Single-Vehicle Rollover on a Westfjords Gravel Road
Saturday afternoon in early May, and you are driving Route 60 in the Westfjords about 25 km from the nearest farm. Rounding a long left bend on gravel, you find a small hatchback on its side in the ditch, roof towards the road, front end buried in soft ground. The driver is still in the seat belt, hanging sideways, not responding to your voice but clearly breathing. A passenger has climbed out and is sitting on the verge with a bleeding scalp, shivering violently. It is 4 °C with rain and 12 m/s wind, and both are in light clothing. Your phone has shown no service for 20 minutes, and it is 200 m back to the crest where you might get a signal. You have a first-aid kit, a space blanket and a 1.5-litre bottle of water. A second car has stopped behind you.
1. In what order do you act in the first two minutes?
Read the worked answer
Protect the scene before you treat anyone, because a second crash would give you three casualties instead of two. Stop well past the wreck but off the carriageway, hazard lights on, engine off, handbrake on. The second car is your best resource: send that driver - not yourself - to the crest 200 m back to call 112, or to use the 112 Iceland app, which sends coordinates even on a weak data connection. On a gravel road with an 80 km/h limit, place a warning triangle about 100 m back on the approach side if you have one, and leave the second car's hazard lights on as a marker. Only then go to the casualties. Do not right the car or unbuckle the driver unless there is fire, leaking fuel, or the vehicle is slipping further into water; movement can turn a stable spinal injury into a permanent one. If you smell fuel, keep everyone upwind.
2. How do you manage the two casualties while waiting for help?
Read the worked answer
Treat the quiet one as the sickest. The driver is breathing but unresponsive, so the airway is the first concern: support the head in the position you found it, watch the chest, and be ready to turn them carefully if breathing becomes noisy or stops - with a helper, use a recovery position that keeps the spine aligned. Give nothing by mouth. Cover them with the space blanket and put something between them and the ground, because a casualty on cold wet gravel loses heat fast. The walking passenger's scalp wound bleeds impressively because the scalp is well supplied with blood: press firmly with a clean dressing for at least ten minutes without lifting to look, then bandage in place. Both are wet and shivering - wet clothing conducts heat away, so cut away soaked outer layers, insulate, and shelter them from the wind behind the cars. Note the times you did each thing.
3. What information should you give the emergency operator, and in what order?
Read the worked answer
Give a location that works for someone who has never been there: road number, direction of travel, the last junction or farm you passed and the distance from it, plus any bridge, river or distinctive bend. If the app is running, pass on the coordinates, and mention the 200 m walk to the crest so the crew knows where to look. Then the clinical picture in a fixed order: number of casualties, how many are breathing and how many are conscious, the mechanism (car on its side, occupant still belted, one self-extricated), approximate ages, bleeding and whether it is controlled, and whether anyone is trapped. Add the conditions - 4 °C, rain, 12 m/s wind - because they drive hypothermia risk and the equipment the crew needs. Give your name and call-back number, keep the line open, and follow the operator's instructions; they may keep you on the line to coach you through the first aid.