Road Traffic Crashes: Causes, Prevention and Emergency Response
This domain covers why crashes happen, how to reduce the risk, and what to do in the first minutes after one. The first minutes decide outcomes, so the exam tests the order of actions.
Causes and prevention
Leading causes include speeding, dangerous overtaking, tyre failure, brake failure, fatigue, alcohol and drugs, phone use, overloading, bad road surfaces and unlit parked vehicles. Prevention is mostly about speed and space: travel at a speed that lets you stop within the distance you can see to be clear, keep a safe following gap, maintain the vehicle, and rest before you are tired rather than after.
At the scene
- Stop and switch on hazard lights. Do not leave the scene of a crash you were involved in.
- Secure the area: place a warning triangle well behind the scene, and get people away from the carriageway.
- Call the FRSC on 122 and the police or ambulance as needed.
- Do not move an injured person unless there is fire, a risk of further collision, or a blocked airway.
- Check responsiveness and breathing, control bleeding with firm pressure, keep the casualty warm, and do not give food or drink.
- Exchange details and report the crash as required.
Worked example
A motorcyclist is lying in the road after a collision and is breathing but unconscious. Reasoning: suspected head or spinal injury and a live traffic hazard. The correct actions are to stop traffic, place warning triangles, call 122, and keep the casualty still and warm while monitoring breathing - not to sit him upright or remove his helmet, which could worsen a spinal injury.
Traps
Moving a casualty as a reflex. Leaving the scene. Crowding the casualty and blocking his air.