TORONTO — On most nights, Doug Crawford pilots his Saia Motor Freight truck 570 miles from Dothan, Ala., to Jacksonville to Tallahassee and back.

On August 25, 2005, the truck driver was dispatched to Atlanta. Headed northbound on I-85 near Newnan, Ga., he saw a tractor-trailer a half-mile ahead suddenly veer across the grass median into the southbound lanes, hit another rig head-on, and explode into flames.

Crawford was first on the scene. One tractor was burning and so badly mangled that the cab was unrecognizable. What remained of the other tractor was on fire down in a ditch. Inside was Herman Langford of Leesburg, Ga.

When Crawford arrived at Langford’s tractor, there was a gaping hole where the sleeper had been. Langford was trapped in the driver’s seat and badly hurt. He sprayed the saddle tanks with his fire extinguisher until it quit and then pulled a barely conscious Langford from the burning cab moments before it exploded. For his actions, Ashford, Ala.-based Crawford was named Goodyear’s Highway Hero for 2005.

Should I Stay or should I go: When it comes to crash
sites, your legal and moral duties can sometimes conflict

Herman Langford is grateful to be alive, because he knows that not every driver on the highway that night might have stopped to help him. “So many truck drivers are afraid of being sued,” Langford says. “They’re worried about moving an injured person, or the trouble that could come from getting involved.”

Laws designed to protect people who help someone who is injured are called Good Samaritan laws and their intent is to reduce the bystander’s fear that he might be prosecuted for unintentional injury or wrongful death.

Good Samaritan laws are provincial and state laws, and their specifics differ from place to place. Except for Quebec, jurisdictions in Canada and the United States adhere to common law. Common law typically does not require a bystander to help someone in danger: if you are not involved in an accident — you were nothing more than a witness — you have no legal obligation to stop and help. The only people who have an absolute duty to render aid are those whose job it is to assist in an emergency, like a police officer or a paramedic.

There are exceptions where a failure to act could result in both civil and criminal liability. One is if you create a situation that puts another person in danger, like after an accident on the highway. Another is where a “special relationship” exists. An employer may be obligated to help an employee injured at work.

Common law may not compel you to act, but let’s say a sense of moral obligation does. As soon as you take steps to help, you no longer have any immunity for staying on the sidelines. For “good samaritan” protection to take effect, your help must be reasonable, voluntary, and with the consent of the person you’re trying to assist. If the person being helped is unconscious, intoxicated, or incapacitated, he isn’t rendering an objection, so consent is assumed.

Canada, of course, has two legal systems: civil law in Quebec and common law in the rest of the country. Quebec law imposes a duty on everyone to help a person in danger, so long as it does not pose serious risk to the person doing the helping or those around him.

If you do stop, there are steps you can take to limit your liability exposure, says Mike Langford of Scopeltis, Garvin, Light, and Hansen. Based in Indianapolis, Scopelitis is one of the largest transportation law firms in North America.

First off, “don’t overreach your abilities,” he says. “Don’t try to do things that you’re not reasonably capable of doing. For instance, if you don’t know how to administer CPR, don’t do it.”

Then, he adds, don’t put yourself in a situation where you could create more medical harm to the person you’re trying to help.

“Finally,” Langford says, “as soon as you can, wherever you can, call for help. Get the professionals there who can render the best aid.”