RW> About the same reason a lot of people I know are no longer sure if
 RW> they would stop at an accident scene and render first aid. Even with
 RW> the "good samaritan" laws on the books the threat of law suits make
 RW> them think twice.
TR> We saw a good example of this today on the news on the
TR> Washington Beltway. First, the good samaritan laws work fine
Really?  How do you know that the lady's family isn't,
as you read this, talking to a lawyer about suing the
guy who stopped?  If they could prove that he did
ANYTHING that could have caused more damage he can be
sued.  For one thing he was a member of the military
and therefore had training in first aid which could be
used in a court to 'override' the GS law.
When I was living in Missouri they had a GS law but if
you checked the fine print it didn't apply to ANYONE
who had been through an "approved" first aid training
program.  Therefore if you had been a boy scout or the
place where you worked had required you to take a Red
Cross first aid/CPR class (which reduces their
insurance) and stopped to help you could be sued.
You face the fact that you could lose just about
everything you own just because the person you stopped
to help turned out to be an a$$hole.  Would you be
willing to have your family lose their home?
TR> Second, it is the law in many jurisdictions that you stop
AFAIK, the only laws concerning this apply to
"professionals", e.g. EMT, LPN, RN, MD, LEO, etc.  If
not then you have a near perfect sting waiting.  Set up
a fake accident and then down the road arrest everyone
who has driven by.  Maybe you could call it a Good
Samaritan Road block.
TR> and render aid. If you are laying somewhere bleeding to
TR> death, I wonder if the thoughts of the above paragraph will
TR> go through your mind again. 
I doubt it.  For one thing I can't blame anyone for
putting their live/livelihood above a stranger's.  If
you saw someone bleeding on a beach and the only thing
you had to use was your bare hands would you run over
and help?  Or would you think about AIDS, hepatitis or
any of the other nice little bugs you could catch?  I
don't know about you but there are very few days of the
year when I don't have cuts on my hands which would
make me think five or six times.
                      Remember:  Freedom isn't Free!
--- timEd-B11
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