Paulo P

iTrader: (42)

I was on the M25 today coming home and the traffic suddenly stopped, I could see that the lanes were closed and everyone was coming into the outside lane. It became clear as we were moving along that there were cars strewn all over the road and even one facing the wrong direction but what shocked me was that the main vehicle in the accident was a transit or so I thought. As I went past it I realised that this transit upside down on the hard shoulder was actually a mini bus and not only that I could see a passenger that had been thrown out of the window and was trapped under the upturned bus The most worrying part was that I couldn't see their head!!! All of the folk that were stopped on the scene were clearly upset with reason but I too and still shocked at what I saw, I hope I'm wrong and that poor persons head wasn't under the mini bus. It's not making it easy going to bed tonight seeing that and wondering if their family were travelling with them.

Please think of the poor emergency services and how they deal with it because I'm still shocked and upset by what I saw and won't forget.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

It's a sad reality of life unfortunately - just like the poeple who have to scoop up the pieces of dead people off the tube trains. Not a pleasent job.

It's also a harsh reminder of how fragile life is and how easily it can be broken

Huxley Chick

Hux saw some horrific sights when he used to w*rk for a vehicle recovery firm


I know it's awful, but if you see that type of thing often enough, you *do* build up a degree of immunity to it


He's also told me about some of the SOCO photos he's seen Although the SOCO that he knows ended up leaving because of the stress of the job

Paulo P

iTrader: (42)

i thought that earlier, That poor person who was trapped and more than likely dead no doubt had family with them, I couldn't think what I'd do if that was my wife trapped under a vehicle like that I feel them I really do, I've never some across anything like that before and it made me feel like throwing up. I suppose that's a natural reaction though.

Pauleds2

The Police can't do right for doing wrong, how could they possibly deal with this correctly?

Oh i just realised, they do this day in day out and are the consumate professionals, not that anyone on here would admit it.

Jamesemt

Yeah that's very true. If you take away the feelings of actually knowing someone, a dead body is just a piece of meat - like a dead dog...

That may sound like I don't have any feelings, but could not be further from the truth. I still get upset at my Grandad dying four years ago - but that was cos I knew him. The majority of people I see through work are strangers, which offers you a degree of seperation...

paul-s

Its probably better to not look in said situation, I know when you go past a wreck you check it out to see what's happened but if you dont want to see such things its probably better to just look forward otherwise you'll end up thinking about it long after you get out of your car

Paulo P

iTrader: (42)

Because of the total mess that was around it was near impossible not to see I am not a rubber necker but this was obvious

Huxley Chick

I get upset just by seeing a dead animal on the side of the road

But it's natural to think how you'd feel if it was someone you knew/loved.

Although it's horrible to say, I'd rather go quickly then have a long drawn out illness. I watched my mother die of cancer & it's the suffering & total inablility to be able to do anything that is heart-breaking. And as someone once said to me, mourning is purely selfish because it's your own loss that you are upset for - they are the lucky ones because they no longer have to suffer pain or anguish

Suresh

I saw the aftermatch of a truck hitting a farm tractor and trailer head-on on a narrow bridge in India a few years back. Sounds innocuous, but the trailer was full of people at the time. Horrible.

Paulo P

iTrader: (42)

Sounds bloody awful I wouldn't want to see that either.

Suresh

It had just happened so people were running around all over the place.
You get over it though! Good luck to you and sleep well.

Garvey69

My old man was a medic in the Army, some of the sights he has told me would make anyone have nightmares and I know that he keeps alot to himself. To say that a person becomes immune from this sort of thing on a daily basis is far from the truth.

Poor fella stills wakes in the night screaming and to see a man of his size, strength and attidude screaming in complete fear is frightening and worrying and this is 18 years later.

Seeing these sort of things will effect anyone, it might not look like they are effected, but the mind has a strange way of releasing the stress it is under.

BlackadderII

Paul

That sounds terrible

Have you heard anything on the news about fatalities, maybe the not knowing could be causing you distress.

I've seen a coupl of horrific accidents and i understand what you are feeling at the moment. One of which was a motorcycle accident that sounds very similar to your encounter today. Like people on here say, its a harsh reality of life and to go through life not seeing at least one thing which brings life into perspective would be a strange occurence.

I've found that giving your loved ones an extra big hug will help you. Just try and deal with it as best you can, its a terrible thing to endure especially if you've seen it at close quarters but if nothing else it will make you appreciate the people you cherish in life

UK300-199

A couple of years ago a guy on a motorbike fell of his bike outside my house,he died right infront of me and it played on my mind for weeks i was thinking about where he was going where he'd come from,has he got family how will his family react.
And i didnt even know this guy.
I read paper the next day and he was on his way home after just finding out he's been given a job,he rang his wife 2 hours earlier and told her about the job.

I once got stopped by the police for driving like a idiot,he stopped me got me in his car and he said ''You driving like that,you kill yourself,its going to be me who's got to knock on your door and tell your family that their son,husband, been killed''
He also said that was every policemans nightmare telling someone their childs just been killed.

Big respect to the emergency services.

dexter

I go to these on a regular basis in my job, but, believe it or not, that`s not the hardest part.

That comes when you have to attend someone`s house to tell them that their husband, wife, son, daughter etc. isn`t coming home tonight.......or again for that matter.

That part never gets any easier.

UK300-199

I take it your a police officer,
Probably a stupid question but how do you break it to them and what sort of reaction do you get from the family?

dexter

It`s just so difficult to break this sort of news to anyone really.

If someone, say an old person, has been ill for a long time, or are very old, then the family sort of expect it, but this is different.

When they don`t expect it you just have to break it as gently as you can.

Reactions are varied from collapse to tears, to disbelief and anger.

I once told one chap (and I`m not making light of this BTW) and he started to headbutt the lounge wall so hard he actually knocked himself unconscious !

There really is no easy way to say it, but someone has to do it, and, if you`re not careful, you can become as emotional about it as the family themselves.

It`s not good, that`s for sure.

rolyatescort

I've always had massive respect for the Police Force, they have only bothered me when i've been doing wrong which is their job when all said and done. They are ineffectual when it comes to solving day-to-day crime, but when they have suicide bombers to deal with i can understand them not being interested in the scratch on my bonnet! I have often thought of how hard it must be to deal with the public in such emotionally-charged situations, i feel the Lennox Lewis, etc, adverts were very good at illustrating that.

Unfortunately some of that respect was lost when i was involved in an RTA (of sorts). I turned a corner in my car to see a man pulling out of a junction, he wasn't on my side of the road or pulling onto my side of the road but for some unknown reason i was drawn to stare at him. In slow motion (as always in these situations) i watched his head flick back, slump and then his arms go limp from the wheel. The car veered onto my side of the road at increasing speed. I slammed on, he shot in front of me missing me literally by a couple of inches and crashed into a wall. I quickly pulled off the road and along with some other drivers (passers-by just rubber necked and this was on a busy junction right in a bustling town centre) rushed to this man. We managed to get his door open, get his belt off and lift him from the car. He was semi'conscious, drooling and moaning and we could only see the whites of his eyes. This happened literally 2 minutes walk from a hospital so there were paramedics on the scene within moments. It was too late he had had a heart attack and he died on the footpath right in front of me. I didn't know him, there was no blood or hideous injury, he just slipped away. But it crushed me to see it happen. The police were utter sh!te, if it wasn't for the fact that the driver and passenger of the car behind me were from the Highways agency and traind in traffic control then the road would have ground to a halt. The Police just stood and watched. They took my number and a very brief description of events that they didn't even write down (obviously an open and shut case), they ignored the woman who was in obvious shock and bawling her eyes out as the car had barely missed her. they told us all to go about our business (their exact words) and forget about it.

I drove home in a world of my home (in hindsight i now know that was stupid) i walked into the mother-in-laws sat down and cried like a baby. I am sat typing this now a year on and am welling up at the thought. I know i haven't dealt with this and just noting it down is hopefully a cathartic experience, but when i asked the police (after the event) if they have or know of someone who can talk with me about this, they told me to check the yellow pages.

I hope and believe that this is an isolated experience and not indicative of my local Police Force's attitude.

Sorry for this being so long and thank you if you have bothered to read it all.