"RTC Car vs Pedestrian 'Running Call'"

As per usual, as is customary on a relatively quiet weekday morning, we were sat outside Costa coffee getting our caffeine fix. The day had been pretty uneventful and we were just watching the world go by waiting for a job. We were at the far end of the high street, the road clear of shops ahead of us and clear of traffic. The next 10 seconds occurred in slow motion. A woman, on her own, came into my view running / jogging up the side road about 20 meters away. As she approached the main road she appeared to look diagonally across in our direction to check for cars and continued into the road. Everything slowed down even further, as each step she made went by a maroon Ford escort inched closer and closer to her. We were the only ones who knew what was about to happen and we were powerless to stop it. The car struck her, she went no higher than 6 feet in the air and span like a Catherine wheel. She landed on the bonnet to a screech of brakes. The car ground to a halt and she was catapulted forward off the car about 30 feet and lay motionless on the floor. Still in slow motion we watched the car door open, out stepped the driver, 3-4 pedestrians from both sides of the road ran to her aid. Forget 8 minutes, we had 8 seconds until we'd be on scene.
The passers by started to place her in the recovery position, my crew mate sounded the horn and I waved frantically for them to stop. They did. I jumped out and went straight to her head. Her face was covered in blood and grazes. To my surprise she opened her eyes and started crying. That's a good sign! My crew mate came over loaded up like a pack horse. He didn't know she was alive and talking so had unloaded everything he could carry, all the bags, the collars, the suction and the paramedic bag. While he was staggering over I pressed 'priority' on the radio on my belt. I just shouted 'Running Call, RTC Car vs Ped, HEMS required'. I knew we'd need HEMS because both of the legs were pointing in the wrong direction. We began assessing her, albeit in the wrong order. Witnessing it had taken our composure away! Despite her obvious leg injury and a nasty gash on her forehead she appeared stable. We gave her Morphine which didn't really help but it was a start. We wanted something inside her as the fractures would need reducing. We cut off her clothes keeping her as covered as possible. Her left leg was broken and were unable to late a pedal pulse in her left foot. We needed to pull the fracture so after explaining what was going to happen and some lugs of Entonox my crew mate straightened her left leg. She screamed but after a few seconds felt more comfortable. We put both her legs in splints and started patching up her head injuries.

This lady was lucky, a broken leg, a dislocated knee, 6 stitches in her forehead and a fair bit of bruising. It could have been so much worse. This all occurred though through a moment of stupidity. A moment where she didn't think, and we all do it. We all forget to put our seat belt on at some point, answer our phone when driving, look at something on the pavement, cross the road 20ft from a crossing, run into a road because when you looked 5 seconds ago it was clear. We just do stupid things we know we shouldn't. From when we learn to walk and talk we are constantly told to Stop, Look and Listen or Look Left, Look Right, Look Left again. Our patient knew that. Why didn't she? Because she didn't! Has she learnt her lesson? Yes! Will she do it again? More than likely.......
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