Driving on a remote part of Hwy 101 in Northern California I encountered a driver who nearly hit me by drifting in my lane. This was a fairly dangerous part of the highway which is very curvy so I slowed down to stay in a safe place behind the driver.

About 2 miles down the road the driver missed a large curve at about 75 miles an hour and slammed into the side of a hill. He was then launched into the air and careened along side of the hill parallel to the highway rolling about 6 times.

He came to rest upside down next to the field in a patch of dry tall grass along side the highway. I pulled over thinking this guy was dead by the looks of the impact. When I arrived at the car the vehicle was on its roof and the engine was on fire. I then noticed gasoline pouring out of the fuel door as I attempted to open the drivers door.

The driver was alive, bleeding profusely and disoriented hanging from his seatbelt. I was worried about releasing the seatbelt and having him fall if he had spinal injuries so I had to crawl into the car and ease him down. All this time the engine is on fire and I could smell the gasoline. I dragged him away from the car when another car pulled over which was luckily an off duty fireman.

He kept calling for someone so I went back to the car and did not see any other passengers. I looked back to see if anyone was ejected but there was nothing. Turns out he had a dog in the car. I did not see any dog when I was pulling him out so I assumed the dog was thrown from the car and under the wreckage.

That was my day...

Afterward I reflected on what I had done and the danger of the situation. I thought about my new 7 month old son who is my first child and if I had done the right thing placing myself in a dangerous situation for a stranger. In reality there really was no other choice but to help this guy and I could not imagine doing anything different under the circumstances regardless of the situation.

What is it about us that makes us throw caution to the wind in emergency situations?