(Wow this got long in a hurry, sorry)
I was helped with a car problem once, you have never really felt helpless until you are standing on the side of an unlighted road at night with a 3 ton paperweight. I have made the personal decision (personal because it depends on the individual, some one else may come to the conclusion it is never worth stopping) that I will help others when they are in need. I have adopted some safety techniques that while may not protect you 100%, it is a good start. I am usually on a freeway between home and school, so you may have to adopt this to different environments.
First off, I drive by, slowing down to asses the situation. Is there a visible problem (flat tire), are they attempting to rectify it (trying to change it)? Does it look like they have it under control? How many people? How old are they (the elderly, and people with young children are generally safer in my opinion)? If I get the willies, I keep driving, maybe alert the authorities that their may be some one in need of assistance if I feel it looks like they need help, but something tells me don’t stop.
I then turn around further down the road (not making it obvious to them that your doing this), repeat one if your able to see it again on this pass. Then turn around again and come back.
Pull off the road 50-100 yards before them and slow down, gauge their reaction, I usually stop with a good distance between my vehicle and theirs (15-25 yards), leave my lights on (this hampers their seeing you, and aids in your seeing them), if I have my magnetic overheads on from a SAR mission I will turn those on as well (helps in not getting hit, eases the mind of the person needing aid in most cases, but looking at them is really disorienting at night. I on several occasions at night walking in front of the vehicle, and turning around they have caused me to lose balance. Although most people won’t have these lights, if you do use them). Parking your car back further also provides a buffer if someone was to drift off the road, if I am changing a tire, and its close to the side of the road, I try and park closer to the road than I will be working.
Once I am comfortable with the situation I will usually call one of them, often whoever appears to be in charge over to me if they need assistance. One thing I keep in mind, is the fear my mother instilled in me the one time we were stranded, she was sure anyone who stopped was going to do us harm, she removed all her jewelry and put them in her shoe, and told us to run if anything happened, it scared me, and one of the things I do is make sure that I don’t scare the people I am stopping to help in any way (you can jump in your vehicle and scream off, they are stuck with no route of escape if you creep them out). If they don’t want to come over to me I will talk to them from a distance ask if they would like to me to contact the police for them. If they do come over I offer them my cell phone to call whomever they need, and make small talk about their problem. If I am comfortable with them and that I can actually fix their problem (change a tire), I offer my assistance. Otherwise I let them feel that they are in control (offer them options, don’t tell them what to do), but don’t allow myself to get into a bad situation. Remember that stopping to help some one on a busy highway is probably more dangerous from the getting smeared by a drunk/sleepy driver than by getting attacked by the people you are stopping to assist, but that doesn’t mean an attack isn’t a valid concern. Follow your gut, leave an out, and don’t hesitate to mash on the gas and get the hell out of there if the hair stands up on the back of your neck.
