No, it wasn’t me riding the bike, I was in my car, but it happened in front of me. Two riding on a powerful bike decided to cross four lanes doing about twice the speed limit in not heavy, but quite dense traffic. The result: they hit one of those green plastic bollards, fell, skid almost 300 feet while hitting the curbside fence. The driver suffered a broken leg (both tib & fib, pretty bent around but not compound), and the other guy basically ripped off his lower leg, above the ankle. I doubt he will get to keep it by how bad it looked. In the end, two engines, three EMS and one medic unit, plus countless local & traffic police turned up.

If you ride a bike, remember – you are the chassis, there is nothing between you and the other end of a crash!

Last night I visited Redmond Fire Department’s Station 12, on 148th NE, as I’m in Seattle this week on business meetings. A few minutes after arriving, and having exchanged a shirt and a patch with the guys, a call came in for medical aid. Paul and Eric, who were on duty with the ambulance, asked me if I wanted to ride along, and the whole evening turned really interesting. The call was for a male who had taken sleeping pills, and I rode back to the hospital with the medics and Paul. In all, it was a really good experience, from which I learned a lot. One is that they are running six studies on ambulances now, one of which is measuring the core temperature of cardiac patients after CPR, and the effects of lowering it with chilled saline. I also saw the “megamover” in action, which is basically a heavy-duty canvas stretcher meant for moving a patient around places where the rigid one won’t fit – a very good idea.

Stay safe brothers, and thank you!

It seems that car manufacturers are putting more and more barriers in their designs, but not against injury – but against DIY-type owners who may want to do a little self-maintenance. Point in case, the VW Touareg, a five-seat SUV, which I had the chance to see involved in a MVA two days ago. This is how the vehicle ended up, with the occupants sustaining minor injuries (click on the image for the photostream of the run):

When we found the battery in order to disconnect the positive, we found this plate over it, held down by a very tight, I would call it “male” Torx screw:

A forum post led me to this part drawing for a Mini, and also to a manufacturer of female Torx sockets. Nobody on our crew carried a driver bit for this thing, so we ended up forcing open the whole plate. It seems very lame for manufacturers to try and stop users from replacing their batteries, at the same hampering the efforts of rescue crews attending MVAs.

Last week was exciting…if you’re into pulling people out of wrecked cars. That is exactly what a few teams of firefighters from around the world were doing, organized as a competition, but in reality a live forum to exchange experiences and techniques. If you are ever involved in a serious car accident (MVA, RTA, or whatever denomination it has in your country!), these are the people that will pull you out. I took some photos and videos, these are a few from my Flickr album, the videos will come in a couple of days – enjoy (or not!).

Hampshire Fire & Rescue Service working on the extrication of a victim.

The tools of the trade – hydraulic jaws of life, as they are known, powered by portable pumps, they put on tons of pressure when cutting or spreading.

An upside down car with a side obstacle, this one was pretty tough, but well handled by the Bridgend South Wales Fire & Rescue team.

Royal Berkshire Fire & Rescue about to extricate a victim with a longboard. They completed the first task in the assigned 20 minutes, but could not get the second casualty out in time. Even though, a pretty impressive show.

Not quite sure where this team was from, but they got a very tough one, with a completely overturned vehicle.

Update: As I finished writing this, I noticed the competition results are out – here they are:

Overall

1st Hampshire F&RS, England
2nd Royal Berkshire, England
3rd Bridgend South Wales F&RS, Wales

Complex Class

1st West Yorksire F&RS, England
2nd Central Scotland F&RS, Scotland
3rd Bombers De La Generalitat, Spain

Standard Class

1st Hampshire F&RS, England
1st Royal Berkshire, England
3rd Crecsent Link, Northern Ireland

Rapid Class

1st Hampshire F&RS, England
2nd Central Scotland F&RS, Scotland
3rd Royal Berkshire, England

Best Team Captain

1st Bridgend South Wales F&RS, Wales
2nd Royal Berkshire, England
3rd Crecsent Link, Northern Ireland

Best Medic

1st Hampshire F&RS, England
2nd Royal Berkshire, England
3rd Consorcio Provincial Toledo, Spain

Best Technical

1st Hampshire F&RS, England
2nd Central Scotland F&RS, Scotland
3rd Royal Berkshire, England

Congratulations to all!