How many Emergency services vehicles to attend an Accident?
Discussion
Just an observation really. I was on the way back up north from London yesterday and beacame stuck in a traffic jam for an accident at the M1 / M25 junction.
As i approached the accident I tend to wonder how serious it is and judge by the police presence there.
I counted 8 marked traffic cars, 2 unmarked motorway cars with lights on, 1 HATO, 3 fire engines and an ambulance.
The accident was an artic that had caused a Passat to spin and both were now on the hard shoulder with the Passat having had the roof cut off and driver on a body board laid on the side of the road. Passat didn’t look overly damaged apart from the roof missing.
It seemed a hell of a lot of resources to be attending for the perceived level of accident?
As i approached the accident I tend to wonder how serious it is and judge by the police presence there.
I counted 8 marked traffic cars, 2 unmarked motorway cars with lights on, 1 HATO, 3 fire engines and an ambulance.
The accident was an artic that had caused a Passat to spin and both were now on the hard shoulder with the Passat having had the roof cut off and driver on a body board laid on the side of the road. Passat didn’t look overly damaged apart from the roof missing.
It seemed a hell of a lot of resources to be attending for the perceived level of accident?
None of us can answer that, because we don't know what happened. We don't know what calls were recieved about the accident.
You don't know if other vehicles had stopped to help, giving the impression to someone that it was a multiple vehicle accident
How do you know another ambulance(s) haven't already left?
I could go on.
You don't know if other vehicles had stopped to help, giving the impression to someone that it was a multiple vehicle accident
How do you know another ambulance(s) haven't already left?
I could go on.
Many years ago I was involved in an accident late at night. Old 4x4 coming the opposite direction took a corner way too quickly, crossed into my side of the road and we had a glancing head-on collision. All happened so quickly I had no time to react. Both cars totalled. I was fine other than a small scratch and a bit of shock, the other party did a runner.
IIRC 2 fire engines turned up, 2 ambulances and 4 or 5 police cars, possibly more. Turned out the vehicle matched the desciption of one involved in an armed robbery a few hours earlier, so I guess they play on the side of caution when they can.
IIRC 2 fire engines turned up, 2 ambulances and 4 or 5 police cars, possibly more. Turned out the vehicle matched the desciption of one involved in an armed robbery a few hours earlier, so I guess they play on the side of caution when they can.
There are protocols for certain types of events.
When working for the blood service I used to go to a regular session at Barts Hospital nurses home in Little Britain. There was a big old (filthy) sports hall at ground level we used to use, and regular as clockwork the fire alarm would be set off by the nurses in the apartments above, either having a fag underneath the smoke detector or setting the toaster alight.
We had to evacuate all the donors, which was a real pain, and stand outside while a whole fleet of fire appliances descended on the place, all sorts of stuff, including one of those enormous platform lifts. Because it was a call to a hospital they had to pretty much send the lot.
The girls on my team loved it because they got to look at all the firemen while they trooped through the building, looking for the off duty nurse with the red face.
When working for the blood service I used to go to a regular session at Barts Hospital nurses home in Little Britain. There was a big old (filthy) sports hall at ground level we used to use, and regular as clockwork the fire alarm would be set off by the nurses in the apartments above, either having a fag underneath the smoke detector or setting the toaster alight.
We had to evacuate all the donors, which was a real pain, and stand outside while a whole fleet of fire appliances descended on the place, all sorts of stuff, including one of those enormous platform lifts. Because it was a call to a hospital they had to pretty much send the lot.
The girls on my team loved it because they got to look at all the firemen while they trooped through the building, looking for the off duty nurse with the red face.
LosingGrip said:
The fact the roof is missing means it's likely to be a serious injury (or was suspected to be at the time).
You'll have traffic officers. Crash investigation, maybe CSI. Hato to assist closing the road. How many lanes is it around there?
Fire to take the roof off.
or the driver was thinking about compo and started to complain about neck and back pain.You'll have traffic officers. Crash investigation, maybe CSI. Hato to assist closing the road. How many lanes is it around there?
Fire to take the roof off.
Fire will be (at least) 2 machines to the affected carriageway, and 1 to the unaffected one (in case wrong direction of incident is given, which happens a lot, and for anything affecting the opposite side (such as debris, or a barrier flip). If nothing on the unaffected, will usually travel to the next junction or turning point and go to the affected carriageway. At least 2 crews usually needed for a safe extraction. Also have flexi officers attending in unmarked or marked cars.
Cant speak for others, but generally seems one ambulance needed per casualty but will also send rapid response paramedics for initial triage.
Police seem to be multiple specialists, traffic officers, collision investigation, supervising officers.
Hato we just let them come along to feel special
(joke, they're pretty good at sorting out the road closures and traffic management)
Cant speak for others, but generally seems one ambulance needed per casualty but will also send rapid response paramedics for initial triage.
Police seem to be multiple specialists, traffic officers, collision investigation, supervising officers.
Hato we just let them come along to feel special
(joke, they're pretty good at sorting out the road closures and traffic management)
M1 / M25 junction...just a guess but from a Police perspective.
No doubt reported as car v HGV serious RTC...possibly /potentially fatal if the car roof has to be cut off to extract people.
Supervisor required ro attend and take charge
3 live lanes and hard shoulder as a minimum need bringing safelly to a conplete halt until you know what you are dealing with.
Then that block needs to be maintained and at some point released.
The collision itself needs investigating witnesses spoken to dash cam / mobile footage identifying. Tachograph examined etc and drivers hours checked / verified
Carriageway checked for contributory factors, measurements ans photos taken..you only have this one opportunity to secure the scene and evidence.
The list goes on and on
Many hands can make a job easier and quicker to resolve and the carriageway open
No doubt reported as car v HGV serious RTC...possibly /potentially fatal if the car roof has to be cut off to extract people.
Supervisor required ro attend and take charge
3 live lanes and hard shoulder as a minimum need bringing safelly to a conplete halt until you know what you are dealing with.
Then that block needs to be maintained and at some point released.
The collision itself needs investigating witnesses spoken to dash cam / mobile footage identifying. Tachograph examined etc and drivers hours checked / verified
Carriageway checked for contributory factors, measurements ans photos taken..you only have this one opportunity to secure the scene and evidence.
The list goes on and on
Many hands can make a job easier and quicker to resolve and the carriageway open
A lad rode his bike into the back of a parked car outside our house - he had a cut on his head and passing girl called an ambulance.
I went out as soon as it happened and could hear a siren and a police van arrived seconds later, followed by three 'panda' type cars then a traffic car.
Not to be outdone, the ambulance service sent a helicopter - as well as a fast response paramedic and a road ambulance.
OK, so I know it could have been more serious based on the inititial report and they may have assumed it was a moving traffic accident but what baffled me was why these resources kept coming - my dad was a fireman and once they arrived at a job they could issue a Stop message and everything en-route would be called off. I asked one of the cops about that and he looked baffled by the suggestion. Landing the helicopter didn't look trivial and the doc on board didn't seem thrilled - lad went to hospital by road.
I went out as soon as it happened and could hear a siren and a police van arrived seconds later, followed by three 'panda' type cars then a traffic car.
Not to be outdone, the ambulance service sent a helicopter - as well as a fast response paramedic and a road ambulance.
OK, so I know it could have been more serious based on the inititial report and they may have assumed it was a moving traffic accident but what baffled me was why these resources kept coming - my dad was a fireman and once they arrived at a job they could issue a Stop message and everything en-route would be called off. I asked one of the cops about that and he looked baffled by the suggestion. Landing the helicopter didn't look trivial and the doc on board didn't seem thrilled - lad went to hospital by road.
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