Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Do you call the police if you see a car crash?
I was driving home this weekend from a work event when I saw what appeared to be a recent car accident on the other side of the highway (I was driving north, the accident was on the southbound side). I did not see the accident occur, but it looked like it had just happened. Passengers were just opening doors and getting out of the cars, one person was trying to cross the highway - but police had not yet arrived on the scene. There was enough damage to the cars that they wouldn't be drivable and would have to be towed away.
I called 911 to report the accident. I first got the city police, who said the accident was out of their jurisdiction and transferred me to the state police. The state police said it was not their responsibility and transferred me to the transportation authority police. The transportation police told me that it wasn't their responsibility either, and that they didn't understand why I was calling to report an accident.
So - what would you do/what are you supposed to do when you see an accident? Call and report it? Stop and offer assistance? Continue driving?
Finally - i dont recommend getting in an auto accident around Baltimore as 3 different police forces will claim that it isnt their responsibility. 
Re: Do you call the police if you see a car crash?
I'd do what you did. Call 911 to report the location and nature of the accident.
Absolutely do not offer assistance in a case like this. Very unsafe.
WTF is up with that response, from 3 agencies?!
Yes, I would absolutely call.
Based on this--> Passengers were just opening doors and getting out of the cars, one person was trying to cross the highwa <--Probably not. My assumption (right or wrong) would be that someone involved in the accident had likely called the police.
If you see the accident happen, don't you HAVE to stay to give a statement? I think my state requires it.
I would have reported it in your situation. The people involved may have lost their phones in the collision. Frustrating that no one seemed to know where to direct you, though.
I'd call 911. Good tip on not getting into an accident in Baltimore. lol
Agreed. If you can walk, you can prob dial 911, and its on the other side of the freeway. I generally ASSume most people have cell phones, or someone going that direction would call it in.
If I'm involved or am actually a see it occurring, yeah, I'd stop and call 911 to be a witness.
Call me Kat =^..^=
I think the only HAVE TO stay people are the ones involved in the accident. However, OP didn't see the car crash.
I know if you're a trained medical professional and it looks like there might be injuries, it is incumbent upon you to stop and assist.
If people are up and walking around, I would not call... mostly because sometimes in a minor fender bender which isn't obstructing traffic, people sometimes prefer to just exchange info and take care of the damages themselves rather than involve insurance (I did that once, although it does preclude you from really pursuing damages if you happen to realize you're injured later).
If it looks really serious and no one is walking around or it's obvious injuries occurred, yes I'd call.
What's the psychological condition that people have that they always assume that someone else calls/will get involved? It's why if people hear an accident out in the hall 95% of people will stay in their chairs if no one else is getting up.
I'd call. If it was on the same side of the road, I'd see if there was anything I could do.
People saying they wouldn't call infuriates me. Do something, even if it is a replicate of something else. Don't just sit on your thumbs and think someone else is going to take care of it. I know of at least 2 times where I was the first person to call in, and in one case the ONLY person to call in despite several people seeing the accident, and the person involved in the accident being too incapacitated/flustered to find their phone. (I know this because I talked to the dispatcher later in the week [daughter of a coworker]).
Yes, I do. Aside from personal injury, an accident can still jam things up for a while. Not to mention if there is anything on the road (oil, glass, etc.)
Bystander effect.
I'm a helper, and I always have the bystander effect in the back of my mind. Most emergency responders would rather too many calls than none. (apparently not in Baltimore, though)
ETA: By helper, I mean I am one who always tries to help. I couldn't just walk by, and sometimes I start to second guess if I help "too much"...which is when I remember that if I don't, it may be that no one else will.
Here's a nice story. One day I was waiting for the subway. It was approx 200 degrees in there, stagnant air. I heard a big thud behind me. It was a man passing out, and hitting his head on the concrete. At this time, the train pulled up. People WALKED OVER HIM to get on the train, and were just looking out the windows, nonchalantly. It was gross. Me and another woman (who was a nurse) responded to him. She stayed with him, while I ran to get the T workers to call an ambulance. The T worker was annoyed with me and took her sweet time walking down the platform. It was awful.
I was so thoroughly disgusted by people that day. They all just assumed someone else would help and took off.
I'm sorry but if several people in the accident are up and walking around as described in this post, then I don't think it's so severe that I need to slow down traffic (which can and many times DOES create another accident) trying to figure out what mile marker I'm at or whatever to call.
<a href="http://www.thenest.com/?utm_source=ticker&utm_medium=HTML&utm_campaign=tickers" title="Home DAs I live in Baltimore, this does not make me happy... 911 is 911. They shouldn't have been transferring you around.
Anyhow, yes, I'd call. We did that ourselves once about a year or so ago. Saw what looked like an accident that JUST happened on the other side of the highway and called to report it.
~Benjamin Franklin
DS dx with celiac disease 5/28/10
Can you imagine being in that accident and getting the same run-around? I'd be hysterical.
There was a bad crash in my neighborhood while I was walking home with my daughter yesterday. I heard three people make 911 calls before I got close enough to see what had happened (other side of the street). Several people ran over to provide aid (there are a couple of nurses in the area). I heard sirens before I had made it to my front door. It made me feel really good about the neighborhood I live in. Hood adjacent and all.
Around here, the different EMS are on different frequencies, so they'd have to transfer the call to that area's dispatch because they can't radio to another agency's officer. KWIM? But still, I'd probably call.
I came thisclose to being hit by an out of control tractor trailer which crossed 4 lanes across the highway in ATL. I heard it hit something behind me but I couldn't see what. I called 911, shaking, and got..."Thank you for calling emergency services. Someone will be with you shortly."
Me too! OP, if you don't mind me asking, where were you when it happened? I've called once before when an accident happened right in front of me (waiting to make a left turn at a light and a couple of cars in front of me). I was in the passenger seat and happened to have my phone in my hand. I was in AA county (Mountain Rd area) and I believe I got patched through twice (same, deciding if it was local vs state or whatever as it was the corner of 100). I never got turned down though! I would/will only call if I see the accident happen
This, right here. My responses are based on the situation the OP described not a blanket statement. In this situation she didn't see the accident happen, and the people in the accident were walking around. So, NO I would not call. Or stop. Or slow down and be a lookie loo so that another car can ram the back of me and run me off the road.
Sure - I was on the BW parkway coming into Baltimore - about a half-mile from the 95 junction where the speed limit slows to 45 MPH and about a mile from the stoplights before you hit the stadiums.
I would call, especially since the accident just happened and no one else may have had chance to call yet. The fact that one of the people involved was trying to cross the highway says to me that perhaps they don't have a cell phone and were crossing to get help.
And I've had my car die on the highway and when I went to call AAA - my cell phone died too. I wouldn't assume that all the participants had fully charged cell phones on them. Besides, an extra call to 911 doesn't hurt anything - and based on the response you got from 911, it sounds like multiple calls would really be a good thing if you wanted ny response at all! And the people in the accident could be in the worst position to say exactly where they are in regards to the exits.
I can't figure out how it couldn't be the state police's job to respond though. I thought highways that crossed through several towns were definitely within their jurisdiction, though the city police could respond as well. How is it that I have managed to get speeding tickets on the interstate from state police but they "don't do accidents"?
Anything you can achieve through hard work, you could also just buy.
Probably Baltimore County PD but highways can be a total clusterfluck when it comes to who is responsible. Still doesn't excuse the lousy response by 911 - and shows that Maryland needs to get their $hit together about a centralized 911 center.
And to answer the original question, it depends. If I see and and don't see everyone in the cars around me reaching for their phones, I call (I also call to rat out really aggressive drivers and drunk drivers). But my cell phone is still an area code 100 miles from where I live so calling 911 with a non-local number is nuts too. Last week I had to call poison control and got bitched at for not having a local number. Uhm, thanks lady.
As a survivor of a nasty car accident, I appreciate any and all people who call 911 to report. Fire, Jaws of Life and Ambulances were all pulling up to my car as I regained consciousness. There would have been no way I could have called, but trapped as I may have been, I was trying to get out of the car as they were running up to me. Concussions do crazy things to your sense of reality... lol
So yes I would call even if I didn't see the accident happen. If I saw an accident that was the extent of the one OP came up on, I would just go ahead and assume that there were injuries, possibly even head injuries, even if they were getting out of the car and wandering around. Also, I live in a rural area where on some roads, you may be the only person on it at the time of your accident, so if no one called because "they didn't see it happen," then no one may end up calling, KWIM?
Anecdote time: a friend of mine was in an accident. By the time she pulled herself together to call, it had already been reported so much that 911 told her it was taken car of, not to worry about it.
I think I've only called 911 when I heard a gunshot. And b/c I was on a cell phone and on the border of the city, I got the wrong dept. They wouldn't transfer me, and although I tried calling back, it kept going to the wrong city. Sigh.
No, I know in Texas we have a good Samaritan law in which you must stop and render aide in a situation like a crash..you could get in trouble if you ignore it. Sounds like you could have a similar law. Definitely worth looking into.
Anyway, I always call stuff in if police or medical professionals are not there yet. I've also called in brush fires and a car that was obviously being operated by someone intoxicated by something. I've never gotten a response like the OP...that's pretty scary!
Hmm...I wonder if it's still "park police" jurisdiction then? I thought they only picked up when the signs turned "brown" on the BW Pkwy. I would think where you were it'd be at least the MTA if not city police (I think you are within city limits there). Regardless, that's terrible you couldn't get SOMEONE to take ownership! That would be a terrible place to be stranded like in the middle of the night, KWIM?