I saw a car accident today. I was waiting to merge at the traffic light near my office on my way out to lunch, and someone ran a red light while someone else was crossing the intersection. I was at a right-turn merging area, so I'm not really sure who had the light on their side, but the one who hit went up and along the median, knocking down a sign or two, while the one who was hit spun around and came to a stop. The airbag in the second car expanded, and the horn started sounding continuously. There was an older couple in this second car, and it looked like the man, who was driving, was knocked out. I stopped where I was and got out of the car, but by the time I got there, there were already several people gathered around trying to help the people in the car, and my phone was turned off, so someone managed to get ahold of 911 before I could get through. More and more people started coming over, and after five minutes or so of standing around not knowing how to help and feeling like I and my car were both in the way, I got back in and drove off. And immediately felt bad. I honestly think that there was nothing I could do, and there were plenty of ways that I could be in the way, but it felt wrong to go about my business when there was someone who might be seriously hurt. Did I do badly?
ETA: It's not so much that I thought I could help in any sort of medical or first-aid capacity, as that would be silly, as I have no experience or training in that area. I would be useless. Basically it was a feeling of "I saw it happen and I should tell someone" even though everyone already knew, combined with "someone needs help, maybe I should stick around in case they need someone to carry something or do something equally simple". If that makes any sense.
