Unprepared people.......

S

Sir Housecat

Joined
May 18, 2013
Messages
146
This evening, I was picking up my sister at a football game. I noticed that someone
had their hood up and a truck pulled up in front. My helping instinct kicked in
and offered my jumper cables. I was glad to help, but people, how can you NOT have
even a pair of jumper cables? Why are drivers so unprepared, especially if you have a family depending on you?
 
...cause the Sheeple expect someone else in life to take care of them - it would never occur to them to be prepared (example: have a First Aid kit on board, a knife to cut a jammed seatbelt, etc.).
 
once I bought a auto I went out and bought a set just in case. I have made my money back several times over using them.
 
I don't jump stranger's batteries any more after damaging the battery in my car once when a drunk guy at a biker festival kept insisting, "one more try OK buddy?"
 
I'll play devils advocate.

It wasn't life or death and they got their car back on the road. Why would they need them? Serious question. There's value in having them sure but not everyone wants to own every item under the sun so that maybe...one day...sometime...they'll need it. If they had a spare tire, a jack, and a cell phone they can handle 99% of their car problems. Isn't that being prepared?
 
Add to that, a lot of 24 hr roadway services are now available, can even get it with a leased automobile.
 
I was thinking the same thing. If you have the means to call in roadside assistance and are in an area where such services are available then you are not necessarily unprepared for not packing booster cables. How likely and how devastating is a vehicle failure? The answer depends on the situation. If the answer is an hour or two of your time and a couple of bucks then perhaps it is not so bad?

Some folks like to be prepared for everything. My thinking is that some repairs are not worth doing for yourself, the same goes for stocking certain spare parts. Leave it to the experts with the right tools for the job and an system in place for managing parts inventory. If there is a very remote probability you will need the part or tool for the job you can put that money towards having a newer, better serviced vehicle. A well serviced vehicle is less likely to need help in the first place.

That said I do have a kit in the car when venturing into less habited terrain or during seasons prone to severe weather. I always have booster cables at home, and I have them in the car during the winter months. During the summer I get by without booster cables and most other preps with the exception of spare water. Water is needed in the summer. My winter kit is pretty extensive. People here drive manual transmission vehicles so most problems starting can be fixed with a simple bump start. It is amazing how many people can't manage that.
 
Call me old school, but I don't want to depend on a 24/7 roadside assistance service for a dead battery, flat tire etc. Where I live and travel to and from work cell service is spotty and best, so chances are if you have auto troubles your not going to have cell service to call anyone anyway. I keep a flashlight, a jumpbox,a small tool box with all the tools I need for a car, A blanket, first aid kit and jumper cables , 4 way lug wrench, and a floor jack in my and my wifes car. FWIW heres a quick story my wife is now 6 months pregnant, well 2 months ago, she had a flat tire in one of the spots where there was no cell service. She is a high risk pregnancy and the Dr. has put her on a weight restrictions along with a ton of other restrictions. She tried to get a text or a call out for about 15-20 minutes and nothing, so she decided she was gonna change the tire(at the time she was on the night shift.) So she grabs her .38 puts it IWB and gets out of the car and opens her trunk, Mind you she said about 10 cars had passed and no one offered to stop and help or anything. Well shes getting the floor jack out and the lug wrench and a cop passes by, and apparently he saw her gun inside her waistband so we whipped his car around and flew in behind her, He gets out and asks what the problem was, She just kind of looked at the jack, the lug wrench her spare tire and the flat tire and kinda gave the cop a really???? look. Anyways so she tells him she has a flat tire and no cell service and she wasn't about to get out of her car at 430 A.m without her pistol, She explains shes pregnant, high risk etc...The cop only replies with Let me see your pistol permit, she says ok no problem and she shows him her permit, well, he replies please remove the handgun from your waistband and place it on the roof of the car and I'll stay here until you change your tire.She asks the officer if he would mind helping her put the new tire(she has a full size spare) onto the lugs because its over her weight limit etc. The police officer replies no Ma'am I will not, I'm not going to get my hands or uniform dirty I just came on duty, She said ok thats fine and changed the tire, The officer did sit there in his car while she changed the tire, but he wouldn't even help her put the new tire on , granted it's not his job, but come on what would it of hurt for that officer to help her get that tire up on the lugs???? Anyways kind of went of on this post but just posting a good reason why someone might want to be self sufficient instead of relying on cell phones etc. Electronics fail, Tools while can fail also are more reliable than just a cell phone, IMO in this day in age a cell phone gives a false since of security, granted I never leave home without my phone, but I also keep said tools in my car at all times. Also a floor jack is worth it's weight in gold if you have a flat tire compared to the jacks provided in new cars...
 
Danny N said:
She should have called dispatch and requested a trooper that wasn't worthless
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She didn't have any cell service...And he told her he stopped because he saw her pistol in her waistband, not because she had a flat tire. I respect LEO's don't get me wrong, but that guy was a tool, granted I know they aren't mechanics and it's not their job , but refusing to help a pregnant lady get her new tire on, It's not like she said "officer please help me change my tire", she asked for help lifting the new tire onto the lugs that's it. I wanted his info when she told me what happened, I was going to let his superiors know how he treated a pregnant woman ,I also understand his perspective about the gun , you see someone on the side of the road and you see a gun sticking out of their waistband you should stop and check them, but the whole" I just got on duty and I don't want to get my hands and uniform dirty" floored me...
 
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Allen, it's pretty messed up that the cop did not help. Very uncool on his part and unfortunate for your wife that she ran into him that night. In a way it is understandable nobody stopped at that hour. I have been in the situation where I drove past a broken down vehicle in the small hours and chose to not stop but instead alert local authorities of the situation. If you do a lot of driving at night a more comprehensive kit is in order. Same goes for areas with bad cell reception, low traffic, or bad/cold weather.

Spare tires and the tools to change a flat safely are something people really should have at a minimum. The spare tire, a jack, workgloves, tire iron, warning triangle, high visibility vest. Flat tires are something people run into a lot on the road, right up there with running out of gas.
 
sideways said:
Allen, it's pretty messed up that the cop did not help. Very uncool on his part and unfortunate for your wife that she ran into him that night. In a way it is understandable nobody stopped at that hour. I have been in the situation where I drove past a broken down vehicle in the small hours and chose to not stop but instead alert local authorities of the situation. If you do a lot of driving at night a more comprehensive kit is in order. Same goes for areas with bad cell reception, low traffic, or bad/cold weather.

Spare tires and the tools to change a flat safely are something people really should have at a minimum. The spare tire, a jack, workgloves, tire iron, warning triangle, high visibility vest. Flat tires are something people run into a lot on the road, right up there with running out of gas.
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Agreed, on stopping late at night I've done the same thing myself except my cities police will actually HELP you, There were actually a couple of thugs around here few years back who would go around and act like they had car troubles and try to flag someone down they robbed like 5-6 people IIRC , until a man in his 70s stopped to helped them , they went to rob him and he shot them both with a .357 magnum , and called the pplice to clean up the mess, turns out he was the old sheriff ..Gotta love Karma
 
Like I said I respect LEOs and what they do. Don't want a mixed message that I'm anti cop or anything, some are just well you know...
 
Allen R. said:
Like I said I respect LEOs and what they do. Don't want a mixed message that I'm anti cop or anything, some are just well you know...
Click to expand...

I don't want to leave a mixed message either. It's quite clear to me. An arrogant, lazy dumb ass is just that, whether a cop or not. If it is a cop, the consequences are just exacerbated for everyone who comes in contact. As a former cop (Sacramento Sheriff) for 16 years, I've seen more arrogant, lazy, dumb ass cops than most other people will EVER see. It's simply becoming harder and harder to respect them as it seems that there are more of them who care more about the letter of the law (read...chickenshit) than the spirit of the law. My 2 cents.
 
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