Car crash - first on the scene
Discussion
Well, I learned something yesterday.
8.30 in the morning, slightly damp roads, air temp 2C. Roads a touch greasy but not noticeable slippy.
Came round a corner in a series of s bends to see an audi stopped with an old boy standing in the middle of the road, a clio in the field, down a 5-ft bank all bashed up and a young woman standing beside it, looking a bit dazed.
She’d spun the car which went down the bank, tumbled a couple of times. She’d got out of the car herself, burst into tears and stood beside the car, obviously going into shock.
Fella in the audi saw it happen.
We were in my van (a six seat crewcab thing). Parked in as safe a place as possible off the road with hazards on.
Few cuts on her knuckles, no obvious other sign of injuries. Clio held up pretty well! Broken windows, all airbags deployed, doors could still open and close.
My wife called 999, I climbed down the bank, checked she was ok, turned the ignition off. Got her coat out of the car, helped her up the bank. Starting to rain and obviously it’s cold, she’s going white and shivering/shaking so I put her in the back seat of my van with heater going.
To be honest, that seemed the right thing to do at the time. My wife sat with her, chatting to keep her engaged and helped her call her husband.
25 mins later (!) an ambulance appeared - pretty much the first thing the guy said to me after asking where the casualty was: “in future, don’t put somebody in your car”
Interesting point. She was walking around fine but right enough, seized up badly sitting in the van and, getting out onto the trolley (20 minutes later after the police arrived and closed the road), she was in a lot of pain.
Bit later on, I was telling my wife what he’d said and one of the police officers heard us so wandered over. His point was that it’s a difficult choice - you need to keep a casualty warm but if the paramedics had decided it wasn’t safe to move her they’d have called the fire brigade who wouldn’t have thought twice before cutting the roof of my van off to get her out safely - and my insurance wouldn’t pay up cause that was my decision.
Anyway, a lesson for me!
8.30 in the morning, slightly damp roads, air temp 2C. Roads a touch greasy but not noticeable slippy.
Came round a corner in a series of s bends to see an audi stopped with an old boy standing in the middle of the road, a clio in the field, down a 5-ft bank all bashed up and a young woman standing beside it, looking a bit dazed.
She’d spun the car which went down the bank, tumbled a couple of times. She’d got out of the car herself, burst into tears and stood beside the car, obviously going into shock.
Fella in the audi saw it happen.
We were in my van (a six seat crewcab thing). Parked in as safe a place as possible off the road with hazards on.
Few cuts on her knuckles, no obvious other sign of injuries. Clio held up pretty well! Broken windows, all airbags deployed, doors could still open and close.
My wife called 999, I climbed down the bank, checked she was ok, turned the ignition off. Got her coat out of the car, helped her up the bank. Starting to rain and obviously it’s cold, she’s going white and shivering/shaking so I put her in the back seat of my van with heater going.
To be honest, that seemed the right thing to do at the time. My wife sat with her, chatting to keep her engaged and helped her call her husband.
25 mins later (!) an ambulance appeared - pretty much the first thing the guy said to me after asking where the casualty was: “in future, don’t put somebody in your car”
Interesting point. She was walking around fine but right enough, seized up badly sitting in the van and, getting out onto the trolley (20 minutes later after the police arrived and closed the road), she was in a lot of pain.
Bit later on, I was telling my wife what he’d said and one of the police officers heard us so wandered over. His point was that it’s a difficult choice - you need to keep a casualty warm but if the paramedics had decided it wasn’t safe to move her they’d have called the fire brigade who wouldn’t have thought twice before cutting the roof of my van off to get her out safely - and my insurance wouldn’t pay up cause that was my decision.
Anyway, a lesson for me!
Edited by Lefty on Sunday 5th November 17:58
There was a case of an accident a few years ago which involved a passer by stopping and putting a casualty in their newish Range Rover until the emergency services arrived.
When they did they cut the roof off of the Range Rover to get them out to avoid further injury as they were complaining of back pains.
The owner of the Range Rover was not best pleased.
When they did they cut the roof off of the Range Rover to get them out to avoid further injury as they were complaining of back pains.
The owner of the Range Rover was not best pleased.
Monkeylegend said:
There was a case of an accident a few years ago which involved a passer by stopping and putting a casualty in their newish Range Rover until the emergency services arrived.
When they did they cut the roof off of the Range Rover to get them out to avoid further injury as they were complaining of back pains.
The owner of the Range Rover was not best pleased.
Ouch. When they did they cut the roof off of the Range Rover to get them out to avoid further injury as they were complaining of back pains.
The owner of the Range Rover was not best pleased.
Its Just Adz said:
Yep I've heard that before, hence why Highways officers won't put people in their cars at side of the road, they just give them a foil blanket to wrap around themselves.
Good on you for thinking to do the right thing and help though.
Best intentions and all that but, in retrospect, I think it was the wrong thing to do. She was really struggling to get out again and clearly in a lot of discomfort. Good on you for thinking to do the right thing and help though.
What if the car was going to burst into flames (it happens). Would the paramedic still get uppity about the OP getting the driver out?
If it were the police in my neck of the woods it would take them 3 days to find the crashed car. Well done to the OP (awaits flaming from medical types).
If it were the police in my neck of the woods it would take them 3 days to find the crashed car. Well done to the OP (awaits flaming from medical types).
Yahonza said:
What if the car was going to burst into flames (it happens). Would the paramedic still get uppity about the OP getting the driver out?
If it were the police in my neck of the woods it would take them 3 days to find the crashed car. Well done to the OP (awaits flaming from medical types).
Yes, I was quite aware of that actually. Engine had stopped obviously but the ignition was on so I turned it off, I had a good sniff for fuel before I went searching for her coat.If it were the police in my neck of the woods it would take them 3 days to find the crashed car. Well done to the OP (awaits flaming from medical types).
The lady had got herself out of the car before we arrived. If she hadn’t I would probably have tried to make her stay in the car.
I think the paramedics point was possibly that I could have made a potential back or neck injury worse by sitting her down in my van rather let her lie down on the ground or just stay standing up. And, in fairness to him, he was brusque and/or business-like rather than uppity.
The police officers point was that if my van got written off by the fire brigade it would have been my liability.
Remember this from ten years ago - good on Vauxhall in this case !
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/car-manufactu...
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/car-manufactu...
essayer said:
Remember this from ten years ago - good on Vauxhall in this case !
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/car-manufactu...
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/car-manufactu...
Wow.
Every day's a school day etc.
Frankly, if a seemingly ok but shaken person is given shelter in your car and this results in your car being destroyed to get them out, either their or your insurance should be paying out.
How is the average person supposed to know this could happen?
Every day's a school day etc.
Frankly, if a seemingly ok but shaken person is given shelter in your car and this results in your car being destroyed to get them out, either their or your insurance should be paying out.
How is the average person supposed to know this could happen?
Monkeylegend said:
There was a case of an accident a few years ago which involved a passer by stopping and putting a casualty in their newish Range Rover until the emergency services arrived.
When they did they cut the roof off of the Range Rover to get them out to avoid further injury as they were complaining of back pains.
The owner of the Range Rover was not best pleased.
There was one on Traffic Cops / Police Interceptors fairly recently, guy had some sort of very limited edition car and he allowed the person to sit in his car, then had to watch while they cut the roof off it. I did wonder (and I think it was discussed in the TV forum) whose insurance his new car would come from.When they did they cut the roof off of the Range Rover to get them out to avoid further injury as they were complaining of back pains.
The owner of the Range Rover was not best pleased.
droopsnoot said:
Monkeylegend said:
There was a case of an accident a few years ago which involved a passer by stopping and putting a casualty in their newish Range Rover until the emergency services arrived.
When they did they cut the roof off of the Range Rover to get them out to avoid further injury as they were complaining of back pains.
The owner of the Range Rover was not best pleased.
There was one on Traffic Cops / Police Interceptors fairly recently, guy had some sort of very limited edition car and he allowed the person to sit in his car, then had to watch while they cut the roof off it. I did wonder (and I think it was discussed in the TV forum) whose insurance his new car would come from.When they did they cut the roof off of the Range Rover to get them out to avoid further injury as they were complaining of back pains.
The owner of the Range Rover was not best pleased.
NEVER put a casualty in your own car if there’s any suspicion of whiplash/back/neck injuries
Very informative post OP. I'd have done the same as you.
Many years ago, to avoid a head on collision, I found myself upside down in a ditch. Couple of chaps managed to get the drivers door open and I clambered out. They hung around until a police car screached to a halt some time later.
First thing the police did was sit me in the back of their car and make me do a breath test. They then kindly drove me home and suggested if I didn't feel great later I should pop to A&E. Guess they hadn't attended the medical training!
Many years ago, to avoid a head on collision, I found myself upside down in a ditch. Couple of chaps managed to get the drivers door open and I clambered out. They hung around until a police car screached to a halt some time later.
First thing the police did was sit me in the back of their car and make me do a breath test. They then kindly drove me home and suggested if I didn't feel great later I should pop to A&E. Guess they hadn't attended the medical training!
Earthdweller said:
Seen it a couple of times with police cars, one an almost brand new Golf VR6 and when I say almost I mean less than a week old
Luckily this one was a bit cheaper: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1085055/P...Lefty said:
... you need to keep a casualty warm but if the paramedics had decided it wasn’t safe to move her they’d have called the fire brigade who wouldn’t have thought twice before cutting the roof of my van off to get her out safely - and my insurance wouldn’t pay up cause that was my decision. ....
I could swear that exactly this happened to a fellow PHer a few years ago, who lost a few weeks old car exactly because of this. I can't recall who it was, or when. Thread was resurrected about 2-3 years ago, as the same cropped up on one of these Channel 5 Motorway Cops programs.A good reminder though. But well done OP; as I suspect most would not get involved.
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