Safety Fundamentals, First Aid and Emergency Response
Defensive fundamentals
Safety starts with observation and space: maintain a following distance of at least two seconds in good conditions, more when laden, wet or dark. A loaded truck needs far longer to stop than a car - mass raises braking distance and lowers the speed at which a bend can be taken safely. Use engine braking on long descents and avoid riding the brakes, which can fade them.
First aid priorities
- Protect the scene: warning triangle, hazard lights, reflective vest; switch off the ignition and secure the vehicle.
- Call emergency services and give a precise location.
- Check response and breathing; if absent, start chest compressions at a steady rate of about 100–120 per minute, allowing the chest to recoil.
- Control severe bleeding with direct pressure and a dressing.
- Do not move a casualty suspected of spinal injury unless there is immediate danger such as fire.
Emergency handling
- Brake failure: pump the pedal, use engine braking, apply the parking brake progressively.
- Tyre blowout: hold the wheel firmly, ease off the accelerator, do not brake hard, steer straight until control is regained.
- Skid: steer in the direction of the skid and avoid sudden braking.
- Fire: stop, switch off, evacuate, use the extinguisher from upwind at the base of the flames.
Traps
Questions reward the calm sequence - protect, call, assess, act - over heroic improvisation. Moving a casualty, or removing a helmet, is usually wrong unless life is at immediate risk.
Rule of thumb
When in doubt: stop safely, warn others, call for help, then treat what threatens life first - breathing and bleeding before fractures.