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The Aberdeenshire Roadshow - 2006 |
The multi-media show with live performances targeted young people who are approaching driving age and aimed to leave them with a very hard hitting and hard to forget message about their vulnerability on the road.
Those who attended heard the real facts as told by the professionals, victims and family of road accident victims.
The show was held at the Beach Ballroom, Aberdeen on the 7th, 8th, 9th & 10th of November 2006
Take a look at the poster for
the Safe Drive Stay Alive Road Show (
PDF file: 208kbytes) and
see what David Coulthard has to say about safe driving.
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Brian Whyte, Watch Manager with Grampian Fire and Rescue Service, introduced the roadshow. The show included a video, shown on giant screens, of a re-enactment of a serious traffic collision which happened to three teenagers when a car driven by one of them overturned throwing a young girl, who hadn't been wearing a seatbelt, out of the car, trapping the driver and injuring the front-seat passenger. Graeme Goonan (see group photo below) shared the introduction with Brian. |
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Matthew Smith is a Police Constable with the Road Casualty Reduction Unit of Grampian Police. He is often first on the scene of road traffic collisions. He told the audience about his role in deciding what the priorities should be, calling in other emergency services, controlling road traffic and keeping access clear for emergency vehicles. In the re-enacted incident, he called for paramedics and for a fire engine from the Grampian Fire and Rescue Service. Matthew also told the young audience about one of the most difficult tasks he has to do, informing parents that their child has been involved in a road traffic collision. |
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Roland Armes is a Specialist in Emergency Medicine at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. He told of his experiences when he received the young girl brought in by the paramedics. He showed the audience X-rays of the girl's smashed pelvis and resultant internal bleeding. Despite his best efforts, the girl's injuries were so severe that she died on the operating table. |
 Back Row: Keith Chalmers; Linda Williams; Matthew Smith |
Emma Armes and Keith Chalmers are Paramedics with the Scottish Ambulance Service. They told the audience how, when they arrive at a road traffic collision they have to decide on the order of priority for dealing with casualties. They have to act promptly to save lives and to get the most serious casualities to an accident and emergency unit as quickly and safely as possible. The girl in the video was seriously injured, she was stabilised and taken immediately by ambulance to accident and emergency. The trapped driver was treated to the extent possible until the fire and rescue service arrived. The passenger-seat casualty, who was severely traumatised, was comforted and his injuries, which were less serious than the others, treated on the spot. Colin Laing and Myles Murray are Watch Managers with Grampian Fire and Rescue Service. They told the audience about how, when there is a serious road traffic collision with casualties trapped in vehicles, they have to work with paramedics to free them. This can often mean using heavy cutting equipment while protecting the casualties and the Paramedics. In the video story, the roof was removed from the car while the paramedics protected the driver and continued his treatment. Trevor Eakin was severely injured in a motorbike accident. As a result of the injuries he received, he is now confined to a wheelchair. In a very moving way, he told the audience of the huge changes in his previously active life which had resulted from the accident. He appealed to the teenagers to drive safely so that they could avoid the kind of devastation that had happened to him. Karen Tremain and Linda Williams both lost children in road traffic collisions. They made powerful and poignant pleas to the young audience to reduce the death toll on the roads of the north-east of Scotland. Karen said: " I just want to reach out to all those others like my daughter and to help prevent their families experiencing the heartbreak we have gone through. |
