Time for a Moral Conundrum OPPO 

"My citroen won't start" (lucasboechat) 10/13/2015 at 00:41 • Filed to: None

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What would you do in the following situation?

You went out to some sort of social event at night with a couple of friends and now it is time to go home. You had half a glass of wine due to peer pressure and feel perfectly fine, your state has a zero alcohol tolerance while driving and you know that, but you are not impaired in any way so you decide to drive home.

It is 4 am now, you are half-way home doing 37 mph in a 35 zone and the streets are completely empty, September from Earth Wind & Fire is playing on the radio.

Suddenly someone visibly drunk wanders into the street about 15 feet in front of you. You brake but still hit them head on and achieve full stop a few feet ahead. Your car is still drivable and the damage seems to be minimal.

What do you do now:

A [Get the hell out of there, if they find any alcohol in your blood you are fucked] - stop reading and post your answer.

B [Get out of the car and check on whatever it was that you hit]- keep reading.

You get out of the car and find a bloody homeless man in-between the sidewalk and the street, he is not moving or breathing from what you gathered and reeks of alcohol. There is a phone-booth a couple feet ahead.

What you do know is up to you, you call and ambulance and drive off into the night? Or wait for it to arrive and accept the random series of events? Accept the DUI manslaughter even though you were completely sane and had no fault of your own? What do you do?

bob and john > My citroen won't start 10/13/2015 at 00:45

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intresting conundrum.

i want to start off that I have a 12 hour bottle-to-throttle. anytime i take alcohol, i stay clear of my machines for at least 12 hours.


I think i would have called the ambulance, but gotten the hell out of dodge.

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > My citroen won't start 10/13/2015 at 00:46

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This is a little too intense of a hypothetical.

TheHondaBro > My citroen won't start 10/13/2015 at 00:46

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No no NO NO I'm notCoveringfor yourLaw-breakingass .

NonDriftingS13 > My citroen won't start 10/13/2015 at 00:49

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I hate making decisions...

I’d probably call for an ambulance, then do a drive-by of the scene a few minutes later and check on the guy. If I could get another car, I’d stay with him until I was sure the ambulance arrived.

My citroen won't start > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 10/13/2015 at 00:52

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So what is your answer?

My citroen won't start > TheHondaBro 10/13/2015 at 00:53

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The red stains in my living room rug are ketchup, don’t ask me about that anymore.

My citroen won't start > bob and john 10/13/2015 at 00:54

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Me too, if I know I’m going to drink I just get an Uber.

Mercedes Streeter > My citroen won't start 10/13/2015 at 00:57

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Run him over again. Make sure the job is finished, at least...

My citroen won't start > Mercedes Streeter 10/13/2015 at 01:01

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Shoop > My citroen won't start 10/13/2015 at 01:03

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What kind of place has ZERO tolerance for dui? I thought there was a legal limit?

Call the ambulance and head to mexico

PS9 > My citroen won't start 10/13/2015 at 01:04

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That first paragraph has nope written all over it.

PS9 does not get in and operate a motor vehicle after consuming alcohol. FULL. STOP.

My citroen won't start > Shoop 10/13/2015 at 01:05

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I don’t think the US has it, but in Brazil that is the norm. Had half a glass of wine at a fancy restaurant? You better not drive through a blitz.

My citroen won't start > PS9 10/13/2015 at 01:07

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I don’t either, always Uber or stay the fuck home. But play along please.

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > My citroen won't start 10/13/2015 at 01:09

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If you’re a law abiding citizen, you can probably just tell the truth and suffer minor consequences if at all. I don’t like in a zero-alcohol tolerance state so I couldn’t comprehend.

My citroen won't start > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 10/13/2015 at 01:11

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I know, but this isn’t a real story, you are in a fictional situation, what would you do?

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > My citroen won't start 10/13/2015 at 01:13

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“Hi officer, would you believe I have alcohol on my breath because I attempted to perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on this man with no regard to my own well-being?"

911e46z06 > My citroen won't start 10/13/2015 at 01:14

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I’d sit down, have a few beers, and think things over.

whatisthatsound > My citroen won't start 10/13/2015 at 01:19

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You do the right thing. You offer aid and call the police. If people would realize mistakes can be forgiven, but cover ups mean you knew something was wrong and you were scared of taking responsibility.

Fun fact in my line of work the ability to move on from a true mistake/accident given understandable circumstances depends heavily on how you react after. Things happen quickly and we flex when we need to,in the environment mistakes happen. If you fess up, be honest, be humble, and take the lessons learned away you will most likely keep your job. Hide away/ try to act helpful while covering up part of the truth you will be in a world of hurt.

My citroen won't start > whatisthatsound 10/13/2015 at 01:22

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In some sort of ideal world (judicially speaking), maybe, but you still had alcohol in your blood and a manslaughter charge, which can and will easily become a DUI manslaughter or something more severe depending on the region.

whatisthatsound > My citroen won't start 10/13/2015 at 01:28

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It doesn’t matter. If I made the decision I’m going to take responsibility. A jury of peers/judge will understand and may have more leniency with the a truthful person.

My citroen won't start > whatisthatsound 10/13/2015 at 01:30

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I wouldn’t be so sure on that leniency, but you are a good and correct person.

facw > My citroen won't start 10/13/2015 at 01:37

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In the US a lot of states set the limit at 0 for people under 21 (the drinking age). But yeah, otherwise it will be higher.

Regardless, the answer is call 911, report the accident, and then basically don’t consent to anything without first talking to a lawyer.

My citroen won't start > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 10/13/2015 at 01:37

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Smooth

Luke's Dad Sold His 2000TL To Get a Sienna > My citroen won't start 10/13/2015 at 01:38

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Part of me says A. But what I’d probably do is. Grab some tissue or towel to call the emergency on the telephone, but tell them nothing other than to report an accident, leave the phone off the hook and then drive away. In drama shows, they say to do this to get more time to run.

Dunnik > My citroen won't start 10/13/2015 at 01:55

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I’d call for help, and render First Aid.

A half-glass of wine should not cause one to exhibit any outward signs of impairment, unless your an 80 pound Asian woman.

Attending emergency personnel, including cops, would look at you, and then at the victim, and conclude that if anyone was drunk here, it was the victim. Perhaps this victim is already well-known to emergency responders. The fact that you also made the call implies, to a certain degree, that you have nothing to hide.

This interesting situation would be even more interesting in a jurisdiction that had a more sensible policy, and if you could up the alcohol level in your example to where its enough to get noticed but not enough to really be considered driving while impaired (here its 0.08, so say you’re at 0.05).

Svend > My citroen won't start 10/13/2015 at 01:57

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There is no conundrum here. Peer pressure is peer pressure until someone is hurt or a law is broken then it is a, ‘you fudged up pal’ situation. Arguing peer pressure made them drink is a cop out, but they certainly didn’t make the person drive knowing it was a zero alcohol state.

So in the prescribed event above. If they hit an individual drunk or otherwise they should first make themselves and the vehicle they are traveling safe and safe for other road users by placing a warning beacon and at least hazard lights on. Get out and check surrounding area for any other hazards and then check on the individual (remember just because you can’t see an injury, it’s not to say there isn’t one), phone for an ambulance if necessary, if an ambulance is necessary then police are also. Only if the individual is perfectly fine can you continue on your way as if nothing happened. If police are concerned then you stand up for your actions and don’t hide behind ‘peer pressure’, the legal profession doesn’t accept ‘peer pressure’ as a valid argument and nor should they.

Intoxicated individuals are less likely to be harmed (though should never be taken as a given) than a sober individual in the same circumstances as the intoxicated individual has the ‘rag doll effect’ in that their body remains limp and open to outside forces where a sober individual will tense up either before or after initial impact and try to protect itself which in turn causes further injuries.

My citroen won't start > Svend 10/13/2015 at 02:02

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Oh, I know all of this, I’m not trying to justify the behavior or explain the behavior I wrote above, nor am I asking for the legally correct thing to do (I’m a lawyer myself). I just proposed a situation, one that a fellow friend told me about earlier today, to see what people would answer.

beardsbynelly - Rikerbeard > My citroen won't start 10/13/2015 at 02:05

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my uncle was hit and killed by a driver who fled the scene. My uncle was extremely drunk at the time and probably caused it himself.

But stop and stay. or you’re a cunt. a stupid cunt. The driver was eventually caught off witness and cctv evidence.

Svend > My citroen won't start 10/13/2015 at 02:12

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Ye’, I know. The above was my answer to it. But after years working as an ambulance tech (which I’m not ashamed to admit did burn me out, loved the job but mentally I couldn’t keep doing it), I’ve seen just the situation before (not often but more than once is way too many, the other type of situation is the passenger admitting fault to protect the driver) and anything other than standing up and doing the right thing is a no brainer. Sure I know that in the situation there is the ‘fight or flight’ thing in that ‘do I take what’s due or flee hoping I’ve got away with it’.

Anybody who answers differently to doing the right thing is a total a-hole in my books.

My citroen won't start > Svend 10/13/2015 at 02:18

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The “fight or flight” was the whole intention of this story, I wanted to see how people would cope with this series of events, especially with the “I’m not really drunk but legally I am” part. Also, according to my friend, the most interesting part is the “homeless” bit, which creates a lack of empathy on certain people.

My citroen won't start > beardsbynelly - Rikerbeard 10/13/2015 at 02:20

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I’m sorry if this brought any sort of bad memories, it was in no way my intention. Also, I’m not condoning any of the behaviors I mentioned above, I just wanted to see how people would cope with this sort of situation.

Svend > My citroen won't start 10/13/2015 at 02:31

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Ye’, it’s strange how people asses whether the other person is of any worth, not necessarily a homeless person but a person below, equal or above them. People often look down on people they assume are either above or below them as inferior, below them is a ‘well they didn’t do anything for society or no one will miss them and for people they assume are better than them it’s a case of ‘see, all your money didn’t help you here did it’ or ‘I better flee as their lawyers will rip every asset I have and make me homeless’ or ‘they’ll have powerful friends and I’ll certainly be going to prison’ but if it’s someone of they assume equal they are more inclined to be more concerned, sympathetic and even empathetic with the other person and offer assistance.

pip bip - choose Corrour > My citroen won't start 10/13/2015 at 02:37

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run!

My citroen won't start > Svend 10/13/2015 at 02:40

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Exactly, and this kind of behavior is the classic example of misplaced guilt “He can pay for that no problem, so it’s not really my fault” or as you said “no one will miss him, so what I did doesn’t matter”

It pains me to think about the sort of things you might have come across in that line of work.

Svend > My citroen won't start 10/13/2015 at 02:44

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You actually reminded me of an incident a former colleague experienced as the driver. He was sober and come up on a zebra crossing (we have two types of crossing essentially, one a ‘pelican crossing’ and controlled by traffic lights to stop traffic and a ‘zebra crossing’ similar to a pelican crossing but without the traffic lights where a pedestrian stands at the kerb side on a road marked area and the drivers stop to let them cross, the pedestrian is not to start crossing until safe to do so) in the early hours of the morning (about 06:20, as we finished night shift at 06:00) when an 80 year old man stepped off the kerb wearing dark clothing right in front of him. He did the right thing and phoned for the police and an ambulance, crash scene investigation found the area inappropriately lit and my former colleague was let off any responsibility. Unfortunately the pedestrian died over a month later of ‘complications’ but my former colleague visited him often while he was in hospital and was invited to the funeral by the pedestrians family who all acknowledged it was just one of those things and he was not at fault. Now my former colleague was an argumentative pain in the arse at the best of times and never took fault while at work, yet when it came to the crunch he stood up to the plate and did the right thing. He doesn’t work with me anymore but I’m pretty sure he’s still being an a-hole at his new job.

Svend > My citroen won't start 10/13/2015 at 02:58

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It shouldn’t pain you my friend. It’s just that I wasn’t so much getting hardened (hell no one could get hardened to some of the crazy stuff, sometimes the worst were when it looked like not much had happened on the surface but below the surface was mental) to what I was seeing and experiencing but the rush of responding to an incident as even the most detailed caller can miss things and I was enjoying that rush and in my books that is not good. No pleasure should be gleaned from some one elses misfortune and so I left. I just fill shelves at a supermarket now on nights and clean friends cars during the day for free. I’m not fulfilling my lifelong ambitions but I’m happy enough doing what I’m doing. I’ve been burned too many times by people wanting to harm others emotionally, physically or at someones expensive to have friend-friends. Doing the right thing should never be a ‘but you could do this’ alternative.

CRider > Mercedes Streeter 10/13/2015 at 03:02

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If... if that’s what the smart expert says to do, it must be the right thing... Although with a Smart car you’d need to give him at least three good whacks to make sure he’s done.

Berang > My citroen won't start 10/13/2015 at 03:53

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Call an ambulance. Conveniently wander off and get “lost” for an hour or so while the ambulance is en route. On foot. Don’t take the car. You’re an idiot and you’re lost, but you’re not drunk and you didn’t intend to leave the scene. You were just looking for help that might be closer. Yeah - that’s the ticket.

This is pretty much what most drunk drivers do if they “accidentally” left the scene. They go somewhere, sober up, then turn themselves in and say something like “I didn’t even see them! - I didn’t even know it was a person! - I thought it was a dog/deer/porpoise!”

beardsbynelly - Rikerbeard > My citroen won't start 10/13/2015 at 04:37

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Oh I’m fine. That was nearly 20 years ago. But my point stands, if you’re involved in a crash and leave someone to die, regardless of fault.. You’re a cunt.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > My citroen won't start 10/13/2015 at 04:54

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Probably anonymously call for an ambulance and get the hell out of there.

jariten1781 > My citroen won't start 10/13/2015 at 05:08

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Render first Aid, Call Cops, Deal with Consequences.

Interestingly enough, if I have a phone paired to my car it auto calls 911 on a large impact. Never really thought of it in hit and run contexts since I straight up wouldn’t hit and run, but anyone with that system is going to be flagged if the police do minimal crosschecking. They probably wouldn’t for solely property damage, but would if there was a dead or severely injured person. Changes the calculus for a scumbag since now they’ve got a clock (5 minutes in my county) to do something with the body since if they straight run they’ll be found.

LongbowMkII > My citroen won't start 10/13/2015 at 06:35

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call. by the time there is any testing you’ll have metabolized the tiny bit of alcohol to within trace amounts.

samssun > My citroen won't start 10/13/2015 at 06:42

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Lost me at “half a glass of wine due to peer pressure”. A 100 pound girl might blow a .02 which is basically a rounding error. If you’re a dude and it’s hours later, your BAC is literally zero.

Now, please finish off a six pack of something cheap and steal a moped to get home like a normal high school kid, before you end up with an anti-bullying tumblr blog about the trauma of partial servings of wine.

boxrocket > My citroen won't start 10/13/2015 at 07:06

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The safety of the homeless person is more critical that whatever reprimand or punishment the local authorities might give if they gave a sobriety test. The little amount of alcohol consumed could be debated anyway by a decent lawyer - maybe it was cough medicine, maybe the machine was faulty, maybe it’s mostly out of your system by the time they do the test down at the station. I’d do what I could to make sure the homeless person was taken care of -even after hospital admission - then move on to making an insurance claim for the victim and the car damage.

BigBlock440 > My citroen won't start 10/13/2015 at 08:07

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Unless you drank the “half a glass of wine” on the way to the accident, your BAC will be 0.00 by the time any tests are done, probably at the time of the accident too. Or that “half a glass of wine” is equivalent to the “just one beer” that’s usually told.

Tripper > My citroen won't start 10/13/2015 at 09:21

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Skate...burn the car

wiffleballtony > My citroen won't start 10/13/2015 at 12:04

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B. You knew the rules, broke them. Now you need to help the man that you hit.

anon-sxmcyecofnu1eocpqsk9iq > My citroen won't start 10/13/2015 at 23:03

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I’m not sure what I’d do. I probably wouldn’t have driven in the first place if I had any drinks, but if I did... This is a very hard question.