not the trip into work I wanted this morning, I’m sat at a T junction waiting to turn left, the car ahead of me turns right, the van heading up the road and wanting to turn right into the road I’m in starts his turn and hasn’t spotted the cyclist coming down the hill. He turns right into her path and I can hear her scream as she knows what’s about to happen.
She goes right over his bonnet and lands in front of me...I jump out the car and, thankfully, I can hear the woman screaming which means she’s alive! (yes I was pleased to hear her screaming).
I spend the next 45 mins sat in the road with her, she’s face down in the road and I won’t let her move because I’ve no idea if she has broken anything in her neck/back and I remember once being told to never move someone like that and never take off the helmet....I have to shout at a couple of people that wanted her to move.
45 mins of her holding on to my hand and me talking nonsense to keep her talking as we wait for the ambulance....luckily one of the first people to stop was an off duty police office, then we had an A&E doctor who was on his way home from a night shift (he said I’d done the right thing and don’t let her move)
Hardest thing was having to call her boyfriend and tell him what was going on and where we were...”hi, complete stranger here, calling to let you know your gf has just been taken out by an idiot....”
Also because of the way she is in the road I can see the people driving by looking at my car thinking “that prat in a 4x4 has hit that’s poor woman”...to be fair she ended up almost under my car so fair assumption but the looks over still stung a little!
Then some other random guy asks the police if it’s going to take any longer because he’s in a rush.....the look the officer gave him was great, it’s obvious what’s gone on and no way to do anything whilst the poor woman is still in the road!
Finally ambulance arrives, give my details to the police and off I go....very carefully. I’m shocked at the people that thanked me for stopping at doing what I could....of course I stopped, what kind of person would just drive off after seeing that!
Her scream and the noise of her hitting the van are sounds I’d rather not hear again.
A second earlier and this woman would have gone under the front of the van, a second later and she would have gone into the passenger door....I think either of those would have resulted in a different outcome.
Give your gf/bf/wife/husband/partner a hug and tell them you love them when you get in....
She goes right over his bonnet and lands in front of me...I jump out the car and, thankfully, I can hear the woman screaming which means she’s alive! (yes I was pleased to hear her screaming).
I spend the next 45 mins sat in the road with her, she’s face down in the road and I won’t let her move because I’ve no idea if she has broken anything in her neck/back and I remember once being told to never move someone like that and never take off the helmet....I have to shout at a couple of people that wanted her to move.
45 mins of her holding on to my hand and me talking nonsense to keep her talking as we wait for the ambulance....luckily one of the first people to stop was an off duty police office, then we had an A&E doctor who was on his way home from a night shift (he said I’d done the right thing and don’t let her move)
Hardest thing was having to call her boyfriend and tell him what was going on and where we were...”hi, complete stranger here, calling to let you know your gf has just been taken out by an idiot....”
Also because of the way she is in the road I can see the people driving by looking at my car thinking “that prat in a 4x4 has hit that’s poor woman”...to be fair she ended up almost under my car so fair assumption but the looks over still stung a little!
Then some other random guy asks the police if it’s going to take any longer because he’s in a rush.....the look the officer gave him was great, it’s obvious what’s gone on and no way to do anything whilst the poor woman is still in the road!
Finally ambulance arrives, give my details to the police and off I go....very carefully. I’m shocked at the people that thanked me for stopping at doing what I could....of course I stopped, what kind of person would just drive off after seeing that!
Her scream and the noise of her hitting the van are sounds I’d rather not hear again.
A second earlier and this woman would have gone under the front of the van, a second later and she would have gone into the passenger door....I think either of those would have resulted in a different outcome.
Give your gf/bf/wife/husband/partner a hug and tell them you love them when you get in....
