Monday, April 25, 2005
Helpless
Last night I was coming back from a Passover Seder/family visit. Steph was driving and I was in the passenger seat. At about 1:10 AM, we were going southbound on 880 in San Leandro. I saw a big cloud of white smoke up ahead on the left and told her to slow down and get over to the right. We drove by a white car whose front end was smashed against the center divide. I think it had just happened because I had just seen the smoke go up. I pulled out my cell phone and called 911 as Steph pulled over to the shoulder. I gave all the details I could and hung up.
At this point, I was wondering what we should do. The car was on the left shoulder and we were on the right. We were also ahead of the car. We were sitting in the car when we heard a noise and another car seemed to be coming to the shoulder awkwardly. I thought the car may have hit the other so I told Steph that we should go, as we were putting ourselves in danger by being near the accident. I didn't want us to get hit by a ricochet.
As we were driving home, we thought about it and realized that we made the right decision. The only thing I could possibly done of help in that situation is to pull someone out of a burning car, as I am not trained as an EMT. But as I don't think the car was on fire, the risk to us was too great to just sit there.
We both felt so helpless in the situation, but I guess at least we alerted emergency services as soon as it happened. I went home and looked up the accident on various sites. All I could tell was that there was an accident with "major injuries" and that there was a body on the center divide. I hope the driver is okay...but that accident didn't look good.
Gotta try to focus on work and not dwell on stuff I have no control over.
At this point, I was wondering what we should do. The car was on the left shoulder and we were on the right. We were also ahead of the car. We were sitting in the car when we heard a noise and another car seemed to be coming to the shoulder awkwardly. I thought the car may have hit the other so I told Steph that we should go, as we were putting ourselves in danger by being near the accident. I didn't want us to get hit by a ricochet.
As we were driving home, we thought about it and realized that we made the right decision. The only thing I could possibly done of help in that situation is to pull someone out of a burning car, as I am not trained as an EMT. But as I don't think the car was on fire, the risk to us was too great to just sit there.
We both felt so helpless in the situation, but I guess at least we alerted emergency services as soon as it happened. I went home and looked up the accident on various sites. All I could tell was that there was an accident with "major injuries" and that there was a body on the center divide. I hope the driver is okay...but that accident didn't look good.
Gotta try to focus on work and not dwell on stuff I have no control over.
Comments:
Yeah. You did what you could by dialing 911. It feels horrible to wonder if you could have done anything else, but I think you would have put yourself in too much danger.
# posted by 
: April 25, 2005 at 1:43 PM
: April 25, 2005 at 1:43 PM
No, because there wasn't any more I could have done. I just got a call from CHP actually asking me for details on accident. Apparently someone DID hit his car after the initial accident. So if we had somehow tried to help more, we could have gotten hurt or killed.
I too tried and tried to think of a way to help out. I'm enrolled in my company's Emergency Response Team training and so I asked one of my ERT buddies what she would have done. Basically she said there's NO WAY you should ever put yourself in that much danger. Many victims of accidents are actually attempting rescuers.
The car was completely perpendicular to the center divide and blocking the left lane. It was poorly visible since its lights were not visible to oncoming traffic, and traffic was still freeflowing since it had just happened. People were swerving out of the way last minute, it wasn't like a traffic pileup like you normally see on the freeway. If we had ran across the street as we both initially wanted too, we likely would have been hit and killed since another car quickly slammed into it after we stopped.
The car was completely perpendicular to the center divide and blocking the left lane. It was poorly visible since its lights were not visible to oncoming traffic, and traffic was still freeflowing since it had just happened. People were swerving out of the way last minute, it wasn't like a traffic pileup like you normally see on the freeway. If we had ran across the street as we both initially wanted too, we likely would have been hit and killed since another car quickly slammed into it after we stopped.
# posted by : April 27, 2005 at 11:52 AM
: April 27, 2005 at 11:52 AM
I'm pretty sure none of us would just "shrug it off" if our friends or loved ones were involved. That said, we might follow logical thought and sit and wait for trained professionals to arrive, but I don't think we'd be so callous as to drive away knowing that a friend is right there and in danger.
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# posted by : April 28, 2005 at 12:04 PM
: April 28, 2005 at 12:04 PM
