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Brian Whyte, Watch Manager with Grampian Fire and Rescue Service, introduced the
roadshow to a total of 3,500 fifth-year pupils over three days. 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. |
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Jim Gill 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. Jim 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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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. |
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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. |
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Roland Armes and Jim Ferguson are Specialists in Emergency Medicine at
Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. The told of their experiences when they received the young
girl brought in by the paramedics. They showed the audience X-rays of the
girl's smashed pelvis and resultant internal bleeding. Despite their best efforts,
the girl's injuries were so severe that she died on the operating table. |
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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. |
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Karen Tremain's 16-year old daughter Michaela died in a road accident in 2005.
She made a powerful and poignant plea to the young audience to reduce the death
toll on the roads of the north-east of Scotland. She 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.
"If this Safe Drive Stay Alive message saves just one life, then it will be
so worthwhile." |
