Topic: Do you help push cars that get stuck?

[quadzilla]

Was driving with my 91 year old Grandma in the car and came along a stuck Chrysler 300 with no winter tires and a young (sub 30 years old) person trying to dig it out. I slowed, surveyed the situation and decided to continue on saying to Grandma, sucks for her.  Besides not wanting to leave Grandma alone in the car while trying to help push a car that weight as much as a steam-liner, I just felt that if you can't be bothered to put on winter tires when you live in a city that is known for massive snow dumps, good luck to you.

So what do you say...Are you naughty or nice?

[mrthompson]

Depends on the situation. 

Two years ago I pushed two vehicles in the span of an hour.  The first was a Chevy Aveo with all seasons.  I was shoveling my driveway after work when I noticed it unable to proceed at a stop sign.  I started pushing and any forward progress diminished as I stopped pushing.  Finally the car got into some ruts and was off.  A little while later I went to pickup my eldest son from daycare.  The main lot was full so I parked in the employees lot in a spot covered in the days' amount of fallen snow.  I was about to walk into the daycare when I noticed a Civic (with winter tires) having trouble exiting the lot.  I gave it a push to help the vehicle gain some momentum.  Later my son and I came outside and entered my Focus.  With a bit of wheel spin the Uniroyal Tiger Paw Ice & Snow tires dug through the deep snow and we were on our way.

[Firm]

If I can safely stop to help, without risking me or my car getting hit by another moron, or getting stuck myself, then yeah.

[aquadorhj]

depends.  i helped stuck neighbors couple of times.   didn't have winter tires on them.

not that it matters to me.

[Sir Osis of Liver]

It happens quite a bit. Sometimes they have snowtires and are just hung up, other times they have all seasons and just don't have traction.

[tortoise]

Usually, but it always depends.

Neighbours that need help will always get it.  Winter tires or not.

I'll usually help others get going and if they don't have winters I'll  mention how much better they are.  I carry a shovel during the winter months and will just give it to them so they can dig themselves out.

The Jackass in the beater Prelude with summer tires that fishtailed into my snowbank 5 minutes after I was just standing there putting out the garbage didn't get any help at all.  It took him about an hour and a half to get free.  I loaned him a shovel and his friends a pair of gloves but otherwise stood there with my beer and gave him $hit about driving like an ass and having crap tires.  Didn't help that he was completely clueless and thought that revving it to redline in reverse would get the job done.  Very nearly called the cops instead of getting him free.

[johngenx]

We live right by a school and people use our cul de sac to turn around and get stuck all the time.  Typically, pushing is not needed, just better driving, so if they'll allow, I will drive their car out.  Occasionally, pushing is needed.  I have a tug 'em strap in the Highlander so instead of spending time pushing, I just pull them out.

[Snowman]

I only help neighbors. Foolish, foolish, neighbors who don't put on winter tires and get stuck. My whole neighborhood is fully of people who refuse to put them on and I literally watch them crash into the curb on the hills or get stuck while I shovel my driveway. Classic.

Same here. I had to snowblow half of our cul de sac last March so they could get in and out.

[whaddaiknow]

I do help my neighbours. I don't judge their lack of winter tires or what not. I know my neighbours are good hard working people and I help them no questions asked. They do the same for me.

[Northernridge]

Can't say I remember pushing anybody stuck in the snow since I was a teenager. But then I've hardly come across anyone where a push would get it done. I have used my trucks to pull many people out of the ditch on local roads though. I carry a recovery strap and if I have time (and am dressed for it) I'll stop to retrieve someone. It's my policy that they hook up the strap the their vehicle though.

When you pull somebody out of the ditch in Manitoba on a rural winter road and it's -25 or so, they react like you've just saved their lives…when really you just saved them a hundred bucks.

[KD]

Was driving with my 91 year old Grandma in the car and came along a stuck Chrysler 300 with no winter tires and a young (sub 30 years old) person trying to dig it out. I slowed, surveyed the situation and decided to continue on saying to Grandma, sucks for her.  Besides not wanting to leave Grandma alone in the car while trying to help push a car that weight as much as a steam-liner, I just felt that if you can't be bothered to put on winter tires when you live in a city that is known for massive snow dumps, good luck to you.

So what do you say...Are you naughty or nice?

I'm with you there!  I survey the situation and help if I can, but some people need more help in other ways than I can offer.   I stopped a few weeks ago along the side of the highway to help an elderly couple change a blown out tire and it felt pretty good.  They were some appreciative and offered me $40...   I turned it down of course...   Come to think of it that was the first tire change I've had to do in years, using those crappy jacks anyway, and it sucked as much as ever...

[tpl]

If I wore boots/shoes with snow traction/ice grip in the winter ( my trusty Rockport walkers have little grip)  AND the pushee had snow tires AND was trying to drive out properly ( no spinning wheels)   then maybe perhaps.   But if it was that snowy then my FWD cars even with their new Xice Xi3s would be having trouble as well.

However, there is often a windrow problem where a minor road meets a busier one  where one has to stop and can't use momentum to power through.   A lot of regular cars even with the best tires have trouble then and might deserve a push.

[Weels]

Depends on the situation for me too.
I did last year in one larger dump we had... came up to a car trying to exit out of a parking lot ahead of me that was hung up on a large drift left behind by a plow.  Managed to push them out with another guy.
But.. as I get older and my tolerance for stupidity keeps dropping... if I can see you are stuck because you've done something dumb or are obviously not prepared for the conditions...  I'm driving on by.

[Fobroader]

Ive pulled a lot of people out of snowbanks and ditches with trucks. Pushing....I really judge the situations, stuff like didnt know how to get vehicle into 4x4, didnt shut the traction control off and crappy tires might make me drive straight by. Kids and old people involved, Ill stop for sure, neighbors, for sure, stupidity and ignorance...buh bye.

[Scaerio]

Almost always - growing up in hilly St. John's, known for wet heavy snow, freezing rain, and sudden temperature changes (turning streets to skating rinks in minutes), helping each other out on the roads in the winter becomes second nature.  When you live on a rock in the freezing North Atlantic you quickly learn that if you don't stick together, there is no hope for survival, not that this applies so much today, but this is the mentality upon which Newfoundland society and culture were built, and remains at the core of Newfoundlanders' sense of self.

[ipolski]

I will always offer help for someone who needs it. 

[tooscoops]

it's a rare case that i won't help... if i have somewhere i really need to be... but that's rare, especially during a storm...

i've gone out before just to help push people... put on my onesie and some good boots.. i remember going out during some bad storms on my snowmobile just to see if anyone needed help as well. figure get to go for a ride, help some people... feel good about myself. then reward myself with a beer.

if they were being too dumb about it, i'd throw a few digs in regarding winter tires or perhaps better driving skills, but i wouldn't let the car determine whether i'd help... it's up to the people driving. if they are assholes, i won't help... but i find when people are in need, they tend to be a bit nicer.

[wing]

Only time I remember stopping to help, saw this woman struggling in a parking lot.

I got out of my car offered to help and she said "No thanks I have these traction devices, I just put them in front of my wheels and away I go".  I look at her wheels, look again then say, it would probably help to put them under your front tires, your car is front wheel drive.

LOL She moved them and then got out -- too funny.  She would have been spinning tires forever.

[revalations]

A few years back we got a huge dump of snow overnight. I helped several vehicles get unstuck in our neighbourhood. I helped this one fellow a good hour get his car dug out, he lives about 10 houses down from me, turned out he owns the golf course that boarders my neighbourhood. I now get a free round whenever I want! He was so thankful, it makes it worthwhile to help out whenever I can.

[blotter]

We had a big storm at work when I still had the RAV 4
three of the cars got stuck, so I call two of the girls that lived nearby and said I'd pick them up.
On my way they each had a neighbour stuck so I got out and helped.

After I got us all back to work, I took the keys from the stuck cars and went to work moving them out.
It took a little effort but with some careful driving I was able to move the cars out.

It was nice to spend half the day doing that instead of sitting at a desk all day.   



Once I seen two guys get a Dodge Dakota stuck.  They got it hung up on the plow's tracks.
I didn't stop because while one tried to push, the other was always slamming the gas and the truck kept spinning and fish tailling wildly.   That was a situation that I wanted to get away from before they ended up hitting anyone.