Having grown up on a farm, and then spent 6 yrs in the Marine Corps as a 3523, Vehicle Recovery Mechanic, a.k.a. Wrecker driver/Mechanic, if it's stuck we pull it out, if it's broke we fix it, and if we can't we tow it home, and also drove a Tow truck for a year or so in SoCal, I've done plenty of recoveries, some way back were sketch.. but you do what you do at the time and learn, thankfully I've only had the wire winch rope break 2x, now all my trucks have synthetic rope on the winches. And yes, having a rope weight is paramount on wire rope. I almost always stop and help, unless they already have folks there and it looks like a giant CF, then I just keep on keeping on. I was in Jacksonville NC for the first white Christmas in 100yrs back in the late 80's, me and my guys got tasked with running the roads and assisting those stuck and those that had slid off the road, zero damage caused by us. Bottom line, if you don't know wtf you're doing, DON'T do it, but there's plenty that will, hence the videos and worries of litigation. It's a nice difference in having an M1 Abrams mired track deep in NC mud and a Toyota 4 runner that slid off the snowy/icy road, one requires hours of setting up anchors and running 4:1 ****** blocks, the other is a simple strap and a tug. I have walked away from maybe 2 situations where the cidiots that were stuck were expecting ME to do everything to get them unstuck so they didn't get dirty, and one guy just had that attitude and look, and once I started talking to him, I told him he'd be better off calling a tow truck and walked away.

And BTW, @ Baja Frog, I'm def getting one of those moose knuckles!!

 

besides possible property damage you have to be mindful of personal safety. recently seen on the news 2 cops killed by a passing motorist as they were assisting another motorist. sorry ridgway but ill never put my life on the line for your truck in the ditch

 

If I have time, its safe, and there is adequate places to hook up to.

Sure why not.

 

We clearly live in very different worlds. I do not make recoveries in traffic. There are dozens of safe opportunities for me every year to recover people. While I am out plowing it is quite common to find someone over ambitious and stuck. Sometime dumb and stuck but easy to help with some knowledge (experience) and equipment. Mostly for free, sometimes cheap for people I know can't afford the tow guys price here. Many, many, times on the local off road trails.

I think what you are defending is the obvious...

 

A couple years ago I was driving down my rural one lane county road and I looked over and saw a work van helplessly stuck in the middle of a field after a heavy rain. Drivers door was open and the employee was sitting there as if he was waiting on somebody to try and help. I put it in reverse and backed up and asked if he would like for me to help. He said sure. I drove into the property, kept my truck on the paved entrance, and used my 80 foot winch line plus a 30 foot strap to reach his van. I pulled him up to the pavement. His work van was HEAVY and it was all my 12,000 lb. winch wanted, but it did the job. Honestly I was just happy I got to use my winch LOL that alone made my day. But as I was cleaning up to leave the guy slipped a $100 bill in my pocket against my wishes. I guess he figured I had just saved him hundreds so he was happy and I was happy!

 

I knew I wasn't the only one...

 

This would have cost this young man more than the value of the Jeep to have the tow truck come up. I hauled the skid steer up, dug it out, used it as an anchor and pulled the Jeep out with the truck. He drove it home... Took a few hours into it with all the messing around. I told him to pay me what he could when he could. A few weeks later he gave me $100 after he sold that Jeep and that was plenty good enough for me.

Good times were had by all

 

One time I saw the FedEx guy who had his van buried in a snowy ditch. I visually confirmed he was the same unfriendly guy that doesn't wave and just chucks my packages in the snowbank at the end of my 1/4 mile long driveway rather than bring them up to the house like everyone else.

I thought "Now if I were in his shoes, what would I want me to do?"

I decided "I would want to be taught a lesson."

 

95% of the time, I'm going to drive by someone stuck in the ditch. A) Everyone has a cellphone these days. B) If not, a business or a house is almost always within sight, or very easy walking distance. 3) People are too sue happy. D) People are too stupid to know what to do...even after giving clear, specific verbal instructions. They will get themselves in deeper, or worse, damage my vehicle in the process.

I won't touch a car...or these new crappy CUV/SUV things. Period. Nowhere to hook to it without damaging some low hanging plastic body part.

If I'm on a backroad somewhere and a truck needs a tug...I might lend a hand if they look like they have a brain.

 

My feelings on helping someone depend on the circumstances. I do have a couple straps etc I carry on the truck for different reasons.

if I’m near civilization and the person has a cellphone and the ability to call for help I’m more likely to let them reach out and get the proper help. A recovery company will better help them get out and they’re probably not in any grave danger. At a minimum stopping to simply ask if they are injured or if they called for help won’t ever hurt.

But if the conditions are bad and we’re further away from help I’m certainly going to try to help. Im not a recovery expert but I do have a big 4x4 truck with some straps and I’ve pulled lots of company trucks of ours out of mud.

if I feel like I can save someone a ton of time/money or maybe even save their life then theres no chance I’m not going to try. I would want the same for myself if I was the one stuck.

 

Two years ago we had a surprise blizzard materialize here in Colorado. As I was driving home from a local event, there were a number of cars just abandoned in the middle of the road. Once home, I suited up in my insulated coveralls and headed out in my Landcruiser to go help people because the roads were so bad the tow trucks were not able to move. Most of the people I helped that night were 2WD F-150's with Texas plates...and bald tires as well. Seemed to be a pretty common pattern.

For me, if I have the tools, knowledge and ability, why not. There were several sheriff's I ran into that night that were very appreciative, not to mention the very un-prepared drivers who got surprised.

Now, if there is nothing to latch on to, then they might get a ride to somewhere warm, but most people I as able to extract with relative ease.

For our volunteer recovery group, we only take calls that commercial tow companies refuse to service. So it is either another good Samaritan or us and it's not uncommon for our team to be turned around because a good Sam helped out before we arrived.

And, of all the recoveries I've done so far, every driver was very appreciative that a group of strangers would drop what they were doing, regardless of the day or hour, and come out to help them.

 

You know when... I will drive by someone stuck in the ditch...??? and.... Maybe even think nasty thoughts... It's when they catch up to me, and follow me 10' .on my ***, pass me in an unsafe manner, and there they are, in the ditch, a half a mile down the road, other than that I will stop...

 

I think most folks are saying the same thing. When you have the right equipment for the job, the conditions are safe, and you can do so without expectation of damaging something, you help. That's me, too.

 

Along with that I try to teach them some geometry and what I like to call “finagling out of this sitiation” how not to make this problem worse.

I live/work in a dense urban area and constantly drive around checking jobs. Old skinny cart and buggy roads and they dug out the ditches some in a lot of areas for water mitigation. Lots of opportunity for complete ineptitude, road blocking mishaps.

The little 2-3ft section of ditch between me and my neighbors weekend culverts is like that 11’8” bridge video on Youtube. For some reason people like to turn around here and its front tire off in there and back tire up in the air.

 

i think thats were everyones at