The journey home from BiCon.
Aug. 19th, 2002 06:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
baratronI was going to do a BiCon report today, but I'm too tired. Apart from getting more than 3 hours per night less sleep than I needed for the last 3 days running, I had a blood test done this morning, so I'm extra-flaky. My arm doesn't actually hurt too much, which is good - due to reasons which I am far too squeamish to write about, people who take blood from me have to use my right arm, and I'm right-handed. They're testing for four different things which I can't quite remember - one is TSH - I'm kinda hoping that one or more of the tests will turn up positive because it would be some explanation for my health, but we'll see.
Felt pretty upset last night because we saw the most horrendous accident on the M1 driving back from BiCon. Alexa, Simon and I had stopped at the Newport Pagnell services to get some water and ice lollies, and we were sitting on the grass by the side of the motorway. I'd bought a copy of The Observer and was leafing through it idly when someone exclaimed "Shit!" very loudly. I looked up, and there was a large cloud of grey dust on the northbound carriageway. I immediately went for my phone to call 999, so I missed seeing the worst of the accident itself.
Basically, a white Transit-type van in the nearside lane overturned onto its roof just outside the services. It travelled on its roof for maybe 50 yards (I'm not good at estimating distances, but it was about 5 or 6 car-lengths), then somehow righted itself and crashed into the barrier at the edge of the road. The van was partly on the hard shoulder and partly occupying the first lane - the only reason that no one had crashed into it, causing a pile-up was that while travelling on its roof it had barely slowed down. Calling the police was my first reaction, and I described the accident quite calmly to the operator, stating the exact location, the type of vehicle involved and the fact an ambulance was needed as well as police. As I gave my name and address at the end of the car, a police car arrived. They then tried to put me through to an ambulance operator, but had to try multiple numbers before I could get through. The ambulance operator said that they had received several calls but all giving different locations for the accident - how stupid are people? *sigh*
A fire engine turned up, then another one, from the other direction. We realised that the driver of the van had gone through the windscreen. At first we'd thought maybe he wasn't wearing a belt, but when I went right down to the edge of the grass I thought that the seatbelt was still in place and it was his seat that had come loose. I have no idea whether he was dead or just very badly injured - the crowd of spectators were making no attempt to do first aid. It would have been nice for someone to have held his hand while he died :( We waited until the ambulance turned up, as there wasn't anything else we could do, and I felt responsible to see it through. Fucking idiot morons driving on the southbound carriageway slowed down to see the carnage, then sped up to 80 or 90 miles an hour to say "Someone's dead, and it's not me". God almighty - it will be if you behave like that!
Anyway, we got very delayed by that, and then there was a fair amount of traffic in London - we had to drive diagonally across it from Wood Green to New Malden. By the time we got near home we'd been in the car for 5 hours - so we went out for Chinese in the usual place and came home. Half-caught up with LJ, and went to bed.
I wonder why it is that I have such a calm response to major accidents when I am so panicky about minor injuries to myself? It helped that it was my second 999 call in a few months, plus there was a fire down the road that was big enough to need assistance, but the fire engines arrived just as I started to call them. (Although it was 4am, all three of us were awake because it was simply too hot to sleep, and obviously someone else had been up). Some of it is training, I think - I did a lot of first aid and lifesaving and emergency response stuff in Brownies and Guides, and later in adult leaders' training - and having it all thought through already stops you going into panic. I wonder if having chronic anxiety is actually a help in emergency situations? Because I worry about absolutely everything, I think through what I'd do if x, y or z goes wrong - so I have it there? Hmm.
Felt pretty upset last night because we saw the most horrendous accident on the M1 driving back from BiCon. Alexa, Simon and I had stopped at the Newport Pagnell services to get some water and ice lollies, and we were sitting on the grass by the side of the motorway. I'd bought a copy of The Observer and was leafing through it idly when someone exclaimed "Shit!" very loudly. I looked up, and there was a large cloud of grey dust on the northbound carriageway. I immediately went for my phone to call 999, so I missed seeing the worst of the accident itself.
Basically, a white Transit-type van in the nearside lane overturned onto its roof just outside the services. It travelled on its roof for maybe 50 yards (I'm not good at estimating distances, but it was about 5 or 6 car-lengths), then somehow righted itself and crashed into the barrier at the edge of the road. The van was partly on the hard shoulder and partly occupying the first lane - the only reason that no one had crashed into it, causing a pile-up was that while travelling on its roof it had barely slowed down. Calling the police was my first reaction, and I described the accident quite calmly to the operator, stating the exact location, the type of vehicle involved and the fact an ambulance was needed as well as police. As I gave my name and address at the end of the car, a police car arrived. They then tried to put me through to an ambulance operator, but had to try multiple numbers before I could get through. The ambulance operator said that they had received several calls but all giving different locations for the accident - how stupid are people? *sigh*
A fire engine turned up, then another one, from the other direction. We realised that the driver of the van had gone through the windscreen. At first we'd thought maybe he wasn't wearing a belt, but when I went right down to the edge of the grass I thought that the seatbelt was still in place and it was his seat that had come loose. I have no idea whether he was dead or just very badly injured - the crowd of spectators were making no attempt to do first aid. It would have been nice for someone to have held his hand while he died :( We waited until the ambulance turned up, as there wasn't anything else we could do, and I felt responsible to see it through. Fucking idiot morons driving on the southbound carriageway slowed down to see the carnage, then sped up to 80 or 90 miles an hour to say "Someone's dead, and it's not me". God almighty - it will be if you behave like that!
Anyway, we got very delayed by that, and then there was a fair amount of traffic in London - we had to drive diagonally across it from Wood Green to New Malden. By the time we got near home we'd been in the car for 5 hours - so we went out for Chinese in the usual place and came home. Half-caught up with LJ, and went to bed.
I wonder why it is that I have such a calm response to major accidents when I am so panicky about minor injuries to myself? It helped that it was my second 999 call in a few months, plus there was a fire down the road that was big enough to need assistance, but the fire engines arrived just as I started to call them. (Although it was 4am, all three of us were awake because it was simply too hot to sleep, and obviously someone else had been up). Some of it is training, I think - I did a lot of first aid and lifesaving and emergency response stuff in Brownies and Guides, and later in adult leaders' training - and having it all thought through already stops you going into panic. I wonder if having chronic anxiety is actually a help in emergency situations? Because I worry about absolutely everything, I think through what I'd do if x, y or z goes wrong - so I have it there? Hmm.
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no subject
Date: 2002-08-19 10:23 am (UTC)Don't let the doctor tell you "it's normal" or "it's borderline" or whatever, get the actual number and lab values. Some doctors go by older standards for describing normal.
999 calls suck...
Date: 2002-08-19 03:37 pm (UTC)That was bloomin scary given that I was an exploding milk bottles width away from getting molotoved myself.
Needless to say, I made the quickest stop and reverse manuver whilst manically dialling 999 as soon as possible...
I was rather concerned for the police in the car and the operator just didn't seem to get the urgency of the matter...
Needless to say I took an alternative route home, but I was never contacted for a description of the asailants.
(shrugs)
Odd eh?
But yeah...
heh...
Laterz!
Emergencies
Date: 2002-08-19 04:35 pm (UTC)Yeah, sounds reasonable. That's certainly the theory behind fire drills etc., which I think is valid - nobody who went to my school is ever going to panic when they hear a fire alarm!
> The ambulance operator said that they had received several calls but all
> giving different locations for the accident - how stupid are people?
Well, to give those people credit, at least they made an effort. I remember calling 999 about 5 years ago, when I was living in the Docklands, and I saw a fire in some bushes. I phoned up, and they asked me for the location. Now, I knew where I was - just down the road from Crossharbour DLR station, outside Safeway, next to the park. But I didn't have a clue what the street name was - I knew my way around the area by sight, not by thinking "turn left at Sycamore Road". I think I wound up dashing down the road to find a sign... Anyway, in the motorway situation, I can imagine people thinking "I need to turn off at exit 24", but not paying much attention to which exit they've gone past most recently, as long as it's <24. So, when they then come to phone 999, they might say "I think it's between 20 and 21, but I'm not certain".
Anyway, glad to hear you were able to help out.
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