Helping Out

Out on some errands today, I cruised past a dude standing next to his motorcycle in the middle of Delaware Avenue.

Which is the equivalent of standing in the middle of a busy freeway, if you don't know Delaware Ave, or Columbus Ave, or whatever it is called...

Looking in the rearview, I could see that there were bits of his bike broken off and busted up.

I circled back around as quickly as the median would let, because the guy had no cover from traffic and had to be in trouble...

And because that it what people should do.

By the time I had gotten through the double u-turns to get back to the guy - Ms. Pat was there, dragging out a first aid duffle and road flares...

After lighting some the flares and administering some first aid to the biker I learned was named Perry, I learned that Ms. Pat does this...

It is her thing, helping out folks on bikes, when they need help.

Perry got pretty lucky.

Ms. Pat had flushed out Perry's scrapes with water and had bandages applied in less than two minutes. I held the gauss and the scissors, and wrote down what Perry was saying. He talked with his insurance and Ms. Pat had a tow on the way...before anybody else considered stopping.

The person that stopped?

A transit cop...who would have rolled by if we didn't flag him down.

Perry got taken out by some random construction debris in the road.

Some bit of PVC pipe that caught his front tire and took him off...

No helmet, no leather...

Just a do-rag and some gloves.

He sent me on once the paramedics arrived.

Ms. Pat gave me a hug.

While I was standing there, with Perry and Ms. Pat, watching that mass of cars stream past - only hesitating to gawk...

I was left wondering how long it would take for somebody to stop and help this guy out, if I hadn't stopped, or the highly prepared Ms. Pat wasn't driving past.

Luck was with you today, Perry.

It reminded me that I don't have shit, in either car, in case bad stuff happens.

No solid first aid kits at least...

Oil, wrenches and antifreeze don't do much to stop bleeding.

How about you?

Got anything more heavy duty than a band-aid and some Advil in your car?

Would you stop to help?

Would you want somebody to stop, if you needed help?