, Mike.
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G'day Top.ender :cheers:, I reckon that's coz you live in WA, Mrs T & I are easterners and we always stop, and often see others stop too. :angel:
Wow. That's a big generalisation! We would always stop to see if someone needs a hand.
I agree that there is a general change in community attitude to just worrying about oneself, but I dont think you can assume everyone is like that.
I think that if the person on the side of the road looks as though they have everything under control, then some people may choose not to stop and check/help.
But it takes 20 seconds out of your day to slow down or stop and check, so that is what we do.
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Interesting discussion, we blew two tires a couple of days ago in the space of about 15 minutes in 40 deg; no-one stopped... BUT we were on a single carriage way 110kph stretch about 150km south of Parks, and we were barely pulled off the road as there was minimal verge. We were all busy, probably looked like we knew what we were doing, kids posted as lookouts in case someone didn't see us and was about to clean me up. So I understood why no-one stopped. I did however feel very confident that if we did have a problem, a request on uhf18 would have had a fellow camper/caravan pulling up in short order.
Don't loose faith in humanity. People will I believe go out of their way if they perceive a need.
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We stopped for several broken down cars we came across on our trip to Darwin a while back, one woman we came across said the same thing though... she'd been there for over 40 minutes with heaps of vehicles going past, yet nobody would stop. Woman on her own standing beside a vehicle with the bonnet up on the Stuart Hwy, atleast 50 klms from the nearest tiny town. Not hard to work out she needed help
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It's the way our western society is headed I am afraid. Community spirit is slowly dying as we become more and more individualised in our outlook and behaviour. It's starting to be every man for himself now sadly for a lot of people.....we are losing the ability to even reach out and say g'day to strangers let alone stop and help them in need.
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Wow. That's a big generalisation!
Stozz,
Tongue in cheek but friendly dig, hopefully playing on the east v west rivalry. Sadly there's no winky icon to show "no hard feelings".
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Depends on where you are.
Traveling the top end, you often come across some of the "locals" on the side of the road.
The safe thing to do I keep driving, and this is coming from the local copper.
A mate of mine towed a broken down car 85km to the nearest servo, he wasn't broken down, he didn't have a motor. The servo owner said he does this about once a month to get a free ride into town.
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....... Sadly there's no winky icon to show "no hard feelings".
Here's some for ya...... ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;)
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east v west rivalry
Oh, that old chestnut! ::) It's all good ;)
I think the demise of community spirit is very sad indeed, but I also get a sense that the tide will turn. There is such a growing awareness of the importance of community, that maybe it will return. It all starts with us as individuals. Including simple things likes stopping to check if someone on the side of the road needs help. One day they may pay forward that favour.
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I'm very cautious about pulling off to the side of any highway for toilet stops for the kids, as quite a few people have died being hit by distracted drivers while changing tyres etc on side of highways. Not long ago a guy died after being struck because he pulled over to help a lady change a tyre, near the Gold Coast on the highway.
I would assess the situation for safety before just pulling over and immediately helping. Might sound selfish, but especially if I have the kids with me, I wouldn't put them in any danger unnecessarily.
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Just a question, but I see your profile pic is a troopy with "off road tours" written on the side.
General assumption is that commercial travellers are better equipped than most ordinary folk at dealing with any issues ?
But I would have at least slowed until waved on, or flagged down.
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G'day Top.ender :cheers:, I reckon that's coz you live in WA, Mrs T & I are easterners and we always stop, and often see others stop too. :angel:
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I understand peoples reluctance to stop however this is what i do, and have done twice in the last 18 months
If i see someone that looks as if they need a hand I always slow down and drive by first, give them a thumbs up or down, gives me an indication whether they seem ok or not, do a u turn and approach from a safe distance, make contact etc and go from there, your not obliged to stop and help but im a firm believer that ill always do what i can as one day if im ever in the same situation i would certainly like help.
Last year while on our way up to the Ord river muster we came across a older couple i would say in their 50's, had a troopy and were pulled over about 40km short of the wilaire roadhouse between Broome and Derby, i saw a blown tyre already on their spare wheel and a blown rear left. they had been there for 2 hours and several cars trucks had passed by, they looked a little distressed, we turned around assesed the situation etc, they were a lovely couple and were headed up to the ord river muster also, so after a discussion and removing his two blown tyres, i strapped them onto the roof of my Camper trailer and headed off to find some tyres for him, we also took his wife with us as she looked a little distressed, we made sure he had plenty of water (and beer), i was expecting to find some tyres at Willaire roadhouse so was expecting we would be back in a couple of hours, however they had nothing so we continued on to Derby, the local tyre guy there was brilliant and sorted her out and even though i was prepared to return back to the man and his troopy with his new tyres, the local tyre guy did and we continued on our travels, we made sure befroe we left willaire though that a guy in a truck heading south would contact the man when he passed him to let him know that we had to continue on to Derby for tyres, it would have been well into the dark before they got back to him.
Just hope one day if i ever need help ill get someone with the Aussie spirit to help out.
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Just a question, but I see your profile pic is a troopy with "off road tours" written on the side.
General assumption is that commercial travellers are better equipped than most ordinary folk at dealing with any issues ?
But I would have at least slowed until waved on, or flagged down.
that's that an old photo...driving 100 series now but good pickup. ;D
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the real lesson that I'm taking out of this is how proud I am of my resilient family :cup:.... even miss 16 coped fairly well..not to much complaining really... ;D ;D
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Well I can honestly say that the spirit of willing to help is alive up on the Fraser coast, came off Teewah beach heading home from Fraser and pulled off the road to air up, Had to lift the bonnet on the Rocky to power up the compressor .
Out of the dozen or so trucks that came past, had at least ten stop to see if we were ok ... Guessing they took a bit of pity on us going by the looks of the old Rocket after ten years of beach work, still it was nice to see they cared ..Thumbs up QLD'rs .
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About two years ago I noticed a lady on the side of the road with a flat tyre, I pulled over to offer some help and was promptly told that she was fine and could change it herself. She went on about how she reckoned i only pulled over because she was female and that I would haven't stopped if it was a guy. I was speechless, got back in my car and drove off.
The Aussie spirit still lives in some of us, but some of us are a little gun shy of offering help.
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..not to much complaining really... ;D ;D
Must have had internet connection ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
KB
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About two years ago I noticed a lady on the side of the road with a flat tyre, I pulled over to offer some help and was promptly told that she was fine and could change it herself. She went on about how she reckoned i only pulled over because she was female and that I would haven't stopped if it was a guy. I was speechless, got back in my car and drove off.
The Aussie spirit still lives in some of us, but some of us are a little gun shy of offering help.
Reminds me of a story I was told that at a function a male opened a door for a female to be told that she was able to open the door same as a man & spat on him.
He promptly knocked her on her rrrss & said fine and that's what I would do to another man if he spat on me.
Not sure of the accuracy but it is good yarn any way.
Sorry for hijacking
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Bit of a bugger.
A few years back I was heading out of melbourne very late at night and not far from Seymour the generator in the beetle stopped working. Damn brushes had worn out.
It was raining hard and I was off the road under the bonnet trying to fix it with a small torch. Young bloke pulls up and helps with an umbrella for about twenty minutes but got nowhere. He offered a lift into Seymour though he was going to Albury. Dropped me off at a motel. WOuldnt take petrol money.
Next morning the hotel owner said he would drive me back down to drop me off. Went to the battery place and grabbed a new battery then drove what turned out to be 60k to the beetle and he helped fire it up. Offered him petrol money but wouldnt take it.
Really appreciated the help being 1500k from home.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk (http://tapatalk.com/m?id=1)
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We used to always pull up to help someone broken down or with a flat tyre, until the day we were heading home between Charters Towers and Townsville.
A young woman was on the side of the road trying to undo the wheel nuts on an old Ford Falcon.
We pulled up behind her, put hazard lights on and I got out to help. Undid the first one and just as I started to do the next one Jen calls out " quick get in the car" as two guys were coming out behind a couple of trees about 30 metres away . No more.
:cheers:
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We got a flat coming home across the Hay Plains on Monday, about 20 cars passed us, only 1 pulled up to see if we needed a hand. He was a 4WDer and as he said, he'd hope that someone would stop for him if he was broken down.
We always stop and see if people need a hand, it's the aussie way as far as we're concerned.
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We had two incidents on our road trip last year - 20-30kms east of Barkley Homestead RoadHouse the car decided to act funny and slowly die. I safely guided the car to the side and let my husband drive so he could figure out what it was doing - it went no worries 1km later started again - refused to start instead spluttering like it had no fuel which according to the fuel gauge we had fuel...turns out the car was right not the gauge, and thankfully we had two jerry cans to refuel it. Wasn't until we had put them in and was trying to get the Prado going again did someone stop to ensure we were okay and actually stayed until the car started.
Towards the end of our road trip heading from Darwin to Katherine we had a tyre blow-out - my husband somehow managed to keep the car straight and pull of the road without a curse. The only person that stopped to check if we were okay was a guy travelling in the opposite direction as he saw it happen and I think was expecting it end worse.
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The movie Wolf Creek has a lot to answer for..... ;D
Yeah, we would've stopped and made sure you were ok.
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Up here it really depends on the who and where. On the Tanami Road locals will from time to time stop you, steel your car et.
I tend to slow down and if they need help, they can wave. Out on the track I think it's a bit different as well but it always pays to be careful.
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The movie Wolf Creek has a lot to answer for..... ;D
or before that The Thin Blue Line... Top movie/doco...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thin_Blue_Line_(film) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thin_Blue_Line_(film))
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The movie Wolf Creek has a lot to answer for..... ;
They reckon it did for backpackers travelling the outback what Jaws did for ocean swimming.
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or before that The Thin Blue Line... Top movie/doco...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thin_Blue_Line_(film) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thin_Blue_Line_(film))
Yea, good point. ;D
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I like to stop and help, especially in the city where someone needs a hand to push. Its amazing how many people drive past and honk/yell instead of helping push.
I just hope if the car buggers up while my wife is in it with the kids that someone would help her too.
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We used to always pull up to help someone broken down or with a flat tyre, until the day we were heading home between Charters Towers and Townsville.
A young woman was on the side of the road trying to undo the wheel nuts on an old Ford Falcon.
We pulled up behind her, put hazard lights on and I got out to help. Undid the first one and just as I started to do the next one Jen calls out " quick get in the car" as two guys were coming out behind a couple of trees about 30 metres away . No more.
Having grown up in remote areas I think I've lost count of the amount of times I've pulled up to help someone, but driving back from Cloncurry I had the same thing happen to me - Falcon on the side of the road with the bonnet up, lady beside it looking distressed, about 50km from the nearest town. As I was slowing down I happened to glance to the right and noticed faces in the shrubs beside the road, I sped up and got out of there. It has made me a bit more wary now.
These days if I see a car on the side of the road I'll glance down at my phone and see if there is service - if there is I'm pretty hesitant to spend too much time helping. If there isn't service I will at least pull over and see what the problem is.
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Bloody hell Symon that could have been ugly. Good tip about checking phone service.
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Bloody hell Symon that could have been ugly. Good tip about checking phone service.
Yep. These are worrying tales......
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In the mid 70's My dad managed a motorcycle accessory wholesaler in a Brisbane. They had reps travell up north once or twice a month. Roadside shenagans and assaults were reasonably common in FNQ back then.
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the real lesson that I'm taking out of this is how proud I am of my resilient family :cup:.... even miss 16 coped fairly well..not to much complaining really... ;D ;D
Reminds me of the time friends driving from Darwin to Adelaide broke down near Daly Waters, and were waiting in the heat for the AANT - their vehicle for the benefit of me Country Cuz from Bright was a Disco!
Any how, mum & dad in the front, two teenagers in the back, and dad says, "ahhh kids, there's something I've gotta tell you. Before I met yer mum I had a girlfriend you see, and ahh well, she had a baby, and ahh well while we're in Adelaide you'll be meeting your sister and her kids".
Kids in the back were speechless, as they knew nothing of dad's sordid past, until master 16 says "how did that happen?"
Dad replied, "I didn't wear a condom"!
Sorry for the thread drift.
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:laugh:
Reminds me of the time friends driving from Darwin to Adelaide broke down near Daly Waters, and were waiting in the heat for the AANT - their vehicle for the benefit of me Country Cuz from Bright was a Disco!
Any how, mum & dad in the front, two teenagers in the back, and dad says, "ahhh kids, there's something I've gotta tell you. Before I met yer mum I had a girlfriend you see, and ahh well, she had a baby, and ahh well while we're in Adelaide you'll be meeting your sister and her kids".
Kids in the back were speechless, as they knew nothing of dad's sordid past, until master 16 says "how did that happen?"
Dad replied, "I didn't wear a condom"!
Sorry for the thread drift.
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
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we came across a older couple i would say in their 50's ....
so after a discussion ....
i strapped them onto the roof of my Camper trailer
Geez you could have at least given them a seat inside ;D
I too have heard of the "traps". Friend of a friend got out of it by handing over whatever cash he had in his wallet (travelling solo). Not exactly the kind of thing you expect when you pull over to help someone. He never got the rego, reported it at the cop station in the next town but of course they were gone by then.
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On the hway generally not, but will stop and push broken down cars in peak hour, they always seem to be in the middle lane, on the track generally down window and ask?
I originally thought this was about Bundy. Being the Aussie spirit
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My Aussie Spirit is still kicking, I helped a few get off the beach at bribie yesty..... ;D ;D, I slept much better last night.
Maybe we here at myswag should really focus on bringing the Aussie Spirit back, and re-spread the word so to speak, defo worth giving a try in my books,
Swanny
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My Aussie Spirit is still kicking, I helped a few get off the beach at bribie yesty..... ;D ;D, I slept much better last night.
Maybe we here at myswag should really focus on bringing the Aussie Spirit back, and re-spread the word so to speak, defo worth giving a try in my books,
Swanny
i helped a few people out doing recoveries whilst down at South Ballina beach this week just gone also...the problem with that is, you could spend your entire time helping people out at the beach exits and not have a holiday at all, there's just so many clueless people driving 4wd's on the beaches. it gets old really fast, when every time you try to exit the beach or even enter onto it, you find there's yet another person bogged and blocking the way
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Don't forget to hang your flag out on Australia Day