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Suspected drunk and driving incident results in a crash
At around 10.30pm on Friday November 4, a man suspected to have been driving under the influence of alcohol lost control of his car on Leslie Road near the Douglasdale Village Shopping Centre.
He crashed into the wooden fence on the side of the road and rolled his car landing in front of a complex opposite the shopping centre.
Witnesses at the scene of the accident said that the man appeared to be drunk and that he and his car reeked of alcohol. They also stated that one of the tow truck drivers loaded the patient, who had a head injury, into their truck and removed him from the scene.
Paramedics said that he should not have been transported from the scene without medical assistance as this could result in further injuries.
If you know someone may drive drunk, you know the importance of intervening before that person gets behind the wheel.
How You Can Intervene
Below are some helpful tips to get the keys away from a drunk driver:
• If the person is a close friend, try to use a soft, calm approach at first. Suggest that he's had too much to drink and it would be better to let someone else drive or to take a cab.
• Be calm. Joke about it. Make light of it.
• Try to make it sound like you are doing him a favour.
• If the person is somebody you don't know well, speak to his friends and have them make an attempt to persuade him to hand over the keys. Usually, he will listen.
• If the person is a good friend, spouse or significant other, tell him that if he insists on driving, you are not going with him. Tell him that you will call someone else for a ride, take a cab or walk.
• Locate the person's keys while he is preoccupied and take them away. Most likely, he will think he's lost his keys and will be forced to find another mode of transportation.
• If possible, avoid embarrassing the person or being confrontational. This makes him appear vulnerable to alcohol and its effects.
- send to friend
Accident safety tips
Submitted by MyRandburg on Sun, 20/11/2011 - 22:00.
ER 24 have proved some safety tips about what to do as a bystander should you come across an accident, (or are involved in an accident and are not physically injured), make sure that you remove yourself from your stationary vehicle after making sure that it is safe. If you have come across the incident, make sure that you park a safe distance away from the accident scene, and try to possibly park on a side where you would not have to cross traffic.
If someone has been injured in the accident, even if it may seem like a minor accident, immediately activate the necessary emergency services. By phoning through to the 084 124 number, a national emergency number, you can request an ambulance be sent to you as well as fire department, police or other essential service. Our trained call takers may assist you in calling these other services to the scene of the accident.
Someone who is injured should not simply be removed from the environment that they have been injured in. In this case, have them remain seated inside their vehicle unless another life threatening emergency has arisen eg. Vehicle catches fire. Patients that are walking around the scene and appear injured should be encouraged to sit down in a safe location, preferably out of any danger of traffic etc.
It is essential to always remain calm, as this already stressful environment could impact a worsening condition of the patient.
A patient that may not be acting rationally, or in a manner that would seem unpredictable, may actually be suffering from a serious injury. Patients that appear aggressive or even appear to be intoxicated may actually be suffering from a head injury. These patients are in desperate need of urgent medical attention and should be treated by qualified medical staff only. It is better to find that there is nothing wrong with a patient after being assessed, than impact their injury and cost them their life.
Vanessa Jackson of ER24
