WTF is going on with the roads?

[Glorian]

Fair play to you for helping out.

I can understand peoples reservations though. You pull someone out a car and accidentally injure them whats to stop them from pressing charges? (not sure of the law on that) and a lot of people don't have any training and will likely just get in the way of people who know how to help.

 

The good Samaritan laws are there to protect firstaiders

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/557888 ... being-sued

So if you see someone in trouble, get stuck in and try to help if you can without harming yourself (too badly) without fear of being sued.

The bike safe guys said to me, if you find a motorcyclists on the road, not breathing, its better to get his helmet off and risk a neck injury than have him choke on his tounge/vomit.

Infact its nearly always the right thing to do to take the helmet off (contary to popular belief)

Also when giving CPR, don't worry if you break the persons ribs - they will heal! Better to have broken ribs and be alive than dead with perfect ribs.

 

Knew someone would inform me

I personally always try to offer my help (what little it is)

[Throttled]

The trouble as well Stu, is that people don't want to get involved either. I saw a pic of the burning car on the M11 and people were driving round it.....It didn't look like anyone stopped to help......

The accident yesterday.....me and another couple of people went to try to help.....but everyone else were standing around spectating or just sitting in their cars.......

 

Most people think they would be great in an emergency, but in fact they tend to just freeze as they do not know what to do. The police, firebrigade and ambulance are trained and practice to know what to do and not freeze. Well done you for being more like the emergency services and not freezing.

In reality you do not want lots of people trying to help, they just get in each others way. It is also probably more sensible not to approach a burning car.

As for people spectating, that is handy for the police as it is lots of potential witnesses are right there at the scene. An investigation into a crash can go way back in time, for example a car driver could see the aftermath of the accident, recognise a vehicle as one behaving erratically 20 minutes earlier and tell the police. People who film can also provide valuable evidence. Even if they post it on youtube, the police can easily get it to use as evidence. Youtube will take down videos and copy content to the police.

The bad news is those events will stay with you forever, the good news is that time is a great healer and do take counselling. One session to discuss events can often be enough. Think of it as a critical incident debrief which the emergency services use so people can discuss events.

[Throttled]

It's terrible, more so that you had to get involved not just because you wanted to help, but because no one else would.

Similar happened to me some years back on the M6. Drove past a burning car, occupant still inside, at a distance I saw a figure inside the car and thought I could help. No emergency vehicles were there. The second I got out I saw the person couldn't be saved.

Makes you think how detached do you have to be to just drive by that as it started.

 

Realising when it is best not to act saves lives.

[TC1474]

Well done for asssisting the best you could. Rest asured as someone who has attended over 500 fatal crashes and been to more post mortems and inquests than I care to remember, the one piece of advice I was given as a young traffic cop was treat it as a piece of meat such as lamb, beed, pork or whatever. It sounds mercinary I know, but it does work.

If you at any time need help to talk it through, you are always welcome to call me or drop me a PM. As I say, I do have a bit of experience in this area.

But my main reason for posting is that you may not know that tomorrow is National Pothole day.

Sign up, it is already having an affect and it was debated in Parliament today. Colin who runs the website is being inundated because it has realy caught the imagination

Link is at

http://streetrepairs.co.uk/

Link to National Pothole day is at

http://streetrepairs.co.uk/national-pothole-day-2016

[Tango]

Many thanks for everyone's support and offers of help, it's very much appreciated ...... I think the initial shock has passed now.....thankfully .

Interestingly I saw this today and after the chaos of the emergency services trying to get to the victims the other day it makes perfect sense. Apparently in Germany it's law to move your vehicle to the extreme sides of the lane you are in to allow the emergency services to pass easily.....

[Chrissb6]

Many thanks for everyone's support and offers of help, it's very much appreciated ...... I think the initial shock has passed now.....thankfully .

Interestingly I saw this today and after the chaos of the emergency services trying to get to the victims the other day it makes perfect sense. Apparently in Germany it's law to move your vehicle to the extreme sides of the lane you are in to allow the emergency services to pass easily.....

Good to hear your ok Bob, I learnt the wrong way about this when riding home from Berlin a good few years ago. There was standing traffic for ever on the Autobahn. So me being a typical biker l rode slowly down the gap to the front of the standing traffic only to be met by a very pissed off police officer who made it perfectly clear l was in the wrong threating me with allsorts . You've been warned

[bandit-style]

Well done tango ,there are too many people out there now that don't want the hassle of stopping to offer people in trouble any help or assistant !!!!

[MarkW]

sadly there are a lot of people around these days that would step over you if you fell over in the street

Too true. I was at the Yorkshire Show last year, standing in the queue for the burger van, when a young woman ahead of me collapsed. I didn't see it happen, and the first I realised there was a problem was when I saw people stepping over her to get to the counter!

I've never understood how people can ignore someone who obviously needs assistance, and my instinct has always been to help. She was out for the count, so I made sure she was OK and stayed with her for the 20 minutes (yes, 20 minutes) it took for the shows paramedics to arrive. She came to briefly at one point, and tried to pull her ID out of her back pocket. There wasn't anything very useful in there except for her driving licence. This is often a good thing to check, because as in this case, a short validity period often indicates an underlying medical condition.

Anyway, huge respect to you matey for stepping up to the plate under horrific circumstances. Those that stood idly by should hang their heads in shame.