Can I help?

That's a picture of our car at a somewhat busy intersection in Vancouver. This is the exact spot that our alternator shit the bed. It completely died on me, the radio shut off and not even the headlights worked. It was 12 midnight and I was just coming home from my girlfriend's house after an unusual weeknight consoling session. About 1/3 of the way home the battery light came on, then the ABS light came on. When I got to about 2/3 of the way home all the lights on the dash lit up and then she died.
I jumped out of the car and over to the sidewalk so I could call BCAA and direct confused drivers around the car so they could make their left hand turns. I was scared but it wasn't raining, it wasn't terribly cold and I had a well lit doorway to stand in while I waited the 45 minutes until the tow truck came.
By the time the tow truck showed up no less than 6 people had slowed down or pulled over to ask me if I was okay or if I needed any help. SIX PEOPLE! They were all men and I didn't get the impression that anybody was being creepy or trying to pick me up. They just wanted to make sure I was alright.
I was.