Minibus on Its Side, a Live Line and No Signal
At 18:20 in light rain on a rural two-lane road you come upon a collision. A minibus taxi is lying on its side across your lane with about seven occupants still inside or trapped. One person has been thrown clear and is lying face down, not breathing. Another is sitting against the barrier with bright red blood spurting from a thigh wound. There is a strong smell of petrol, someone is standing nearby smoking a cigarette, and a power line has come down across the road about 25 m ahead of the wreck, resting on the tar. Your cellphone shows no signal. There is a farmhouse light visible roughly 400 m away. You have a first aid kit and a fire extinguisher.
1. Set out the order in which you deal with this scene in the first 60 seconds, and justify the sequence.
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1. Stop short and protect the scene. Park before the wreck, off the carriageway if possible, hazard lights on, handbrake applied, engine off. You do not drive into a fuel spill or over a downed conductor to get closer.
2. Treat the power line as live. A conductor on wet tar can energise a wide area. Keep everyone at least 10 m clear, keep people inside vehicles if a line is touching them, and do not use anything metal or wet to move it. Call the utility once you have a phone.
3. Kill every ignition source. The person smoking is an immediate life threat to everyone in the wreck - get the cigarette out, and keep people away from the petrol spill. Do not use flares.
4. Get help moving. No signal here, so send one specific person to the farmhouse 400 m away: "You, in the blue jacket - go to that light, phone 10177 for an ambulance and 10111 for police, then come back and tell me you did it." Naming one person avoids the bystander effect.
5. Then triage. Only after the fuel, the line and the ignition sources are controlled do you touch casualties - because a rescuer who becomes a casualty has made the scene worse, not better.
2. Describe your first aid for the two most critical casualties: the spurting thigh wound and the person who is not breathing.
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The thigh wound - arterial bleeding, minutes matter. Bright red blood spurting means a severed artery. Apply firm direct pressure with the cleanest thick pad available, pressing into the wound, not just on top of it. If bleeding continues, apply a tourniquet 5–7 cm above the wound, between the wound and the heart, avoiding a joint; use a proper tourniquet or, failing that, a wide strap or belt - never thin wire or cord. Write the time it was applied on the casualty's forehead or hand. Do not loosen it. Keep the person warm and still, and give nothing by mouth, because shock and surgery are both coming.
The non-breathing casualty. Shout and tap for a response, then open the airway with a head tilt and chin lift and check breathing for up to 10 seconds. If there is no normal breathing, start CPR: 30 compressions at 5–6 cm depth, 100–120 per minute, on the centre of the chest, then 2 rescue breaths if you are trained and willing; otherwise compression-only. Swap with another rescuer every two minutes. Do not move them to "make them comfortable" - the airway is what matters, and they were thrown clear of the vehicle, so spinal movement risk is secondary to restarting circulation.
For everyone else: keep them still, support the airway, cover wounds, and let the ambulance service do the moving.
3. What are your legal duties at this scene, and what must you do - and not do - before you leave?
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You must stop. Leaving the scene of a collision in which someone is injured or killed is a criminal offence; there is no version of this where driving on to your destination is acceptable.
You must render assistance within the limits of your ability. That does not mean performing procedures you are not trained for; it means calling help, controlling bleeding, keeping airways open and not making injuries worse.
You must not move casualties unless they are in immediate danger - a fire, a fuel spill igniting, or a live conductor. If you must move someone, do it with several people supporting the head, neck and spine in line, and record what you did and when.
You must not move the vehicles unless they are creating danger for other traffic; if they must be moved, note or photograph the positions first. Other road users are still arriving, so post a warning up the road.
You must report. Give your name, address and vehicle details to anyone with reasonable grounds to ask, and report the collision at a police station as soon as practicable - within 24 hours if police did not attend the scene. If a blood sample is requested, give it; refusal is itself an offence. Finally, get the case number before you leave - your insurer and any civil claim will ask for it, and you will not want to drive back to this road to fetch it.