That’s very good advice in the OP, as long as the victim is one of your buddies. The care with the victim is pointless however as the ambulance crew will move him like they are airline baggage handlers. I took ambulance crew training many years ago and it’s incredible how poorly trained, under-equipped and callous the crews are here. 
Honestly, if a friend was in an accident I’d go borrow a plank for a backboard, call a taxi and DIY before I’d risk them riding in an ambulance.
TainanCowboy, you’re very lucky to have that one person willing to stand up for you. It’s really very rare. Sadly, the more serious the allegations are the less people are willing to speak up and the more likely they are to just go along with the majority or keep quiet. There’s just so much disincentive to bear witness: Time off work with pay docked if called to testify, potential for violence (real or threatened) from one of the parties and their friends. The superstition thing. Fear of the cops who might have a special interest in one side or the other. On the upside, someone may say thank you. BFD.
Then there are the witnesses who ask for cash payments to testify and recant their stories if unpaid.
I always used to stop and help, but so many people I know have been wrongfully accused that I won’t do it anymore. Call it cowardly but I’m not going to put my wife through the trauma of trying to pay the mortgage and my legal bills while I sit in a cell. I’m not proud of this, but these days unless I see someone obviously bleeding to death, I’ll just call 119 and let them deal with it.
[quote=“hsiadogah”]That’s very good advice in the OP, as long as the victim is one of your buddies. The care with the victim is pointless however as the ambulance crew will move him like they are airline baggage handlers. I took ambulance crew training many years ago and it’s incredible how poorly trained, under-equipped and callous the crews are here.
Honestly, if a friend was in an accident I’d go borrow a plank for a backboard, call a taxi and DIY before I’d risk them riding in an ambulance.
TainanCowboy, you’re very lucky to have that one person willing to stand up for you. It’s really very rare. Sadly, the more serious the allegations are the less people are willing to speak up and the more likely they are to just go along with the majority or keep quiet. There’s just so much disincentive to bear witness: Time off work with pay docked if called to testify, potential for violence (real or threatened) from one of the parties and their friends. The superstition thing. Fear of the cops who might have a special interest in one side or the other. On the upside, someone may say thank you. BFD.
Then there are the witnesses who ask for cash payments to testify and recant their stories if unpaid.
I always used to stop and help, but so many people I know have been wrongfully accused that I won’t do it anymore. Call it cowardly but I’m not going to put my wife through the trauma of trying to pay the mortgage and my legal bills while I sit in a cell. I’m not proud of this, but these days unless I see someone obviously bleeding to death, I’ll just call 119 and let them deal with it.[/quote]
Hear hear. In the UK it is not an issue, and I have helped out a raod accidents in the past. But I did not make Taiwanese society this way, the Taiwanese did, and I’m not prepared to run the risk any more because they see the gweilo at the traffic accident as a walking wallet. I played the hero once. That was enough. It cost me almost NT$10,000 in lost work, and taxis to fucking court. (They sue you in a place really far from where you live to add to the incentive to settle. I kid you not.)
And the other thing I 100% agree with is ambulances here. Waste of time. I know more about first aid than the guys I’ve seen throwing people about here, and there is no more in the way of medical equipment in a Taiwanese ambulance than in a taxi. If the patient’s neck is broken, it’s broken, sorry to say.
I’ve seen roughly 5 dead bodies on the streets and I don’t know how many accidents…but almost every time one of the locals beats me to the scene. I don’t know much about first aid…but I’ve offered my buisness card to the parties that I feel have been wronged in case they need a witness. I find traffic accidents to be fairly interesting in a grim sort of way…but usually by the time I make a U-turn to go check out the accident…there are lots of people already there and trying to help whoever it is that’s hurt…it’s odd that my experiences and the rest of yours seem to vary so much.
Again, I repeat my suggestion, especially if you speak Chinese:
Before approaching the scene, ask another bystander to help be your witness; say that you want to help but don’t want to get wrongly accused. I realize this may not be an option for many.
Or, if you have a camera or cellphone-camera, approach the scene from a distance, taking pictures as you go. Perhaps this would help document your status as a bystander.
Or call the cops, and tell them you see an accident up ahead, and ask for permission to help.
Anything is better than letting someone’s family member just bleed to death.
[quote=“Dragonbones”]Again, I repeat my suggestion, especially if you speak Chinese:
Before approaching the scene, ask another bystander to help be your witness; say that you want to help but don’t want to get wrongly accused. I realize this may not be an option for many.
[/quote]So, you get someone to agree to this (10% probablility) and then go do your thing at the scene. Your ‘witness’ then disappears or recants (99% probability) when the shit hits the fan.
[quote]Or, if you have a camera or cellphone-camera, approach the scene from a distance, taking pictures as you go. Perhaps this would help document your status as a bystander. [/quote]Pretty useless in court against the victim’s testimony, going on what I’ve seen in local courts.
[quote]
Or call the cops, and tell them you see an accident up ahead, and ask for permission to help. [/quote]If you have time for the phone calls and the comedy routine I can imagine occuring asking for permission to go interfere at an accident, you would have time to call the ambulance that’s going to get involved sooner or later… possibly more useful.
[quote]
Anything is better than letting someone’s family member just bleed to death.[/quote]Rather depends on who that family member is and what sort of misery they’re capable of inflicting on you, wouldn’t you say?