Often times, we associate driving with road rage and angry drivers only fending for themselves on the roads. These stories of amazingly kind drivers on the road not only defy that stereotypes, but also show that humanity is not lost.
Hero on the Road
“I was driving to the hospital in a hurry with my brother who had blood poisoning. I was scared for my brother’s life so I was driving about 12-15 mph over the limit on a road known for having cops. The car in front of me had a city police sticker on it (off duty). He was next to me and saw I had someone in the car looking distressed and inferred we were on this road for the hospital. So he cuts in front of me and goes FASTER than me. He ended up getting pulled over rather than me and on his way to the side of the road as he was pulling over, he tipped his hat to me. I’m assuming he got off by the open brotherhood thing, but regardless the martyrdom was appreciated” (source).
Close Call with the Bicycle Tour
“Around 7 years ago, my whole family of 4 was on a bicycle touring across Canada. Around 3/4 of the way on are trip across the country we came upon a tight 2 lane tunnel (on a major highway) that bicycle’s can go through but its very dangerous due to the 90 degree bend in it and zero lighting. Anyway before entering the tunnel we all stop to put our lights on to make ourselves more visible. My dad takes the lead with my 13 year old brother, my 10 year old self and my mom taking up the rear. Now, the tunnel isn’t that long, but anyway as we enter the tunnel we notice traffic from both ways stopped and we are alone in the tunnel. Turns out once we got out of the tunnel we noticed semi truck drivers had stopped traffic on both sides knowing that the tunnel is so dark and dangerous for us bikers”(source)
A Thanksgiving from H*** with a Good Ending
“I had a terrible Thanksgiving where my ex went crazy and kicked me out on black Friday from Iowa. In order to leave, I have to rental car drive 90 miles back home. The car rental place was absolutely terrible and made me return it back to original airport even though there were literally 5 locations within 20 minutes of me. On the return from airport a car merging on the interstate completely cuts me off and causes me to swerve into left lane which in turn makes the SUV next to me jerk into the median and swipe a barrier. Of course the car that cut me off just keeps going and never stops. A guy from a small town in the area saw the whole thing go down and stopped and waited an hour for the State Troopers to come and do the accident report. Seriously he didn’t have to stop at all or wait that ridiculous amount of time” (source).
“… Yet he stopped to help me”
“I was heading to Dulles airport when I suddenly one of my tires decide to blow out. I had a plane to catch so obviously I was extremely stressed about this situation. I go to change the tire but quickly realize that I did not have a tire iron to do so. Upon that discovery, I decided to call AAA. I wait forever but AAA makes no such appearance. I have no idea how the two truck could not find me since I was on the freeway to a major international airport sitting by a giant orange sign that says ‘Terminal B Airlines.’ Suddenly, this car pulls up behind me and I have no idea who it is so I immediately get out of the car. I come to find a guy wearing a Goodyear shirt. This guy happened to drive by and see my spare lying next to the car. Figuring that I was in trouble, he decided to stop and help me change my tire with his tools. While we are talking, he tells me he is on his way from his day job to his evening job. I then realized, this guy had just spent 8 hours working on cars and was facing four more, yet he still stopped to help me” (source).
Crossing a Road Has Never Been So Hard
“I was waiting to cross a busy 4-lane street after work. There is no stoplight at this intersection, but a flashing sign warning pedestrian crossing. City buses always stop, but most other people don’t. Since I couldn’t see around the bus, and nobody seemed to be wanting to stop, the driver pulled the bus across 2 lanes to block traffic so a group of us could cross” (source).
Driving Tired is Almost Worse Than Driving Drunk
“On the 4th of July nearly six years ago, I was driving back home extremely late at night coming back from a friend’s lake house. Since it was so late, I must have fallen asleep at the wheel. I came to my senses when my car suddenly started lighting up in bright flashes. Two semis were side by side in the lanes behind me, flickering their headlights to wake me (without scaring the sh** out of me like their horns would have done) and using their trucks to prevent other cars from coming near me. I will never, ever forget that and try to always remember that the people driving those things do so with the best of intentions for everyone on the road. They saved my life and prevented me from possibly hurting someone else” (source)
Pay it Forward
“When I was in high school I drove a beat up Corolla I got basically for free because it needed work. I figured out how to fix most of the problems by getting the owner’s manual from the local library. One day I was driving back from the big metro area to my small hometown when my car starts to smell like burning plastic. I pull over to find that the intake system for the oil had simply fallen apart. Now in this part of the country we’re famous for being nice, but I waited on the side of the road for what was probably 3 or 4 hours with hundreds of cars passing me. Then a trucker stopped. He took a look at the problem like an old pro, and rigged up an intake from a straw, paperclip, and Gatorade lid. It wasn’t pretty, but it held strong and would work until I could get to an auto service shop. He then got out a bunch of 5W-30 oil from his cab and filled up my oil to a usable level. I tried giving him money, but he wouldn’t take it. He just smiled and left. For truckers, the 2 hours he took mean hundreds in incentives, and I felt horrible for taking up so much of his time. I vowed to help the next person I saw. Fast forward a couple months, and I’m driving down that same stretch of road. There’s a nice Lexus pulled over, and as I pass I see the guy in the car is clutching his chest. I jerk the wheel sideways to get the car onto the shoulder, and threw it into a hard reverse. I had just finished CPR classes for a lifeguard job, and thank God I had. The man had already passed out, and as I was running up to his car I waved my hands wildly to flag down the next car. They stopped and I yelled to get an ambulance, and they sped down the road to the gas station 5 miles away. I pulled the man from his car and administered CPR for what I found out was 15 minutes but felt like an eternity. The ambulance arrived and took the man to the hospital, and I never got a chance to learn his name. I got a letter later from the hospital saying he lived. That trucker saved another man’s life, and he’ll never know it. I probably would’ve kept driving if he hadn’t helped me a few weeks prior on that same stretch of road, but that man’s kindness gave me the compassion to save a guy having a heart attack” (source).
Grease Spot on the Pavement
“I got stuck in Denver traffic riding my motorcycle up I-25, where another interstate merges with I-25 on the left side. Most of us on the interstate are moving along at less than 40mph but pretty close together. Some jacka** comes flying down the ramp, goes past the merge lane so that he’s driving 70mph on the hard shoulder looking for a place to cut in the line of cars. I’m watching this in my rear view mirror and then realize he’s coming for the space I am in and hasn’t noticed there was a motorcyclist there! I looked around and there was nowhere for me to go, so I hugged into car on my right hoping I could go between the lanes when a white pickup behind me swerved in front of the guy and put his truck between this reckless asshole and me! Smoking tires, blaring horn and the jerk briefly goes off in the dirt but he didn’t quite hit the good Samaritan in the truck, and more importantly didn’t turn me into a grease spot on the pavement” (source).
New Meaning to Luck
“I was going out with friends to a city that takes 2 hours to get there with the train. We had to get up early the day after because my best friend and I had to work early shifts. So we woke up at 7 am, rushed for the train. We both almost didn’t make it but a nice stranger held the door for the both of us. We got in the train thanked him, and sat down. Later that day, we heard that the train we were in got crushed with another train 30 minutes after we were on it and many people died. I was in complete shock when I heard that” (source)
Best. Semi. Driver. Ever.
“My friend and I were driving up to visit some friends who live out of town. So we’re cruising along at a decent speed, about 5-10 mph over the limit. We get passed by a semi going about 15 over. About 3 minutes later, the semi switches lanes and starts going about 5 under. As we pass along him, he points ahead and I tell my friend to slow down. 2 minutes later we pass a speed trap. We then start to follow the friendly semi driver and as we pull off on our exit, he flashes his tail lights at us. Best semi driver ever” (source).
Confidence in Humanity
“I got gas before driving home from Santa Cruz but unknowingly left the gas cap on my cap open. While stuck in traffic, a taxi driver gets out of his car and screwed my gas cap back in. We shook hands through the window and I drove off with more confidence in humanity than ever” (source).
Road Waffles
“I was running along side a semi late at night. All of a sudden, the semi starts coming into my lane. I honk and try to speed up to get out of the way to no avail. He then swerved back. I thought he must have seen me. I was driving a little car and couldn’t get up enough speed to pass him so I decided to slow down and get behind him. Again he starts coming into my lane. This time, another semi that had been just ahead of me slowed way down, putting his trailer in the way of the swerving semi’s front as it was coming over into my lane. The semi that was swerving actually banged into the trailer of the other truck in front of me. It must have woken the guy up because he straightened up and then pulled over. I was so shook up I pulled over as well as the other trucker. Turns out the guy had fallen asleep at the wheel. The other trucker had seen my predicament from his rear-views and did what he could to help. If it wasn’t for him, I’m sure I would have been a road waffle” (source).
A Lost Wallet
“My girlfriend once took a bus between two major cities and her wallet fell out of her purse while she was on the bus. Even though it was already around midnight and the bus driver was already driving to wherever it is that the buses go at night, he drove back when the ticket booth called to bring the wallet back” (source).
Gratitude with Vigorous Honking
“I was driving back home from a night out at the movies one night on the main road back to my house when I came upon a wreck. The road was closed and folks were backed up about a mile up the road. I waited a while and then decided that heading around the long way would be better. A car a ways behind me was about to turn around when I started back, so I said ‘Hey I’m gonna be a while anyway’ and let herhim go ahead. This person went the same way I was going to go, but cut off from the main road a little ways in. I say “Hey, he seems to know where he’s going’ so I follow. This dear sirlady lead me around the wreck and and got me on my way, saving me a ton of night driving. Having just moved to the area, I had no idea such a short-cut existed. I was sure to show my gratitude by honking vigorously after they turned off” (source).
Deer in the Headlights
“Late at night, I’m driving along with no one in sight and going about 10 over the speed limit on a back road. All of a sudden a car starts driving towards me and starts flashing their lights. I slow down just in time to realize that a mama deer and a baby deer are slowly crossing the road. Without that heads up, us three could have all been in danger” (source).
V-I-R-G-I-N-I-A
“I just moved to Louisiana from VA. The other day, as I was getting onto the highway, a huge pickup truck actually gave me space to merge in. They eventually passed me and I saw that they had VA license plates! We got next to each other and basically just screamed the word ‘VIRGINIA!!’ to each other and then went on our way. It was so simple but made me so happy” (source).
