jefmcg
Guru
Saw a cyclist on the road on my way home last night. I didn't witness it, and the people I spoke didn't either, but they believed he had come off without a car being involved. I think they had spoken to a witness. Anyway, poor guy lying on the ground, with his head bandaged and some blood on the ground beside him, not a lot by bleeding standards, but quite a bit more than a few drops. He was conscious and lucid, I think he's going to be fine.
The good:
The people of Teddington were AMAZING. I got there while they were still calling the police and ambulance so it must have only happened a minute or two earlier. But they had closed half the road with their cars, and a team of 4 or 5 people were expertly being "flagmen", letting cars from either end through alternatively and keeping traffic moving. Meanwhile a team was attending to the casualty, and by the air of quiet authority there was at least one medic amongst them.
I joined in telling cars approaching the road what was happening, and suggesting they find an alternative route, to reduce the pressure on the blocked bit of road. I also got to "ambulance chase" as we saw an ambulance going the "wrong way". It wasn't, there was a bigger "20 minute response time" emergency in a private house.
The bad:
It took nearly an hour for the police and a few minutes more for the paramedics to get there. The people directing the traffic had to do it for a long time. And lucky the guy was staying calm and not in any immediate danger. About half an hour after I arrived, I decided to call the police to see what was happening. Picked up immediately by the operator, but then I was in a queue ("your call is important to us") for about 2 minutes before someone picked up. The guy got stroppy with me, but then he told me it was marked as attended to 20 minutes ago. It took a bit of insisting that they were not here, and further that civilians were directing the traffic and this not safe. So he promised to follow it up, but it took another 15 minutes for the police to finally appear - 2 cars, so they took over traffic management immediately, and the ambulance was a little behind them. At that point, I headed home.
Worryingly there was a similar incident literally 30 metres metres away 2 1/2 years ago. That cyclist waited 90 minutes for an ambulance, but the police attended quickly in that case. If the casualty from yesterday ended up needing transport to hospital, that would have been a further wait as they only sent the paramedics at first call.
The good:
The people of Teddington were AMAZING. I got there while they were still calling the police and ambulance so it must have only happened a minute or two earlier. But they had closed half the road with their cars, and a team of 4 or 5 people were expertly being "flagmen", letting cars from either end through alternatively and keeping traffic moving. Meanwhile a team was attending to the casualty, and by the air of quiet authority there was at least one medic amongst them.
I joined in telling cars approaching the road what was happening, and suggesting they find an alternative route, to reduce the pressure on the blocked bit of road. I also got to "ambulance chase" as we saw an ambulance going the "wrong way". It wasn't, there was a bigger "20 minute response time" emergency in a private house.
The bad:
It took nearly an hour for the police and a few minutes more for the paramedics to get there. The people directing the traffic had to do it for a long time. And lucky the guy was staying calm and not in any immediate danger. About half an hour after I arrived, I decided to call the police to see what was happening. Picked up immediately by the operator, but then I was in a queue ("your call is important to us") for about 2 minutes before someone picked up. The guy got stroppy with me, but then he told me it was marked as attended to 20 minutes ago. It took a bit of insisting that they were not here, and further that civilians were directing the traffic and this not safe. So he promised to follow it up, but it took another 15 minutes for the police to finally appear - 2 cars, so they took over traffic management immediately, and the ambulance was a little behind them. At that point, I headed home.
Worryingly there was a similar incident literally 30 metres metres away 2 1/2 years ago. That cyclist waited 90 minutes for an ambulance, but the police attended quickly in that case. If the casualty from yesterday ended up needing transport to hospital, that would have been a further wait as they only sent the paramedics at first call.
