Vent - bloody selfish sods leaving an injured man in the road!

Olokia

Not everyone is unhelpful:

I remember last year while waiting for my fitness class to start (it was in the local park), we heard a girl scream and then the sound of cars hitting each other. The woman who screamed carried on walking away though.

A few of us went over to see if we could help, turns out a man had been lying in the road (had no idea why he was there, it was 7pm so probably too early for drinking) and a car had hit him.

The car was on top of this man and the guy taking my fitness class took charge as he had done first aid stuff in his army training. About 4 of us were trying to help and the nearby house also had a woman helping after one of us had to go get a knife to cut his collar as he was going blue and some cloths to stop the bleeding

Another person was redirecting traffic until the police came and took over that job and closed the road. In the end I left as there wasn't anything I could do but the fitness trainer stayed until the ambulance arrived.

He still died though

Hermia

Daniel Goleman gave a really interesting TED talk about compassion and he discusses why people don't stop to help and what you can do to encourage people to be more compassionate. I think it's one of the best TED talks I have seen.

http://www.ted.com/talks/daniel_goleman_on_compassion.html

musicmaker29

I once saw something similar - I drove around a corner and there was a guy lying on the floor - bleeding from his head, having fallen off of his bike. He was unconcsious and was breathing in a laboured way, his ankle was also abviously snapped. I stopped and phoned 999, and an ambulance arrived very quickly.

During that time two other cars stopped, and bizarrely, one 'white van man' decided that I had knocked the guy off of his bike! He was very aggressive for no real reason, but went away when the ambulance came. I found it very strange.

Good on you for stopping, everyone reacts differently to emergency situations, you gid a great job and make no mistake, you have saved someone's life.

juliedotcom

People can be so callous, how would they feel if it was them in that position? You have done a very noble thing, well done.

A few Fridays ago I queued for a taxi in the city centre, and noticed a man lying across the seats at the shelter, completely passed out, blue lips, the lot. People just walked past him to get into their taxi's, the rain was lashing it down. I couldn't imagine just walking by, I called an ambulance and managed to rouse the man and stayed with him until the ambulance took him away. I couldn't imagine walking past.. what if he died? It's someone's son.. brother.. uncle.. who knows..

vixki

Honestly I think people can get really scared, I came across someone who'd had an accident on a horse the other day, I was absolutely terrified (don't ask why, it's not exactly something you can choose to feel!) but I did stay till the ambulance came (air ambulance as we were a long way out!).
Whilst I don't think it's acceptable for people to just drive past I do understand the 'fight or flight' mechanism and if a person's not really a compassionate person and they get terrified they're likely to drive off.
Of course if you're terrified and you come across an accident best thing is stay in the car and ring the ambulance, if you know no first aid you're likely to do more harm than good if you're scared, and an ambulance needs to be called.

flowertotmum

O how i wish someone like you had been there when my hubby fell off his bike...he hit a patch of black ice and badly hurt his legs..lots of folks saw it,cars went around him and a bloody bus driver was honking his horn for him to move..when he clearly couldn't..it took a 76yr old lady to stop traffic and help him to the path...my DH is a big chap and quite intimidating looking but this lady couldn't careless and helped him..to her i owe my thanks..
I would help anyone who had fallen over and was in distress...
You can do first aid courses for free i think..i did one for babies and toddlers..
Anyway..good for you..your a star..
ftm

GemJar_2

A little while ago I was at a friends funeral and this happened http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/suffolk/8275328.stm there were a lot of people at the funeral and the car landed on top of a mans chest, with a small child underneath him, another under the car and another just behind the back wheel, lots of people ran over and literally picked up the car and carried it across the road. I remember being sat with two children terrified for them (luckily all were eventually okay) but it was heartwarming to see how many people from the funeral didn't even take time to stop and stare, everybody instantly got stuck in to make sure the children were as comfortable as possible, in a way it was lucky that we were there for my friends funeral or else I have a feeling that it would have been a lot worse. Stupid woman never got charged with anything though.

WhiteHorse

Well done!

It's a common story though. People shy away either because they assume that the person on the deck is a drunk or junkie who might attack them, or because they simply don't give a damn.

It's a very sick society.

hollydays

How shocking for you OP! I have experienced this a lot myself.As a society we are becoming desensitized ,and brought up to be too anxious about the unknown.Instead of approaching a problem and simply SPEAKING to a person,from a safe distance if necessary,people lack confidence,or assume its someone elses responsibility.
As regards the fitting,I went to help someone who tripped,and hit their head on the floor,and fitting is what apparently happens when you do this,it doesn't indicate other issues,like drugs.

.All I knew was to hold their head to stop them from banging it anymore as they fitted, and stop them from swallowing their own vomit.I am rusty in first aid,and put them in the recovery position,but I think that was the wrong thing to do.I tried to reassure them,and speak to them to get their i/d,so i could tell the ambulance people who they might be,this was a little girl of 13 who looked about 18.

Unintentional

hollydays wrote: »

All I knew was to hold their head to stop them from banging it anymore as they fitted, and stop them from swallowing their own vomit.I am rusty in first aid,and put them in the recovery position,but I think that was the wrong thing to do.I tried to reassure them,and speak to them to get their i/d,so i could tell the ambulance people who they might be,this was a little girl of 13 who looked about 18.

I think this is where a lot of people get confused about first aid. They think they have to be a medical expert to save someones life where in fact the role of the first aider is to try and make the person as comfortable as possible until the emergency services arrive. Whether or not you think you did the right thing. You tried your best and did everything with the best intentions and were a lot more helpful then someone who would just walk by. So well done!