Man impersonates road kill to get car help

A driver stranded on a remote stretch of Australian highway Wednesday tried to summon help by playing dead in the middle of the road, a police officer said.

A woman who was driving with her two children spotted the man and had to swerve to avoid hitting him, said Doug Backhouse, a detective with the Western Australia state police.

"She drove around the body — which didn't move at all — and got to the nearest phone," Backhouse said.

Local police arrived with an ambulance and found the man alive and well, but with car troubles.

"The best way he thought to get a vehicle to stop was to lay down in the middle of the road and pretend to be dead," Backhouse said, adding that the man didn't think anyone would stop if he were standing up.

Police said they told the man that lying in the road was "a stupid thing to do" but didn't charge him with any offense.

The incident occurred near Esperance, about 450 miles southeast of the state capital, Perth.