Alcohol and Drug Road Trauma

[Green X]

Just thought I would share this with the forum.

Work put some of us younger Guys throe this ‘Programme” I guess you could call it. We spent the day at Royal Perth Hospital watching a few videos, speaking to paramedics, Doctors, nurses Ect as well as going throe the ER and into the ICU and basically being shown what they do to you when you come in after a serous crash.

The Videos were fairly graphic basically showing dead and very badly injured people still in the wreck, People without heads, sculls smashed open and so on.

The ER was an eye opener, all the stuff they do to try and save your life.
I can tell you one thing that wouldn’t be any fun for us Guys, and that’s having a Catheter (Spelling) stuck up ya “Fun stick”, into ya bladder. if you have ever seen one you will know what I am talking about.

The ICU was shocking; as we walked in we were all sort of chatting away then complete silence as we got inside. We were shown a young guy about 24 who was a passenger in a car driven by a drunk driver that hit a tree, you could see the bruising where the seatbelt had been, He had had the top of his scull cut off to allow the brain to swell out, had half dozen tubes and chit sticking out of him basically on life support.

A ICU doctor chatted to us about his condition and what the outcome’s would be for him, all this with this guys mother at his bedside (She had allowed us to be there).

Another patent aged 22 wanted to talk to us about what happed to him, For 15 seconds of fun he is now in Hospital with a shattered arm from when the car struck a pole at best he will have use of 3 fingers and have 30% movement of his arm, and is facing over 4 months in hospital and a lot of surgery, at worst he will loose the arm. That’s forgetting about the fines and Police chargers.

We finished at the rehab centre for spinal injuries, this has got to be one of the most depressing places I have been, it’s basically where you end up if you brake you neck or back, at best you will be laying in bed for 6 weeks 24/7 with your head in a brace thingo that has weights hanging of it to pull you spine into alignment, at the worst you will be learning how to live life in a wheel chair.

The good thing about it was it wasn’t about calling us young guys all idiots and telling us not to do this and that, but more this is what is going to happen to you when you F * * K up, and is it really worth it. So just have a bit of a think before you go doing something stupid.

Being 23 i was the eldest of the group, I took away from it a few thing’s, One being I am lucky to be alive and walking around when looking back on some of the stuff I have done. To be honest it isn’t going to stop me from still doing the odd bit of mucking around, but it will make me think allot harder about stuff I do wile driving that is for sure.

I feel if Governments were really about saving life’s and all that bit, Then Instead of confiscating Hoons cars and fining em, they would be sending them on things like this, It will do a hell of a lot more than a fine and a few stupid anti speeding adds ever will.

Cheers.

[Interceptor]

GreenX, i know what kinda stuff you're talking about, i've watched a guy my age die in the wreck after he hit a power pole at 160-180km/h, and i heard the passenger screaming from a block away when the ambo's got her out of the wreck...... i think its something all the problem younger drivers should experience......

[XR6-VCT-2000]

Yep , sad stuff. i worked for a medical company years ago producing hemodialysis and perotoneal dialysis fluids for kidney failure patients, i saw those ugly catheters too as we supplied them aswell . along with other goodies. Seeing to many patients apss away after getting atatched as friends was painfull and i had to quit the job after a while ( it was getting to me ). Also a few years before that job i had 2 motorcycle accidents ( not my fault ! ), and had the unpleasant experience of having cathiters inserted into me both times !. If you have never seen one - they are like 40cm long with like a claw handle on the end (which is closed and inside the tube ), they feed the tube into you then pull the handle on it and the 3 prong claw comes out and breakes through the inner skin lining inside you ( around ya bladder ). ahhhhhhhhhh !!!!! ... is is about 5mm thick and is painfull as hell when having them removed too !, i'll leave it at that , i never want another one , i dont ride motorbikes anmore ! ..lol , cheers.,

[rodderz]

Would certainly make a good addition to better designed licensing systems and driving courses....they should overhaul the whole thing so that the threat of accidents sink in to newly licensed drivers

[Bluefreak]

Originally Posted by Green X

I feel if Governments were really about saving life’s and all that bit, Then Instead of confiscating Hoons cars and fining em, they would be sending them on things like this, It will do a hell of a lot more than a fine and a few stupid anti speeding adds ever will.

Cheers.

It's a hell of an experience, I did a similar thing about 10 years ago... Oddly enough, 2 blokes from the 5 of us who attended are now dead through being stupid on the road... Some people just can't be taught.

[XCSEDAN]

yeah i know exactly where your coming from, when my mum was struck by a peice of timber sticking out the side of a ute at 70kays, she had to have a section of her skull removed (just behind her left temple).
i tell you know the stuff you see in rehab centres, ER's, ICUs etc is just... scary really especially when your only a kid (12 at the time).

i remember there was a bloke about the same age as i am now (18) who had lost his leg from the knee down, his left arm, and part of the back of his skull, all because he wasn't wearing a seatbelt.

i have a very different veiw on things compared to my mates because of this, and i agree, send them to a rehab centre and hospital, maybe even make them help out at the rehab centres getting people in and out of pools, feeding them etc, and i think most of them would change their veiws a LOT more then taking their car off them.

Originally Posted by Bluefreak

...2 blokes from the 5 of us who attended are now dead through being stupid on the road... Some people just can't be taught.

that unfortunatly is very true...

[Outbackjack]

I know how you must have felt walking around a place like that. After having worked at PA hospital in Brissy and MBH in Mackay I can relate to the way you must have felt. Whenever I went into these wards I felt like my skin was turning grey....... Not a nice feeling. And one of the most depressing places there is.

The worst experince I have had with people dieing was at Archerfeild airport in Brissy. Two freinds had some work done on their plane and wanted to test it thouroughly before they headed off on a long trip the following week. They only planned to do one or two circuits, but hey never made it. On their upwind leg the
tower told them that they had smoke coming from their port engine. They decided to make an imediate landing on the cross wind runway (04). Anyhow, for some reason the aircraft flipped over onto its back. I was one of he first on the scene. Not a pretty sight. It really drives home when they are freinds.

When you said that a visit to one of these wards should be mandatory as part of driver training I reall must agree with you. It would probably be a logistical night mare to arange, but it would be a valuable lesson.