Unbelievable
This morning I witnessed an event, that overwhelmed me emotionally, not immediately but afterwards. I had just dropped my youngest child off at school and was driving out of the school gates, where there are traffic lights on the left, which were just turning red. A group of girls were starting to cross and a black toyota yaris (fortunately one of the girls was present enough to memorise the number plate - bless her! - went through the crossing at about 20-30mph and hit one of the girls, throwing her up in the air and turning her through a complete 360 degree turn, and she landed on her back.
I immediately got out of my car and went to her as she was not moving; I thought she was dead, given the speed and what I had seen, and although as I reached her she appeared confused/dazed, she sat up, stood up, claimed she had no pain and then continued to walk into school! However, she was not OK!
The driver did not stop! Despite all the traffic, only one other woman got out of her car and had the sense to immediately call an ambulance and everyone else - just looked on. One other woman who worked at the school and was arriving at the crossing took the girl into the school nurse.
I hope she is as uninjured as she appears.
I despair at the driver, who must have at least heard the impact of his/her car hitting the child. Not stopping at the scene of an accident in which you are involved is a criminal offence in the UK btw.
I am grateful that there were other people, including her friends/colleagues with enough sense around the girl to aid her.
I am disgusted that no one else out of what must be at least 40-60 observers offered to help in any way, but just sit and observe the scene.
Karma - it's what 'you do'!
I do not expect anyone to respond to this thread btw. Unless you're that toyota yaris driver, and can explain why you went through the crossing at that speed and did not stop after hitting a child! But I'll be seeing you in court no doubt, to hear your view of the events, and describe what I witnessed! It was truly unbelievable...
Comments
It sounds like the Yaris driver was trying to get through the intersection on a yellow light before it turned red. Did someone call police, and report the driver's license number? Can you follow up with the school nurse, to see how the girl is? I imagine that if she's ok physically, there could be some mental and physical shock present, even if she doesn't realize it. I would think this would show up in your local newspaper, if it was reported to police. Maybe you should call the newspaper.
There's a disturbing trend building these days, where people very passively watch a scene, or worse--are too busy photographing it with their phones to do anything to reach out to the humans involved.
I hope you follow up on this, OP, and give us an update when you have more info.
yeah how did it go? I suspect a smartphone was involved...
I notice some appalling driving where I live, people on mobile phones, chatting, doing their make-up, whatever, often in a world of their own and seemingly oblivious to the needs of others.
There is a psychological term for this but I can't think what it is off the top of my head. People are far more likely to help someone else if they are out on a country road and there's no-one else around than they will if they're in a city with 100 people around. It's just human nature.......
Hope all concerned (including you) are ok.
There was a sarcastic cartoon some years ago.
It portrayed a dot in the middle of a circle of dots. The subtitle read: What is this?
To which the answer was: A stabbed man dying in Stockholm.
And I guess you can replace Stockholm for
any city in the world.
This apathy really gets to me too. I try to help out when I can. Once on the platform of a commuter train station a man beside me collapsed. He was going into insulin chock so I helped his wife give him some suger. Nobody else reacted. In fact the two people standing closest (like one decimeter away) continued discussing the fancy million SEK deal they where going to make. They continued talking even when the medics arrived.
After that and many other incidents I moved to the countryside to have kids.
/Victor
@Bunks,
I think it's called "Bystander Effect"...
Psychology is fascinating, whether it be man or beast. And yet, from the little I've learned about being or having a Buddhist philosophy, we aren't to judge. For newbies to it, that's quite a challenge, to not react with judgment on those who stand nearby and do nothing.
But, you can also look at it from the angle that if they don't have much in the way of expertise in handling that type of crisis, so you can't blame them, since I've read stories where good Samaritans actually ended up getting sued. It's a tough situation all the way around.
![:\](https://newbuddhist.com/plugins/emojiextender/emoji/little/confused.png ":\")
Yes, I read somewhere that when there are a lot of witnesses, most will just stand there and watch while one or two people will help. I hope that young girl is alright....
They got the license plate number. I'd like to see justice done. It shouldn't be hard. Smart girl, for memorizing the plate number.
This reminds me of the quote by Irish statesman and philosopher Edmund Burke
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing!"