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I witnessed a serious accident today. I was standing at the bus stop, along with perhaps 20 or so other people, waiting for the bus. I had just waved goodbye to a friend who had hopped onto another bus. After a short while, a saw a bicyclist crossing the intersection, pedalling with effort but moving slowly. A car was crossing at the same time. At the moment it seemed the car was approaching unusually close to the cyclist, and I assumed maybe the driver was pressuring the cyclist to move aside for crossing at an improper time. I did not notice what the traffic light’s status was, and so cannot comment on who had the right of way. The car kept on moving and ran into the cyclist with a sharp, but not very loud, bang. I was no more than ten meters from the scene.
In the seconds before the impact, the cyclist had his head down and seemed focused on getting a move on, so I was not sure if he was aware of the car right beside him. It looked like the car clipped the back half of the bike. The cyclist flopped off the hood, then windshield, and crumpled to the ground in an instant. The collision did not seem particularly severe to me, and I was expecting the cyclist to get back up. After two seconds, and I had not seen any movement, I glanced to see that car would not hit me in its trajectory, than stepped around to the other side of the car to look at the victim. He was lying face down, with his arms at his sides and his legs neatly extended, but completely motionless. I exclaimed, “Shit,” more as a statement to alert those around me of the gravity of the situation rather than an expression of shock.
At this point the driver began to get out of his vehicle and a crowd was slowly congregating. The first thought that immediately popped into my mind as to how to proceed was to call 911. I made no move to reach for my phone, as I was hoping someone else would be taking that responsibility. A short instance afterwards I could hear that someone was indeed doing that. I looked around at the crowd, noting the faces of uncertainty and concern. Before I could wonder who among us was most qualified to take charge, a girl had already stepped forward and was interacting with the victim. I quickly rushed through a brief rundown of first aid procedure to apply and realized I had no idea what to do.
The girl had a hand on the victim’s head, which I assumed was to stabilize it against movement. Blood was pooling from his head on the wet ground, as it was a misty day with light rain. She was talking to the victim, getting assurance as to his level of consciousness and consolation. Again I glanced around the crowd; those in close vicinity who had stepped forward from the bus stop was not that numerous. Many people were just standing at the bus stop in shock. I wondered what I could do to help. I did know that standing around and crowding the scene without helping would only be a hindrance. The victim was in fact conscious and talking, and the girl seemed to have the situation under control. I noticed she had blood on her fingers, as I mentally questioned the appropriateness of holding his head down as she did. Trying to assess the situation with my best intuitive sense of first aid, rather than reaching for my foggy training of correct procedures, I decided that I would have looked for a bandage to wrap around his head to stem the bleeding.
I knew that I had a very key witness position in this accident, so I hesitated whether I should stay around. But I also reasoned that many among those waiting at the bus stop shared the same experience. There wasn’t that much to dispute anyways. I could tell the road would be blocked for a while, with traffic in that direction moving at a crawl to squeeze by the accident scene. I turned around and headed away to my alternate bus stop that took a different route.
In the following minutes I thought of this. That girl taking charge would be labelled as a hero. I did not want to be labelled as another gawking bystander, another useless uncontributory blockage subject to the “bystander effect”. However, there was only room for one hero. I felt she was doing a competent job; declaring any sort of challenge against her initiative would require a huge justification for an expertise I did not have. Furthermore, I knew that in such a situation having more than one leader or lead caretaker would only lead to confusion, miscommunication and mismanagement. It was proper to have one person call the shots. She could be the hero.
I played over in my head how I would have acted if I were that hero instead. Then I considered I would have felt if I were the victim. I was bleeding from my head but could talk. I would have appreciated some consolation and touch from my saviour, with soothing words and soft talking. However, I also realized that it might reach the point where my talking became painful and counterproductive – in this case I would wish for the rescuer to take over the conversation. Therefore, as the hero, I would have made sure that beyond the crucial basic information I would request from the victim, I should ask the question whether the victim felt comfortable to continue talking.
There can only be one hero. Maybe someday, in a less witnessed accident, I will have to step up to play the hero. This was the first time I had experienced such a serious accident up close and personal. If it seems from the tone I had no empathy for the victim, I was worried for his recovery and sorry for his misfortune. Did I handle the situation correctly? I suspect the answer is probably not. But, nevertheless, those are the facts that transpired.
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Snet
United States3573 Posts
Sounds like you should become a EMT or paramedic if you enjoy being first on scene to an accident. Is the guy ok? All you really talked about is your jealousy that she was the hero, lol. 
Makes me wonder what I would do in that situation. I would be kind of useless tbh.
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I don't think he was jealous. Just posting his thoughts around the situation and admiration for her actions.
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I didn't really stay around long enough to find out the extent of his injuries, but I would say it was quite serious. Definitely not something he would be able to just sit up and walk away from. He was face down and not moving the entire time.
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Shiverfish responding in one of his blogs?...well I never!
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Always enjoy reading your blogs, man.
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Wait....u knew u were a key wittness...and u just deicided to take off? Well luckily that girl was there.I hope the cyclist is ok. I hope the car didnt hit him on purpose. That tends to happen alot as cars seem to have alot of rage towards cyclists for some reason. Non cyclists might not know what im talking about...but its very true and very serious.
after re reading it does sound like the car hit the cyclist on purpose. I hope a wittness mentioned that and the driver ends up in jail.
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Great read.
It is amazing how efficient and professional some people can be.
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Well if this blog is real I must say, not calling 911 is so frustratingly stupid that I fail to comprehend how it isnt someones first reaction in almost any situation where someone is harmed.
I remember walking out of work one night around 11 pm and witnessed 2 visibly drunk guys beating the hell out of someone else. The first thing I did was instantly turn around back into work and call the police. Upon calling 911 I was told they had received numerous calls already and before I hung up the cops were already there.
Keep in mind this was late at night in a part of town that isn't very busy. That means that virtually everyone that saw what was happening immediately called authorities.
I really dont get why people hesitate to call 911. It is a free public service there to help people in need. Imagine if you were on the bike and only 1 person saw the incident. I imagine you would want an ambulance there as soon as possible. In events like that seconds can be the difference between life and death. Would you want someone gawking or taking action?
But yeah, I havent seen a situation like the one you described but have called the police plenty of times for far less. Dont ever hesitate at a time like that.
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That was my first reaction when reading this blog...besides the car most likely hitting the cyclist on purpose....which is horrible, and the driver should be in jail. But why would u hesitate to call 911 and also hesitate to help the victim and also leave the scence when u are a key wittness????
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whose your favorite player right now? (starcraft of course)
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I've been through the same thing, and I felt the exact same way =/
Of course if no one else had a phone and someone was asking around I would definitely pass mine over or call myself, but I don't like taking on responsibility like that, and would rather hope someone else does it.
If it happens again hopefully I would get that feeling again.
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You need to be careful when it comes to rendering aid to someone when you are not really capable of providing it properly. Despite your 'best intentions', if you make the situation worse you could be facing a pretty hefty lawsuit.
Everyone wants to be a hero...but don't let that induce you to make poor decisions.
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Oi, I think your a hero for letting her work on the patient.
Like snet mentioned, you should consider looking into EMT classes and maybe work up to paramedic level (there's a lot of cons with going that high though).
At the very least look up some online videos taken from EMT practice courses, possibly even look into getting a detailed response book. That way, you can either have a first hand in helping the patient or you could critique the helper that is performing a dangerous action considering the patient's state.
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I would have no idea what to do, which puts me to shame since my mom is a nurse and deals with emergencies like this all the time. I really need to take a first-aid class so that I don't stand around while someone is hurt
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Philadelphia, PA10406 Posts
Nice blog.
I wonder if it is productive to ask if there is anything you can do. Surely the person who has taken charge of the situation would have instructed you to do something if there was. But in fact, I think that's an important question to ask. There can be one hero, but there can also be a sidekick, to use your analogy.
I think your story is a very common one. Not many of us have training in emergencies, and in this case, it seemed that one such person was present, which is lucky. But there are usually things you can do, and I'm not sure I would be able to walk away from a scene like that, But I don't really know.
This seems like something you almost have to have seen twice to react correctly.
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EPT
