How many students drive?
How many of those have cars?
How many of YOU know what to do in a crash?
It seem off topic, perhaps a little dark to discuss here; what pre-planning you could do as a responsible car driver, but then again how many people think of it happening…to them?
Life likes to throw curve balls, give you a little surprise, the result may not have been your fault, perhaps you were not even directly involved but the consequences can have repercussions.
If you are a driver, there is almost clear certainty that you have not got this far without being told of its dangers. Hopefully you’ve thought about it, perhaps your school had arranged a Road Skills lecture which would have made those cogs turn, perhaps not.
We all hope that we would be safe on the road, start our journey and finish it as we started but what if that isn’t what happens. Below are some simple things to take note of.
- Drive safely
- Use all mirrors
- Obey speed restrictions
These all apply, as you would not have got your license without knowing them, but they still apply when there is a crash further along the road. If on a motorway there will be over head gantries reducing the speed of drivers and blocking lanes off. These are for a purpose, to keep you out of trouble and aid the emergency services to get there quicker.
- Listen out for the emergency services, listen out behind you, the services will use the hard shoulder to gain distance down the motorway so don’t try to get out of the way by going into the hard shoulder. If you are directed to then follow the directions, but the hard shoulder is usually a free run on a blocked road.
- Listen out for more than one vehicle. It does happen that as the fire service approach they will naturally end up in convoy as it can be slow to move through traffic. Further crashes do occur because a car driver has been aware of the first appliance but unaware of the second.
On this note of emergency vehicles, the quicker you can move out the way the better, but a driver of an ambulance or fire truck would never wish for you to put yourself on danger.
- Whilst stuck at red traffic lights the emergency services cannot make you drive through them, however a little help on the part of the drivers at the front can help no end. Check all around and nudge your car forward and to the side, this small action may be enough to allow all the following cars to angle themselves off the road and create enough space for the appliance to drive through the middle.
Always remember the two second rule whilst driving, locate an object that is stationary then count the seconds it takes for the car in front to pass it and then yourself. Most drivers are aware of this but how many use it. Keeping that distance should be the minimum on a motorway and could save you from having an accident. It’s quite amazing how closely people are willing to travel to each other. Perhaps it’s a good thing to keep in mind that you cannot foresee what someone else will do on the road. Having a two second gap may just about be enough to give you room to safely avoid an accident ahead…don’t count on the minimum though, drive to the conditions and safely.
What if you were to find yourself at an incident and there were no professionals there yet, what would you do?
- Keep calm and prioritise.
- The most important thing to do is to make the situation safe, you may have seen the accident in time but others may not. Make the scene safe by putting on your hazard lights and stopping enough distance away from the scene.
- Get out of your vehicle with your phone and phone 999.
- If you have an accident triangle in the boot take it and put it out behind your own vehicle.
Now, these are some things which should be law in my mind but sadly they are not but it doesn’t prevent you from having them in the boot anyway.
- Hi-Vis jacket
- Hammer
- Torch
- First aid kit
The Fire Service can do the hard work but the first person to the scene may just be the most important one
Weirdly the hammer, in the most severe of incidents might be the one thing that could save a life.
Imagine a car crash on the motorway, it’s the middle of the night, you get out to help but the people are trapped inside, you can’t open the door and you can see that one person is unconscious.
That hammer would mean that you could break a window to access the casualty, lift their head up and help them breathe.
There are a lot more things that need to be done at incidents but if someone is knocked unconscious and their airway is blocked they will die unless someone else helps them.
Hopefully by the time you a have done these few simple things the emergency services would be with you, then you can let them take over. But remember those few actions will be visible to the services in their practicality and effectiveness.
The most impressive and organised person I was told about at an RTC on the motorway was a truck driver who was behind a smashed up car in the early hours. He had the presence of mind to not only put his hazards on to protect other road users but he took his hi-vis, torch, hammer and first aid kit to the car against the central reservation. He made entry, got into the back seat and sat holding the drivers head to protect his c-spine until the emergency services came and took over.
It’s just a matter of thinking what’s needed and doing it in a safe way.
There are lots more points to be made but perhaps that’s for a First Aid course to deal with.