Ever been stranded on the road? It's really a bummer.

My first inclination is to stop and help, but that's not always safe

So what can you do? If the stranded person is near a phone or other help I don't stop. If I'm by myself I'll stop, but won't get out. I'll offer help by calling somewhere for them.

In some cases you just know you're safe. Last week I gave a gal a ride to a service station. I knew it was OK because her husband had just set out on a river trip where my husband was boating, she wasn't likely to be the Boston Strangler

Any tips for us?? When is it safe...when not?

In my family we use the expression 'goes around, comes around'. I like to help people out when they're stranded, I hope someone comes to my aid when I need it!

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Vegetarian...Old Native American word for 'Lousy Hunter'

Wonderful topic shuttlebunny. I know how important it is to keep a flashlight and a spare tire in your car. I think everyone should learn how to change a tire in case they have a flat where there isn't much traffic around. Keeping a bottle of water in your trunk is also a good idea in case your car over heats.

I have broken down more times than i would like to think about!! Luckily my old bomb always breaks down somewhere that is near a phone or civilisation (unless you count the time when it stopped in the middle of a roundabout...).

The only thing you can do is ASK for help. I have pushed my car with help to safety, as well as stood in the middle of the road and hailed down a car and asked them to ring the roadside-assistance people for me.

Do I stop?? Like shuttlebunny, I am afraid if I am on my own. I am too chicken...

I pull over and help just about any time I can afford the delay. Maybe some day I'll regret it, but so far all I've gotten is a really good feeling for my time spent. I let people use my cell phone, I give people rides to gas stations, I push or tow cars and yes, I even pick up hitchers.

More often than not it's simple stuff like running out of gas or electrical shorts, but sometimes it's serious. More than once I've pulled over to help at an accident and held someone's hand or hugged them close to me to keep them warm, just to have them die. It makes me feel good that I stopped when it's that serious. I'd hate to know that someone I passed by had to lay out in the rain or snow and die all alone.

People that look "normal" aren't the only ones I'll help, either. I hate that more than anything, the way people will decide not to help someone because they thought the person looked dangerous. They need to look at a few serial killers. They nearly always look normal, that's how they're able to get so many people to mistakenly trust them. Then you have people like me with long hair, tattoos, piercings, and hardly ever clean shaven. They'd pass me up on a busy highway because they're afraid of me even out in public like that, but they'd pull over for Dahmer on a deserted backwoods road.

I just hope that if anything serious ever happens to me, there's someone like me and not someone like them that comes along. I don't want to sit on the roadside and die alone because some moron thought I looked too dangerous for them to ask if I needed help.

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Wolfman's Place (A work in progress at WolfmanMP.knac.com)

I broke down a while ago (my own fault - I'd topped up the raidiator in the car while in a hurry and drove off with the raidiator cap on the engine - it melted and poured huge clouds of acrid smoke out from under the bonnet - so I stopped thinking my car was on fire - yes I know it was dumb!)

Anyhow I'm stood by the side of one of the busiest roads in Somerset in the middle of the morning rush hour waiting for the breakdown guys (this is the reason I always have my mobile phone on me). Over the course of an hour and a half --- 2 people stopped to see if I was OK, everyone else just drove by rubber necking.

As a girl driving alone, I'd probably stop for a lone female - even if it's just to lend them my mobile to call home, but it amazed me how it was only men who stopped to help me.

Make sure you've got the right equipment in case you break down - jack, wheelbrace (and know how to use them), torch, a warm coat, and if you've got one a cellphone (with a battery that's charged), especially if you live in a rural area like I do. Breakdown cover is another great bet (especially with a banger like mine) - it's bailed me out a couple of times.

OH - and if you don't want to break down - don't drive my car (finally got through one week of September without its weekly trip to the garage).

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Little girls become young women, little boys have the job for life.

Fay it doesn't surprise me one jot that it is only men who stopped, we women have had it drummed into us that we should never stop even for another woman, it could be an ambush after all.

Recently we had a bus strike, unannounced so people were standing at bus stops just as normal. I had heard about the strike on the radio and told my daughter that I wouldn't be giving lifts as my handbag was on the back seat of the car with my chequebook, credit cards as well as my cash. Then I came across the first bus stop which had just one woman standing there, instinct made me swerve over to the layby and offer her a lift, she had no idea that the buses were not running. I told her that I would give her a lift as far as my office which I did. It is sad to have to suspect everyone of dishonesty but that is the way that the world is going. Of course she didn't run off with my bag, but she could have - one hears tales of hitchhikers picked-up who steal from the driver. I do not pick up 'normal' hitchhikers for this reason and because they are often or not male and therefore stronger than me.

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From over the pond....