tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5498194182629204271.post3965831172514366162..comments2023-09-26T12:58:21.651+00:00Comments on The Paramedic's Diary: TeamworkXfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189044083128101123noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5498194182629204271.post-90455873907919557372009-05-03T00:30:00.000+00:002009-05-03T00:30:00.000+00:00Thanks for this post. Hope you're feeling better :...Thanks for this post. Hope you're feeling better :) The post has really made me think seriously about the dangers of cycling around stationary traffic, both from the perspective of a cyclist and a motorist. I find that I'm far more aware around cars now than I was before - checking for indicators, opening doors, signs of movement etc.<br /><br />Thanks Very Much.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5498194182629204271.post-20254325460455320322009-04-25T20:14:00.000+00:002009-04-25T20:14:00.000+00:00Yes, "cycle helmets", also known as "spine breaker...Yes, "cycle helmets", also known as "spine breakers".<br /><br />If you fall off a bike wearing a normal cycle helmet at anything above a slow walking pace, you're pretty much guaranteed to hurt your neck pretty severely. They're designed to stop injuries where the side of your head hits something like the edge of a kerb - pretty much the least likely accident you can have.<br /><br />People are incredibly careless around large vehicles, and don't seem to realise that a truck that's signalling right but far over to the left will actually use the whole junction to get round. They're not sitting on the "wrong side of the road" because it's fun, as one chap I saw get hit discovered. He'd rolled up in his shiny new Merc estate, right up the right-hand side of a car transporter that was signalling right - when the transporter pulled forwards the trailer crushed the front of the car against some pedestrian railings. The truck didn't stop, presumably because the driver didn't see or hear anything that was happening that far away...Gordonjcphttp://www.gjcp.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5498194182629204271.post-51442100530940690242009-04-25T06:29:00.000+00:002009-04-25T06:29:00.000+00:00Thanks for that info downfader I really wasn't awa...Thanks for that info downfader I really wasn't aware of that.....i'm thinking of maybe putting my kids in a full suit of armour when they are finally let loose in to this world - bicycle or no bicycle - that way they might be protected from the accidents/stabbing/shooting/broken bottles in faces......<br /><br />Regards :)<br />Maz xAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5498194182629204271.post-73807995512809738392009-04-18T20:47:00.000+00:002009-04-18T20:47:00.000+00:00Anonymous:
"gosh what a tragic accident as indeed ...Anonymous:<br />"gosh what a tragic accident as indeed there are so many these days.....what I don't get is that we have so many laws in respect to driving and the roads and yet it is NOT against the law to NOT wear a cycle helmet???"<br /><br />Sadly a helmet a) gives the impression that cycling is dangerous and b) only really protects from impacts at 12mph at a height of 1m. So falling off a bike basically, not being hit.<br /><br />Also the majority of collisions with motorvehicles seem to indicate that body injuries are far more common than head - with the knees and legs taking most of the brunt. The spine and shoulders coming second.<br /><br />What a helmet does generally protect you from is cutting your head open on the road if you do "off", it also keeps the sun out of your eyes. I'm afraid those are the only reasons I wear mine.<br /><br />There is a lot of myth around cycle helmets, sadly.downfaderhttp://www.youtube.com/user/downfader2noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5498194182629204271.post-67125671021005003272009-04-18T06:37:00.000+00:002009-04-18T06:37:00.000+00:00gosh what a tragic accident as indeed there are so...gosh what a tragic accident as indeed there are so many these days.....what I don't get is that we have so many laws in respect to driving and the roads and yet it is NOT against the law to NOT wear a cycle helmet??? Please someone correct me if I'm wrong but if it were the law then surely many peoples lives may not be so badly effected when involved in these accidents. Although by the sounds of it I don't think anything was going to save this poor lady despite you and your colleagues best efforts and wonderful teamwork. I always make my kids wear a helmet especially when we are near roads although my fear is that as they get older and will be cycling on their own that they may not always abide by mothers rules!!<br /><br />Just a thought.<br />Maz - student paramedicAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5498194182629204271.post-71438841157173558722009-04-16T07:25:00.000+00:002009-04-16T07:25:00.000+00:00Anon
Yes, true but I'm only reporting what the pa...Anon<br /><br />Yes, true but I'm only reporting what the patient's son told me...I should really have parenthesised the fact that it was more likely a stroke he'd suffered.<br /><br />When queried at the time, the son was adamant that the doctor had told him it was 'just a TIA' and not a stroke...but there you go.Xfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08189044083128101123noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5498194182629204271.post-35013547554299012842009-04-15T20:12:00.000+00:002009-04-15T20:12:00.000+00:00I have seen a couple of 'near dos' with cyclists/m...I have seen a couple of 'near dos' with cyclists/mopeds (if that's what they are called these days)and even pedestrians stepping out too early..I sometimes tow a cherry picker on a pedestrianised area, and although it's big and easily visible, some people still fail to see it. I have a horror that someday, someone small will be hit by it. I think in these cases, only an awareness campaign may make people think.<br /><br />On an aside to awareness. ipods and the like. A chap walked out of a shop, straight into the front of my van. He had absolutely no awareness of what was going on around him. He could not hear anything other than what he was listening to. No horn, no shouts. Fortunately, I had stopped, and he gave me a shitty look? More and more we isolate ourselves.TonyFhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14356306581977054156noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5498194182629204271.post-58545601700292741852009-04-15T16:45:00.000+00:002009-04-15T16:45:00.000+00:00I've been cycling since a child, and on the roads ...I've been cycling since a child, and on the roads since 14. I passed my Cycle Prof at 12 or 13 and had read the highway code by that point also. <br /><br />Sadly - I have had to say many a time thesedays - we now have a generation that has grown up with the motorvehicle as the first vehicle they use on the roads. Cycle training is disparate at best (Bikeability being great IF you can find someone teaching it) and often not given to kids at school.<br /><br />They used to train kids up the road from me, but an incident with a driver made the school who had organised it all withdraw the training. <br /><br />Many take up cycling and simply give up after a few weeks due to some drivers attitudes and behaviour. I have had many a large vehicle overtake me actually at the junction I'm navigating through, or through tight spaces. My instinct is to hammer on the brakes and duck left (or where ever is safe) and scream out loud a warning.<br /><br />I can therefore sadly beleive either way that the cyclist may have been overtaken at the junction or have undertaken, though CCTV will hopefully show exactly what happened. <br /><br />Cycling is only as safe as we all make it, and sadly the courts and authorities are failing the public in this respect, and I know you will attend many more accidents such as this in the future.Downfaderhttp://www.youtube.com/user/downfader2noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5498194182629204271.post-25032706950536866322009-04-15T11:04:00.000+00:002009-04-15T11:04:00.000+00:00Oh, and the bit that says how many comments isn't ...Oh, and the bit that says how many comments isn't working, for some reason.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5498194182629204271.post-56987129244636021832009-04-15T11:03:00.000+00:002009-04-15T11:03:00.000+00:00What a horrid day on balance.
However, may I point...What a horrid day on balance.<br />However, may I point out - by definition, the difference between a TIA and a stroke is that the effects of the TIA resolve within 24 hours. Your elderly faller had a stroke last year, otherwise he would not have been handicapped from it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5498194182629204271.post-29797970011703738952009-04-15T09:17:00.000+00:002009-04-15T09:17:00.000+00:00XF,
Wow, tough day at the office to say the least....XF,<br />Wow, tough day at the office to say the least. <br />Hope you are getting the support you need from your colleagues (even if you think you dont need it!!)<br />Its always nice to have a delivery as well to lift you slightly.<br />Isnt it strange when that happens though - one death, one birth!!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5498194182629204271.post-57116795028650213892009-04-14T22:31:00.000+00:002009-04-14T22:31:00.000+00:00I've been a lurker for a while now (via RSS so I d...I've been a lurker for a while now (via RSS so I don't usually even see the comments) but I wanted to share a story.<br /><br />I had similar job last summer in Connecticut. We had a guy riding his bike on the inside of a dump truck full of asphalt. <br /><br />We (well, the cops) seem to think the handlebar of his bike was pushed against the rubber of the truck tire at a red light. When the light turned green, the truck must have driven forward quickly, pulling the handlebars of the bike downwards and catapulting our patient under the the two massive rear tires. <br /><br />He was conscious and talking to me on my arrival, but by the time I got him boarded and collared he was in respiratory arrest. Once on the monitor in the ambulance, he was asystole. The force of the truck did some horrendous things to his abdominal cavity although the only visible outward abd. trauma was some distension. Compressions did the same thing to him as they did to your patient. Pronounced by the docs at the ER about 30 minutes after our arrival.<br /><br />We were promptly requested to return to the same scene for the dump truck driver complaining of chest pain. <br /><br />Good lessons there: something needs to be done about cycling (even in small town USA) and always think of other possible patients, especially if the town only has one crew on!jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01888568878031598326noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5498194182629204271.post-15051224826672549672009-04-14T19:38:00.000+00:002009-04-14T19:38:00.000+00:00What an awful way to start your day. That poor wom...What an awful way to start your day. That poor woman. I have to admit, it was only after I started reading your blog and others that I realised how dangerous it was to cycle up the inside. I often used to do it. Especially at stationary traffic.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com