Vehicle Roll Over

TreySpooner65

Forum Lieutenant
153
7
18
I thought I'd share a story.

At about 20:30 911 gets a call for a vehicle off the road into a ditch. The call came in from a farmer down the road who heard the accident. The first unit on scene is Paramedic Supervisor "EMS 48". He finds a pick up truck laying on the passenger side facing westbound in the westbound road and a single male standing near the front of the vehicle. He exits his vehicle to find a patient trapped inside the truck upgrades the call to a TC Heavy Rescue (Standard for our area when a PT is requires extrication). After speaking with the male he finds out that the male was the driver, and he was able to climb out the vertical driver side window. Highway Patrol and the first 2 engines arrive on scene (Ventura County Engine 26 and Santa Paula Engine 81). The story unravels as the rest of the units arrive on scene. (Ventura City Engine 6, Ventura County Truck 56, and Medic 482).

As it turns out the truck was traveling eastbound at about 50mph when it veered off the left side of the road, struck a cement barrier, flipped end over end (Bed over cab), rotating it 180-degrees, and slid about 10 yards down the road to where it then lay.

When Firefighters arrived on scene they thought they were going to have severe trauma patients or DOA's by the way the accident looked and reports from on scene units. Only to find out that the worst injury was a broken wrist on the female patient trapped inside.

I was the male driver, and the female was my girlfriend.

Moral of the story; seat belts save lives. I know they saved ours.
 

CAOX3

Forum Deputy Chief
1,366
4
0
In my experience as we progress with safety features, crumple zones, air bags and such, I see less and less severe injuries in MVAs. The damage to cars is more horrific but thats the idea, they crumple, absorb and disperse impact away from the occupants.

I dont know for sure but Im guessing traumatic injuries and fatalities are way down in regards to MVAs

The main thing is to stay in the vehicle, once you get tossed survival rates go way down. I havent witnessed to many in vehicle fatalities, with ejection Im going to say probably half or more die or are already dead.
 

mycrofft

Still crazy but elsewhere
11,322
48
48
Roger all those.

I know of only two instances where not wearing the belt was a saver, both involved pre-1974 VW Beetles, and in each the driver's station was invaded by metal (one was the roof, the other was a torn projection from the floor that went up through the seat) after the driver was thrown prone to the passenger side.

My observation was that given two accidents with similar impact, the one that rolled had a better outcome, whereas those that acted like a hockeypuck had worse injuries.

US highway fatalities totals stay about stable, while the number of drivers increases.
 

abckidsmom

Dances with Patients
3,380
5
36
In my experience as we progress with safety features, crumple zones, air bags and such, I see less and less severe injuries in MVAs. The damage to cars is more horrific but thats the idea, they crumple, absorb and disperse impact away from the occupants.

I dont know for sure but Im guessing traumatic injuries and fatalities are way down in regards to MVAs

The main thing is to stay in the vehicle, once you get tossed survival rates go way down. I havent witnessed to many in vehicle fatalities, with ejection Im going to say probably half or more die or are already dead.

Sometimes I think that the engineers are taking the fun out of it all. Cars are just exceptionally well-engineered with regards to safety these days.

Glad you were ok!
 
OP
OP
T

TreySpooner65

Forum Lieutenant
153
7
18
Thanks!

I agree, cars are getting safer. Now days it seems people will be either unhurt (or hurt very little) or critical. No middle ground.
 
OP
OP
T

TreySpooner65

Forum Lieutenant
153
7
18
OP
OP
T

TreySpooner65

Forum Lieutenant
153
7
18
i miss those guys. I did my clinicals with amr ventura.
My clinical is coming up in a few weeks. I wanna ride with AMR if I can.

I understand its more work to do your clinical with AMR than lifeline or Gold Coast.
 

MedJPavlo

Forum Crew Member
56
0
0
My clinical is coming up in a few weeks. I wanna ride with AMR if I can.

I understand its more work to do your clinical with AMR than lifeline or Gold Coast.
Yeah, it def is. I did most of my clinicals with medic 443 in Newbury Park. They got me working and eventually got me my job at AMR LA county...which sucks in comparison. But just so you know, AMR now owns gold coast...they just dont run as much fire calls. They're mainly IFT.
 
OP
OP
T

TreySpooner65

Forum Lieutenant
153
7
18
Yeah, it def is. I did most of my clinicals with medic 443 in Newbury Park. They got me working and eventually got me my job at AMR LA county...which sucks in comparison. But just so you know, AMR now owns gold coast...they just dont run as much fire calls. They're mainly IFT.

Yeah I head about the merger. You think if I do my clinical with AMR it will be easier to get a job with them? I wanna stay in Ventura County if I can, but I could go up north if I had to.
 

MedJPavlo

Forum Crew Member
56
0
0
Yeah I head about the merger. You think if I do my clinical with AMR it will be easier to get a job with them? I wanna stay in Ventura County if I can, but I could go up north if I had to.
Its good to know people. However Ventura AMR isnt hiring and its hard to get a job in ventura, even for other amr employees. And to be honest, AMR ventura hates LA and vice versa. They helped me get the job because someone left ventura for la to be a ems manager. So I got the job.
 
OP
OP
T

TreySpooner65

Forum Lieutenant
153
7
18
Its good to know people. However Ventura AMR isnt hiring and its hard to get a job in ventura, even for other amr employees. And to be honest, AMR ventura hates LA and vice versa. They helped me get the job because someone left ventura for la to be a ems manager. So I got the job.
Yeah I know Ventura AMR isn't hiring. But I really wanna stay in Ventura. Maybe I'll just go to one of the hospitals for a while until a position opens up.
 

MedJPavlo

Forum Crew Member
56
0
0
Yeah I know Ventura AMR isn't hiring. But I really wanna stay in Ventura. Maybe I'll just go to one of the hospitals for a while until a position opens up.
er techs arent the same as emt's. You would need to take another class. I tried that too.
 
OP
OP
T

TreySpooner65

Forum Lieutenant
153
7
18
er techs arent the same as emt's. You would need to take another class. I tried that too.

Ojai Valley is hiring EMTs right now. I know ER techs are different, but if they wanna hire an EMT I wont complain.
 
OP
OP
T

TreySpooner65

Forum Lieutenant
153
7
18
OP
OP
T

TreySpooner65

Forum Lieutenant
153
7
18
Oh ok.. Your in Medic school through VC right now?

No, My title thing is wrong. I'm just about half way through EMT-B at VC
 
Top