I was recently the victim of an attempted mugging, while walking. This occured on a busy road with dozens of cars driving by in the short time this took to happen, but with no other pedestrians around. No car stopped, no driver offered any assistance. I am convinced that, instead of cars, if cyclists or pedestrians were going by, someone would have helped me (even just by calling the police).
I've cycled for years, and gotten all the physical abuse, verbal abuse, horn-blowing, being cut-off, etc. that goes with it. I think a lot of drivers really aren't functioning members of society when they get in their car. They're in their own little world, not connected with reality.
> I am convinced that, instead of cars, if cyclists or pedestrians were going by, someone would have helped me (even just by calling the police).
Cyclists and pedestrians turn a blind eye and avoid involvement with crimes they witness, too.
Of course, they are more likely to actually be around long enough to recognize what's going on, but that's no guarantee of willingness to get involved.
Being around long enough to recognize what's going on increases the chance of some intervention. Casual criminals usually try to avoid areas with a lot of pedestrians (more chance of a do-gooder I assume), whereas roads with a lot of cars seem to be less of a deterrent.
I think that's a big part of it. A driver might have gone by the attempted mugging and even if they noticed it, might have only seen half a second of the incident; not long enough to process it.
While biking to work yesterday, I saw a collared/tagged dog run across an arterial, almost getting hit by a large semi-truck. I stopped and followed the dog. I was eventually led to what turned out to be its house -- it barked at me and was standoffish so I couldn't get to its tags, but eventually the owner came out and the dog snuck back under the fence.
I definitely would not have stopped had I been in my car.
I've cycled for years, and gotten all the physical abuse, verbal abuse, horn-blowing, being cut-off, etc. that goes with it. I think a lot of drivers really aren't functioning members of society when they get in their car. They're in their own little world, not connected with reality.