Driving to work today on I-35, I saw a woman in an SUV pulled over to the left shoulder of the highway with car trouble. Anyone who's ever driven on I-35 knows that it sports unceasingly heavy traffic, and the left shoulder, next to the concrete wall dividing southbound from northbound lanes, is not a place you willingly pull over to. The woman was nicely dressed in a red sweater, in her mid 30s. Stalled vehicles are common, so I was almost past her before I realized she was still with her vehicle--and she was looking to cross the busy highway.
My first thought is to pull over and help her out. Then the second-guessing sets in. I'm a physically big person, and with my head practically shaved as it is, I look more like an ax murderer than not. Plus the Neon I'm driving does not look to instill confidence, what with the mashed-in hood and clutter on the inside. Plus, the cooling fan is still broke, so it overheats in stop-and-go traffic as well as when I run the AC (but she doesn't have to know this). Realize that as this indecision is playing in my mind, I'm still traveling at 70 miles an hour, so I'm half a mile past by the time I decide it's worth the risk of being pepper-sprayed as a suspected rapist to help. At which point I see in my rear-view mirror that she's already made it across the highway safely to wherever she's going for help. By the time I exit and circle around (an endeavour promising to take 10-15 minutes) it's doubtful I'd be able to find her.
It's only after I get to work that I remember, like the moron I am, that I have a cell phone and could've called the DPS to send an officer to assist her. So now I feel guilty and stupid.
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