Issue link: http://cp.revolio.com/i/1150496
6 | WheelsOfGrace.com | Issue 46 This article teaches you what to do when a rider goes down. Last summer I rolled up on a motorcycle crash that had just happened in the center of the town I live in. I wanted to help, but the only thing I knew was to not remove the rider's helmet, which other people had already done. The only thing I could do was stand out of the way. I felt useless. When the New England Riders Facebook group organized a Road Guardians class about accident scene management, I couldn›t sign up quickly enough. Any crash scene is a chao c environment. Reviewing many possible permuta ons of that chaos can help prepare you to deal with the unpredictable circumstances of a real crash and adapt to them. The simple acronym PACT summarizes the steps, in order of priority, of how to handle a crash scene: • Prevent further injury • Assess the situa on • Contact EMS • Treat the injured with life-sustaining care The first thing you do is to prevent anyone else from ge ng hurt. This includes traffic control around the crash scene to make sure a second crash doesn't happen. It also covers making sure anyone touching the vic m (with consent, if conscious) is wearing protec ve gloves. Next, analyze the situa on. How did the crash happen? You can expect to find different injuries in a head-on collision than a low-side crash. Call 911 to report the accident and request assistance. Be ready to tell the dispatcher what happened, the number of vic ms and injuries, and your loca on. If you don't have a cell signal, designate someone to go find a signal or a nearby landline to call from. Then, and only then, do you start providing care to the vic m. Naturally, if there are mul ple people on the scene you can mul task and begin care while someone else is calling 911. The priori es are: 1. Protec ng others at the scene 2. Reques ng emergency services 3. Giving them the informa on they'll need to know when they get there. Although this is absolutely no subs tute for a proper first aid/CPR class, we did go over some basic informa on for dealing with life- threatening trauma. Most of us know that you should never remove a helmet unless the vic m can›t breathe, for fear of spinal injury. If the vic m isn't breathing, though, that helmet has to come off. We learned and prac ced how two people can team up to remove a helmet as safely as possible under such extreme circumstances, as well as how to use the Jaw Thrust technique to help open a clogged airway. What To Do On A Crash Scene by Justin Hughes & Law Tigers We also went over the most fundamental basics of trea ng wounds, broken bones, and shock. Finally, we learned how to assess a possible spinal injury, and how to restrict the vic m›s movement to prevent the problem from ge ng worse before trained emergency personnel arrive. Even though it lasted a full day, this course barely scratched the surface of any of these subjects. Each one could be a full course or more on its own, such as first aid/CPR. Knowing these basics, however, will help me figure out how I can be best put to use at a crash scene. If there happens to be a nurse at the scene, I would let them handle the medical aspect while I handle traffic control or calling for help. If I'm the only one on the scene with any knowledge of how to get a vic m breathing again, though, that would be my priority a er assigning people to handle the other tasks. I got a lot out of this course. You should look for a similar course in your area. I'm confident that if I rolled up on that crash in the center of town again today, I'd be able to do a lot more than just stand there. By our nature, motorcyclists cover a lot of miles on the road. This makes us more likely than most people to stumble across any crash, whether it involves a motorcycle, car, or pedestrian. Knowing how to handle the situa on is good knowledge for any motorcyclist to have, whether you ride in large events, small groups of friends, or alone. I've learned from experience that you never know when you're going to need it. 1-800-LawTigers LawTigers.com