Please Be Careful On Them Roads People.. *RTA content*

I’ve mentioned on here before the crazy overtakes I regularly see on the A68. Last night the inevitable happened… 🙁

Driving down from Edinburgh we were near Oxton way. Traffic was slowing in front. Young guy on a motorbike had other ideas and started booting it past the queue. What he didn’t realise was that we were slowing for the guy at the front to turn right into a small side road! He tried to swerve but there was another car coming out the side road so the motorcyclist had nowhere to go but into the turning car’s front wing at 60+

Rider and bike somersaulted a good distance down the road, losing his helmet in the process. A horrific sight that is still replaying itself in my mind.

MrsS (a doctor) was out the car in a flash, straight over to the victim and took control. She ended up kneeling next to him holding his jaw to protect his airway whilst giving updates to ambulance control on the phone.

Amazingly the queue of traffic also happened to have at least two other doctors in it who came to assist and an off-duty copper who got out his high-viz and directed traffic to keep the site safe.

Not long after a car that had gone past already turned and came back again. The driver looking very shaken. It was the motorcyclist’s dad who had been following a short distance behind with all his son’s belongings from uni. I think he’d driven through the incident before he realised what it was.

I can’t imagine how sick he felt or how he managed to remain so composed.

The lad made it to hospital but obviously we don’t know any more than that. Good luck fella!

It was a long slow careful drive home for us after that.

Please be careful out there.

Ooof. Well played to your lady, I hope the lad and everyone involved is okay.

I’m more in awe of her than ever Lifer.
The guy wasn’t breathing on his own when she got to him. If she wasn’t there then there is a good chance he’d have stayed that way. 😯

Well done to Mrs Gee2DaEss!! Steezy girl!! Jeez, it’s always a shaky uppy experience to see it all unfold in front of you like that. Hope the biker lives to learn his lesson.

A sobering story

GrahamS – Member

I’m more in awe of her than ever Lifer.
The guy wasn’t breathing on his own when she got to him. If she wasn’t there then there is a good chance he’d have stayed that way.

Sounds like he’s very lucky that you and your Wife were in the queue!
Hopefully he’ll be OK!

Funnily enough on the way in to work, I was thinking that 2015 will be the year that I get round to doing a first aid course. You never know when even simple first aid might save someone’s life (not that I’m suggesting what your Wife dealt with was simple, but you know what I mean?)…..

Bad flooding on my drive in to work today, 3 cars parked in the field at the worst bit on the A703.

Big thanks to the driver who flashed their lights at me 100 metres up the road – I hit the water at a steady and controlled 40mph thankfully.

Since Thursday I have made a number of car trips, nothing very far 25m tops.
Only on one trip have not seen a emergency vehicle at full tilt.
The standard of driving has gone out the window.

Be careful out there.

The standard of driving has gone out the window.

Be careful out there.

Yeah, this time of year.
Roads are always wet, it’s usually dark, everyone is in a rush, I’m guessing a reasonable percentage have had a least one drink and the entire country “needs” to travel to relatives or wherever else they’re spending Christmas. Recipe for disaster.

Well done to Mrs GrahamS, sounds lucky you guys were there!

I’ve witnessed/taken avoiding action about 5 times this winter. Every single one as been the ‘look once’ driver in a rush who has managed to miss my big bodied transit with head lights permanently on (and a couple who pulled out in front of oncoming traffic).

I’ve also crashed my pushbike into a car who’s driver appeared to have seen me and was waiting (no other traffic to wait for) only to pull out leaving me to bounce off the wing into the outside lane of a dual carriageway.

Look Twice Drivers!

Good work Mr and Mrs GrahamS. Fingers crossed for the lad and his family.

A good friend is in the St John’s Ambulance and ended up doing something similar when she’d nipped out for a pint of milk. Saved the guy’s life.

You never know when even simple first aid might save someone’s life (not that I’m suggesting what your Wife dealt with was simple, but you know what I mean?)…..

Yeah after seeing her in action I’m thinking the same thing.

She said herself that she isn’t a trauma doctor or a paramedic, so all she really did was keep her head, do basic ABC and wait for the pros to show up.

I think she is too modest, she did a bit more than that, but it was a point well made: if it had been just me there he wouldn’t have made it. 😯

Well done. We drove down the A68 from Edinburgh yesterday evening too (around 6pm) and the conditions were atrocious. I don’t mind driving that road when it’s dry and light, but horizontal sleet in the dark was very unpleasant. It’s one of my worst nightmares that I come across an accident like that and am not able to help (and I’m medically trained!).

I often wish I’d become a doctor. Full respect.

Well done Mrs S.

Long time ago something similar nearly happened to me. Since then, when going to turn right, I get well over towards the centreline so my indicators aren’t masked by the car behind. Often that’s the car too close behind, but that’s their style. So moving over cuts their view past and gets their attention.

I commend this solution to the house.

when going to turn right, I get well over towards the centreline so my indicators aren’t masked by the car behind.

All comes down to observation again, doesn’t it.

On a bike, you’re taught to do a final shoulder check before committing to a turn like that. They call it the “life-saver.” It really needs drumming in to car drivers too, if the driver in the OP had done the check it may well have prevented the accident.

Though of course, filtering past near-stationary traffic at 60mph isn’t the smartest idea in any case.

Also, overtaking (which is what the motorcyclist was doing) is a very bad idea near junctions, as tragically illustrated 🙁 That’s why they put those warning signs up. Do people even notice them?

It always amazes me while biking how many people overtake past junctions; I’ve seen quite a few near misses when someone is overtaking and someone else emerges from a side road on the right, narrowly avoiding a head-on collision.

a final shoulder check before committing to a turn like that

It works in cars too, which is why I didn’t get a high-status import ramming my driver’s door.

I get well over towards the centreline so my indicators aren’t masked by the car behind

Lately, I have noticed a lot more people making manoeuvres without indicating! scary stuff

It works in cars too,

Indeed.

I always do it in the car these days, but for me at least it was a side effect of learning to ride a motorbike. I don’t remember being taught it when I was learning to drive, or at least, if I was then it wasn’t stressed sufficiently to stick in my head.

I think not looking before you make a move is more of a crime than not indicating, some folk seem to feel that a cheery indication is all that is required to change lanes. I trust nobody in any case, all the flashing orange light means is that their indicator works.

That was close(ish) call part two this morning, a driver indicating that he was leaving the roundabout, but kept on coming. I had my doubts so was already on the brakes when he segued across to where I was heading.

Also, overtaking (which is what the motorcyclist was doing) is a very bad idea near junctions

Which is why it’s explicitly forbidden in the highway code…..

Funnily enough on the way in to work, I was thinking that 2015 will be the year that I get round to doing a first aid course. You never know when even simple first aid might save someone’s life (not that I’m suggesting what your Wife dealt with was simple, but you know what I mean?)…..

Do it.

I’ve seen quite a few near misses when someone is overtaking and someone else emerges from a side road on the right, narrowly avoiding a head-on collision.

That’s a classic a few roads from me. To get down to the main road you have to go two sides of a square. Which 2 sides is up to you – but the ‘main’ route is a bus route. So many times i’ve seen people go the other way to try to get out in front of the bus or slower traffic, which means a quick glance to the right and then go if the way’s ‘clear’.

Unfortunately there’s a bus stop right opposite and if a bus is there it doesn’t matter if the way is clear to your right, anything coming the other way is going to be on ‘your’ side of the road. Easy to say you shouldn’t overtake opposite a junction, but if in doing so and a car came out of the side road and head-onned you, whose fault would it be?

Queues of traffic don’t generally stop or slow suddenly without a reason, sadly some people only discover this in a terrible way 🙁

Sounds very lucky that you and your wife were there OP, fingers crossed for a successful outcome

Well done Mrs S.

I’m First Aid trained with work and have had to use it twice now in the real world, once for an angina attack my neighbor had and the other was for a badly concussed young rider. Do it, as it could save a life and stop you kicking yourself for not doing it.

That’s a classic a few roads from me.

Took a couple of reads to work out what you’re describing, but yes, there’s a similar thing near me. Side road ends at a Give Way into a T-junction, thus:

https://goo.gl/maps/zVKOV

Unfortunately, the major road has traffic-calming measures in the form of street furniture making chicanes and pinch points. If you follow the link you can see that there’s directly after the junction to the right, which would be fine if people approaching from the left didn’t routinely swing over onto the wrong side of the road to try and straighten out the manoeuvre. So folk joining look right, see that it’s clear, continue pulling out and then have to jam on the anchors as something whizzes past in a blur inches from their front bumper from a direction they’ve not even looked in yet.

PS it’s an RTC these days, no longer with the A for accident.

you might want to get the mods to edit that post for you…

I’ve fixed the link (I think).

Cheers aracer, cougar. Bizarre, the (fixed) link is what it should be. the other one isn’t my front door, it’s a random house on the same road as the junction i was talking about.

Ouch. Never been that close to an accident thankfully. Seen aftermath of several, usually the A9.

Friend of ours, doctor, usually carried a central line in her car (though it was so untidy not sure what good it’d be) and aI think she’s used it a handful of times. TBH that level of severity, maybe not much any first aid course could do..

Hope you’re OK GrahamS – wife will be fine I’m sure but hugs from STW I think..

Ouch again. Feel a bit sick now 🙁

Your link still has the same privacy issue, I think you need to start from scratch to get rid of it…

https://goo.gl/maps/Tytdn

Been a fatality on one of my commute routes today . Car + Motorbike involved unfortunaly. Road closed near Portsdown hill , Pompey . Horrible thing for family and friends to come to terms with at any time , even worse at xmas.
Well done on the First Aid. Hope the kid makes it.

I just nearly had a head on with a van in cosham STM, he clocked my shoulder with his wing mirror at about 25mph, closest I’ve ever come to being knocked off!

He pulled in about 50 yards down the road so thought I better go have a word, he just didn’t see me! Was distracted talking to his daughter apparently. No harm done so no need to go to town on him as he seemed genuinely concerned. But still scary stuff.

Must be something they’ve put in the water down here 😕

Hats off to MrsGrahamS.

Around a third of all rtc fatalities are due to compromised airways. They have injuries which are survivable, but the airway is blocked so they die due to being unable to breath. A simple jaw thrust or head tilt would often save them but the first on the scene either don’t know what to do or think they can’t move them due to risk of spinal injuries.

A few months ago I was assisting the instructor on a wilderness first aid course. After demonstrating the jaw thrust and the symptoms of blocked airway (snoring noise) a woman in her 20’s burst into tears. It seems her mum had died when she was very young after falling down the stairs at home. Her dad told her that he heard her fall and went to her. She was unconscious and snoring. Her dad said she snored for a couple of minutes then died. The women on the course was devastated to learn that her mum could possibly, even probably, have been saved by simply opening the airway.

Well done MrsGrahamS.

If you don’t know how to open an airway go on a first aid course. Book it now.

One of my friends was saved by another club rider after he crashed his mtb and started snoring whilst unconscious. Without intervention he would have died

In several other European countries basic first aid is tought in schools to kids from the age of 8. They generally have better rtc survival rates than we do.

Booked that course yet???

^ +1000

First aid should be taught in schools/ all workplaces. Just the basics really can save lives.

Wifey and I were just remarking tonight that it’s carnage on the roads round here at the moment. It’s constant sirens outside our house and I’ve passed 2 car crashes in the last 3 days all within 10 miles of our place. 2 local girls killed last week in a car crash just down the road. Very sad.

It’s like Xmas is the only date in the calendar these days that is fixed and everyone’s rushing to get everything sorted before it comes round. Everyone’s thinking about christmas and what they haven’t got, need to get rather than concentrating on what they are doing. Seriously, everyone, take a step back and get it in perspective.

Friend of ours, doctor, usually carried a central line in her car (though it was so untidy not sure what good it’d be) and aI think she’s used it a handful of times. TBH that level of severity, maybe not much any first aid course could do..

As pointed out above , a simple opening of the airway can make all the difference, so first aid courses are well worth the effort. Well done to Mrs GrahamS,it’s probably been a fair while since she did a stint in A&E and not having to take helmet off makes a big difference – although the fact it came off during the crash is really not good 🙁