Horrific Accident: Warning Content May Disturb

Last night my sister and I went to see my brother (Scorcher) as he has just moved out of home and on the way home my sister and I witnessed a horrific accident.
As we were pulling up to the cross intersection a kid on his bike decided to run through it. I don't know what he was doing, but the light was red for ages and wasn't going to change for a while.
As he rode across the intersection he saw a car coming from his side so he tried to speed up. We thought he made, but unfortunately he didn't. We heard a loud bang and the car skidded to a halt and the boy was thrown about fifteen meters.
I told my sister to not look and I got out of the car to see if he was all right.
Suffice to say he wasn't and he didn't look good. I will never forget what an injured human fighting for its live looks like.
I don't know about other states, but he in Victoria there have been some adds on TV where a guy coming out of a pizza shop steps out onto the road and gets hit buy a car. The add is supposed to show you what happens to the pedestrian in such a case, and I can tell you it was just like it. What's worse than that and what they don't show you is the injured persons body laying on the side of the road fight for his life.
Some other people stopped to help and they rang the ambulance, but there was nothing we could do they told us not to move him and to wait for the ambulance, I have never felt so helpless in my life.
It wasn't the driver's fault, it was the boys (15-17 old). He rode into a busy intersection at night through a red light wearing dark clothes, played dare devil with an on coming car (side) that had no chance off seeing him or stopping and he wasn't even waring a helmet. She was travelling at 80km/h and because she didn't see him she didn't slow down.
The ladies car window frame (the metal frame) was bent out off shape, its devastating seeing what kind of damage a human can do to not only the glass, but the body structure of the car. I felt angry that the kid was so careless, but at the same time I feel sorry for him and the driver. The lady was in shock and she felt it was her fault which it clearly wasn't.
I will always carry my mobile with me, wether I'm driving or just taking a walk. I am buying a blanket to leave in my car if such a situation arises again and I'm sinning up for a membership for the ambos.
I feel ill and my hands can't stop shaking.
Remember that even if you are the best driver in the world, it's the other person you have to worry about. There was nothing she could have done. I look at everyone else on the road like they are all dumbasses and as if they don't know what they are doing, that way I am more cautious of other cars, bikes and pedestrians.
Never ride a bike without a helmet people, it's just not worth it. He will either die or have server brain damage and most likely a broken spine.
As I said I feel sorry for him and I hope he survives to tell the story so others won't do such careless things.

OMG umm im speechless

Well my wishes for him making a recovery go to him and hope the driver is alright and not in too much shock.

Yeah ody in situations like that there isnt much you can do other than what you did, got out of your car, and helped him out, rung the ambulance, etc. I think what you did was acctually very brave dude, most people just freeze up and stand there :?
Personally if he survives it goes to you and others who helped and a damn miracle, and just think you have probably saved his life or if not at least gave him the best chance to survive.
Welldone ody.

Again good luck to the victims of the accident

ah shit, well as with blah has already said, i hope he recovers.... doesn't seem likely in those cases though does it :(

sigh.

Well, Odyssey.

I have to congratulate you. Seriously. You may have felt like you did nothing, but you did a lot. You were there, you saw what happened. Most people just drive on. And, congratulations on your decision to get a membership with the Ambos. Stick with it, you'll save a life one day.

When I drive a car, I presume that everyone else on the road is a total idiot, and is going to pull out in front of me, brake when they shouldn't, jump in front of me, fail to give way, all that. Why? Because it's truly incredible how often people DO actually do those things - or they simply don't see you. If you're ready for them to do something dumb, you can save THEM the grief of getting hit by your car. That's how I think about it.

Darkwolf.

Quote from Darkwolf:
Well, Odyssey.

I have to congratulate you. Seriously. You may have felt like you did nothing, but you did a lot. You were there, you saw what happened - you called the ambulance, you didn't freeze up. Most people either just stare at what's happening, or drive on. Congratulations on being the person in the crowd to actually do something.

When I drive a car, I presume that everyone else on the road is a total idiot, and is going to pull out in front of me, brake when they shouldn't, jump in front of me, fail to give way, all that. Why? Because it's truly incredible how often people DO actually do those things - or they simply don't see you. If you're ready for them to do something dumb, you can save THEM the grief of getting hit by your car. That's how I think about it.

Darkwolf.

plan for the worst, and drive defensively

If the kid lives, he should consider himself lucky - the truly unfortunate thing is the woman will loose her no claim bonus to get her car fixed, and could possibly be fined by the police as well..

Well Oddessy you have experienced something that alot of other people never will.

I deal with what you saw as I work in the Accident Investigation Unit as a Police Investigator with Lataf.

My hats off to you for stopping and trying to help. Not much can be done for a pedestrian or in this case a pushbike rider but what you did was prolly enough. At least you gave it the effort.

Its normal to have those types of feelings regarding anger and yet at the same time feeling sorry for the rider. You are human and as humans, the majority of us have a conscience and feelings.

Anyway mate, again well done, its good to see someone stop and help even if theres not much to do, pity alot more are not like you.

Cheers

I have also seen a pretty horrific accident..

Ody, U rock.. As Spongy said, not many people care these days..

Unfortunately what U saw will stay with you for the rest of your life.. I know what I saw has..

It was motorcycle accident.. really fast riding ( well beyond 100kph ) with a pillion passenger, they meet a 100+ year old tree.. The girl was a broken mess, and the rider had his head removed from the torso.
I can see it as I type this..

Its one of the reasons I have the utmost respect for both Spongy and Lataf, and infact all the emergency services.. they have to deal with these sorts of things as their job..

I wouldnt do it.

Yeah definately did good Ody, something like that happened in Chelsea near the train station about 4-5 years ago. In this case it was a stupid little girl (15 or so) ran across the road at the intersection and got hit by a car travelling what probably would have been about 20-30 k's, went up onto the windscreen and smashed it in then rolled back off. The guy driving the car tried to help by ringing the ambo's and yelling for someone to run around the corner to the police station. Ended up with the guy getting fined and the little bitch sued him for not stopping.

Put simply she was an idiot and so is everyone else who disregard their's and everyone elses saftey

I had almost lost faith in peoplpe in helping a stranger, but it was refreshing to read Ody, helping out. Your a Champ. need more ppl like you.

Quote from Mephiston:
the truly unfortunate thing is the woman will loose her no claim bonus to get her car fixed, and could possibly be fined by the police as well..
The car was a mess I don't think they can fix a caved in roof, especially around the windscreen area. Even if they could, I wouldn't want to drive that car ever again.

Quote from General Martok:
Ended up with the guy getting fined and the little bitch sued him for not stopping.
I don't think the boy will have that chance, he was pretty bad, I'm surprised he was breathing after such an agressive impact when I got out of the car I thought he was already dead. I haven't heard if he's alright yet I can only wait and see.

Quote from Odyssey:
[quote:38a3874dfd="Mephiston"]the truly unfortunate thing is the woman will loose her no claim bonus to get her car fixed, and could possibly be fined by the police as well..
The car was a mess I don't think they can fix a caved in roof, especially around the windscreen area. Even if they could, I wouldn't want to drive that car ever again.

Quote from General Martok:
Ended up with the guy getting fined and the little bitch sued him for not stopping.
I don't think the boy will have that chance, he was pretty bad, I'm surprised he was breathing after such an agressive impact when I got out of the car I thought he was already dead. I haven't heard if he's alright yet I can only wait and see.[/quote:38a3874dfd]

what intersection did it happen at?

Well Ody, welcome to the dark side my friend.
Sponge, lataf and myself (when i was in accident section in w.a) saw that every week, as well as dealing with families, courts and of course the public. Not good is it mate. Least u put the effort in.
Congrats.

3bol@

you did the right thing, all you can do is learn from it

were you in control of all your senses at the time? did you react the way you would have liked to? is there anything you could have done about your performance if it happened in front of you again?

very nasty situation, but what are you supposed to do? goes to show why you just gotta do a first aid course

how long till the ambos came exactly?

Quote from Orexi:
goes to show why you just gotta do a first aid course

I did a first aid/CPR thing as part of my TAFE course, but theres no way im gonna do anything more than try to make the person comfortable till the ambo's arrive if i was in that postion because even if you do everything properly they can sue you. I dont need someone suing me for trying to help them, with CPR if your doing it correctly, its more than likely that you'll crack one if not a few of their ribs and thats all it takes for someone to see an opportunity to make some money from their stupidity. So the furthest I'd go is covering them with a blanket and calling the ambo's, cops, etc.

I knew he was breathing so I didn't need to touch anything there. A doctor stopped just minutes later and he didn't even move him at all. Then the paramedics came shortly and the ambos soon after.
He was lucky that there was (1) people that stopped, (2) he was breathing, (3) a doctor stopped, (4) the paramedics arrived so quickly and (5) the ambos just minutes after the paramedics. Luck was just on his side even though he was unfortunately hit in the first place.
There was a helicopter and I think they airlifted him to the city.
We would have heard something if he had passed away so he must be still kicking.

well i was actually one of the 'stupid' pedestrians you guys keep talking about. ok, granted, that alot of the people who get hit by vehicles are playing silly buggers, but in my case the car came around a corner ( i think..) and was actually fiddleing with her kid in the backseat and not watching the road, so there you go!
This happened when i was just 14 ( 2 days after my birthday even!) and i was in a cast for 17 weeks. i was lucky apparently and although i bitch and think i have the worst of it, thats not true, obviously!
i feel sorry for this kid's family mostly. imagine if it was someone you loved, ouch!
But oddysey like everyone has been saying you did a funky job! and yeah more than likley would have heard about about it on the news ( gotta love the media!)

Odyssey, firstly, you are champion. It is remarkably refreshing to see people in the world who, under extreme situations, will take action rather then freeze like a proverbial deer in the headlights. Well, that was a metaphore in bad taste, but I do think it serves it's purpose. The feelings you are talking about; I can understand them, really, but I must say, the ambulance people told you to do the right things. You're not a doctor, and I had I been in the same situation, I would have done exactly as you had done. It's time for a personal anecdote.

I wasn't riding with my parents, but they were driving. To where and from where I forget, but I remember being told of the incident with clarity. My mother, the passanger, saw there was a motorcycle on the side of the road. A silver one, a Harley Davidson possibly, I don't remember. It was just laying there. They pulled over to see what it was doing there, and noticed the motorcycle was in seriously bad shape; there were scratches down one side, the side laying on the road, it was missing a handle bar, one tyre was destroyed, and there were many other indications of severe damage. Now, let me put this in context. This was not some lonely outback road; it was the Stuwart Highway. There were cars along every few minutes. They could see cars ahead of them, and behind them. Not a single one stopped to even look, because I know that, had they, they would have stayed. I remember what they saw clearly; there was a man in the ditch laying in a pool of blood. Now, when I say that, it's difficult for most people to imagine how much blood there really is in a person; as my parents described this, I almost thought for a moment, an absurd moment, that it was some kind of sick joke; that no person could have that much blood in them. But, there he was. Breathing, still, and wearing a helmet, but there was a steady, pulsing flow of blood flowing out of the helmet. His arm was bent in an un-natural fashion behind his back, and he had a second elbow between the wrist and the true elbow. My mother and father were both standing there, dumb, watching the whole scene.

My mother, who grew up on a farm, snapped out of it first. My dad was in the boot of the car, trying to look for the first aid kit that we always kept in the back of the boot. It wasn't there. He felt as you did; helpless. The first aid kit, with bandages, medical supplies, all the fittings and trimmings, which had been in the boot of the car every day I could remember, was gone. He said he had never felt so angry, and yet, so helpless. There was a man, possibly in his thirties, bleeding profusely from a number of wounds, one of them clearly a serious blow to the head, and we didn't have so much as a band aid. My mother called the ambulance on her mobile phone, and they were told not to touch the person, and that there was nothing they could do. Afterwards, I still remember my dad seeming shocked, numb, like his brain wasn't working. I can still picture his blank, dull, face today. He had absolutely no idea what to do.

That man was HIV positive. Had the first aid kit been in the car, had they had the gloves, the bandages, whatever, one or both of my parents may have caught AIDs. This is a sobering thought. Now, my parents always drive with the mobile phone, and ALWAYS carry one whole packet of double thickness, full elbow length rubber gloves in the back of the car.

That man died that night, on the way to the hospital. The ambulance people said that, despite his injuries, the man could have survived if they had a few extra minutes to preform more blood transfusions; they estimated that he had been laying in the ditch for about ten minutes before we arrived. This is an extremely long time in accident terms, and by rights, he should have been already dead. But, no.

Not a single person, aside from us, stopped to even examine that man. It's one of those things I think about, sometimes, when I have nothing else to think about. Particularly when I was small, I thought of excuses for the people who didn't stop. They may have assumed the bike was dumped, and worthless. They could have assumed it was a past accident scene. They may have stopped, looked about, but not in the ditch, concluded that the rider was all right and continued on their way. But no excuse in the world has ever convinced me, or my parents, that this man's death could have been prevented. Now that I'm older, and know more about human nature, I don't make excuses anymore.

You're a good man for stopping and getting out, Odyssey. But, remember; no matter how bad it is, you can never do anything to help but call an ambulance. Self preservation comes before all else; rushing into an accident scene can create more patients, which divides the paramedic's attention, and can cost lives. If a car hits a power pole, don't go near the scene. Live wires may have fallen or be close to falling. If there's fuel on the ground, or obvious damage to the underside of the car, don't approach as a spark may ignite it. And, my personal belief is, one should never touch blood. Even if you have no cuts on your hands, unless you have good rubber gloves, such as the elbow length ones described above, you should never touch blood. After all, you are not a doctor. Most of what you do will be harmful to the person, anyway, and you do no-one any favors if you infect yourself with any disease.

That may sound harsh, but it is simple fact. Stop and help, ALWAYS, even if it looks like there is someone already there; offer them gloves, offer them your mobile phone, or drive to a police/fire/ambulance station for assistance, but do not touch people. You may cause them harm, obstruct the work of trained paramedics, or above all else- cause yourself harm. Selfish? Not at all. As I said before, you do no-one any favors if you bring harm to yourself- you divide paramedic's attention and resources, and you create another casualty for them to deal with.

Again, you are a good bloke. It's refreshing to see people who are willing to help others. Most people would have sat there and watched, or else simply drove on and put the incident out of their minds. Champ. Keep us posted on the kid's condition, I think anyone who reads your post will want to know how he fares. I believe I can speak for the entire of the Gamers Underground community when I say he has our best wishes for a speady and complete recovery, and on that note, I would like to propose for a new thread to be created, in which well wishes and words of encouragement can be made, to be given to the accident victim or his/her family, from the community here as mates of Odyssey and concerned human beings. I believe that this strong message of support, if created, will do wonders for the kid's family, knowing that people out there care for and are worried about someone they don't even know, and I certainly would add something to the note if it were created.

All in favor?