After dark: a clipped trailer, an unconscious cyclist and a smashed light cluster
It is 18:30 in late October and already dark; light rain is falling on a straight but narrow main road outside Pécs. You are driving a car towing a 1,300 kg trailer at 65 km/h. An oncoming car overtakes a cyclist and its right-hand mirror clips your trailer's left wheel arch. The trailer's rear light cluster is smashed and hanging by its cable; the overtaking car swerves into the ditch 40 m ahead; the cyclist is thrown onto the grass verge. The cyclist is breathing but unconscious. The car driver climbs out holding a bleeding nose and shouting. Your car and trailer are otherwise undamaged and stand in the middle of your lane with the hazard lights not yet on. There is an unlit bend 150 m behind you and traffic is light but moving fast. You have a first-aid kit, one warning triangle and one high-visibility vest.
1. Set out your actions in the first two minutes, in order, with the reason for each.
Read the worked answer
Protect - alert - rescue - record, in that order.
1. Protect. Stop where you are rather than pulling away: the combination already marks the scene and moving it would destroy evidence. Hazard lights on car and trailer. Put on the high-visibility vest before opening the door. Take the warning triangle back past the bend - well over 100 m on an unlit road where traffic is doing 90 km/h - place it upright on the same side, and walk back on the verge, facing traffic. Switch on your sidelights so the scene is lit.
2. Alert. Call 112. Say: main road, the nearest town and kilometre marker, one unconscious casualty, one car in the ditch, an obstruction in the lane, and that you are the driver of the towing vehicle. Stay on the line and follow instructions.
3. Rescue. Go to the cyclist first - unconscious wins over a bleeding nose. Do not move them unless there is fire or traffic danger; approach from the road side so you shield them. Do not remove the helmet. Keep talking, check breathing continuously.
4. Record. Note the other driver's details, take photographs before vehicles are moved, and ask the drivers who have stopped to stay as witnesses.
2. Give the first aid for the unconscious but breathing cyclist and for the other driver's nosebleed, with the reasoning.
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Unconscious but breathing cyclist. Airway first: kneel at the head, check that the mouth and throat are clear, and if there is no suspicion of a spinal injury from the fall, place them in the recovery position - on their side, upper leg drawn up, head tilted slightly back so vomit and blood drain out and the tongue cannot block the airway. If a spinal injury is possible, keep the head aligned with the spine and maintain the airway with a jaw thrust rather than turning them, unless they vomit. Keep them warm - a foil blanket or your coat - because a wet, cooling casualty loses heat fast. Monitor breathing every minute; if it stops, start chest compressions at 100–120 per minute, 30 compressions to 2 rescue breaths, and send for an AED. Do not remove the helmet, do not give anything by mouth, do not let bystanders crowd them.
Nosebleed. Sit the driver down, lean him forward, pinch the soft part of the nose firmly for ten full minutes, and tell him to breathe through his mouth and not to swallow blood. Leaning back is the classic mistake: blood runs down the throat, causes vomiting, and masks how much is being lost. If it is still bleeding after 20 minutes, or if he becomes drowsy or confused, that is an ambulance case too.
3. What are your legal and practical obligations after the ambulance leaves with the cyclist, and what do you do about the smashed trailer lights?
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Legal side. A personal injury has occurred, so the police must be called - 112 will have sent them; you must not leave the scene until you are allowed to. Do not move the vehicles until the police have seen them, unless they are an immediate danger to traffic. Exchange names, addresses, plate numbers and insurers with the other driver, collect witness names and phone numbers, and take your own photographs of the trailer's damaged wheel arch, the road position and the light cluster, because the other driver's account is likely to differ. Report the incident to your insurer within the period your policy requires, and give a factual written account: the mirror of an oncoming vehicle crossed the centre line into your trailer, which was wholly within its own lane.
The trailer. A trailer with a smashed, dangling light cluster has no brake lights or indicators and must not be towed on an unlit public road at night. Call a recovery service or a garage and have the combination recovered, or have the cluster replaced at the roadside - a spare bulb kit will not fix a broken housing. If the trailer has to stand at the roadside meanwhile, it must be off the carriageway and lit; do not simply drive home with the hazards flashing, which is neither legal nor safe.