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You make it sound like getting your car towed off the highway to a safe spot, for free, is some kind of a bad thing. It's not. People are killed almost daily doing exactly what you saw that poor guy doing. It's not usually their fault- a lot of times other drivers come along, paying no attention, and hit the car on the side of the road... HARD!
If I was dead on the road, and unable to fix it simply right then and there, I'd be happy for the assistance even if there is no choice. Then another wrecker can come get me, or I'll be in a safer spot to get the car going.
Late last year, a friend's beetle (1973) lost a drive axle on a very busy on-ramp to I-95 near my house. I helped the guy out, since he really didn't know what to do with it. The thing had lost all but one bolt in the CV joint on the left axle, the inboard joint at the transmission. It banged around and hit the frame, making lots of noise and forcing him to stop. I had to lie under the car (fortunately, enough space under old bugs without a jack!) and remove the outer joint, to remove the axle, so the car could roll. Then we towed the car across a big bridge, and back, to his house for further repairs. Towed it with our 82 245T and his tow bar.
The work was done lying 3 feet from the white line, on the inside of a sharp right-hand turn of a bridge approach. It's the main route out of downtown, and it was 4:30 in the afternoon- rush hour. Easily 1000 cars drove by as I worked. I had him stand guard, and positioned the wagon about 30 feet behind the car with its flashers going, and placed my toolbox next to the fender as a further visual warning. No one came close to hitting us but there's little question of what the result would have been. A 1-mile tow would have gotten that car out of a hairy spot and avoided some risk for me.
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Rob Bareiss, New London CT ::: 87 244DL, 88 245DL, 90 745GL, 84 242DL project, 89 244 parts, 88 244DL to replace the 87
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