For every horror story, there are bound to be examples of people helping when they had no need to.
Near Lijiang in China, a middle-aged couple stopped to help my brother and I who were stranded and in need of a lift, miles from a town. We are 6'3" and 6'9". They didn't seem fearful at all (and had no reason to be) and were more than happy to take us along with them.
In Switzerland this year, I got stranded waiting for a bus near midnight in the mountains with full luggage, wife and a baby. A woman had her husband come along, pile us and all our luggage into their little car, and drive us up to the gondola so we didn't have to wait for 40 minutes with an hysterical child in the dark. (It wasn't overly cold or dangerous, just very uncomfortable and we'd been travelling for almost 12 hours.)
Maybe it's life and death situations where people are far more wary?
Near Lijiang in China, a middle-aged couple stopped to help my brother and I who were stranded and in need of a lift, miles from a town. We are 6'3" and 6'9". They didn't seem fearful at all (and had no reason to be) and were more than happy to take us along with them.
In Switzerland this year, I got stranded waiting for a bus near midnight in the mountains with full luggage, wife and a baby. A woman had her husband come along, pile us and all our luggage into their little car, and drive us up to the gondola so we didn't have to wait for 40 minutes with an hysterical child in the dark. (It wasn't overly cold or dangerous, just very uncomfortable and we'd been travelling for almost 12 hours.)
Maybe it's life and death situations where people are far more wary?