I thought this might prove an interesting evening and it turned out to be the case. Bridge Motorcycles in Exeter organised a phased event consisting of four separate talks by three branches of the emergency services, Fire and Rescue, Paramedics and Air Ambulance, plus an extremely enlightening 20 minute talk on crash helmet selection. First of all, this is my mate Keithy. Don't hate him because he rides a Yamaha. He was my wingman and driver for the evening. Next, to get the unsavoury bits out of the way. There are glass cages like this in Amsterdam but with nothing, even remotely as attractive inside them. Lambeth, you were extremely kind in pointing out the best burger vans in that London for me. Your knowledge of 'aute quizeen is unsurpassed, but this is how we roll in the shires, dude. Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue talked about their commitment to bike awareness, backed up with this... They were bigging up an App called 'PANIC' that sits on your phone and gives you the recommended procedure to follow should you be first on the scene of an accident, including your GPS position to give to the emergency services. They also were encouraging us to look into the green dot programme, something I'd not heard of, but consists of a 'crash' card with your important details on it that you tuck into the lining of your crash helmet, plus a green self adhesive dot that fixes to the outside of it to tell the crash crews you've got one. They backed their talk up with some scary statistics that I'm sure you're aware of, so I won't bore you further with. I spoke to them about the forum and they are going to send me a copy of their presentation to share with anyone who may be interested.
Ambulance Service paramedics came next. Although the guy wasn't a biker he did come over as really 'getting' why we ride bikes and said something I quite liked. He said that people who drive cars are doctors, lawyers, electricians, plumbers etc, but everybody who rides a bike is a biker. I quite liked that. He spoke at length on the argument of 'to' or 'not to' remove the helmet of a downed biker and spoke a lot of sense about the realities of the scenario and demonstrated the approved method at length. The girly playing the victim was quite hot, but the first volunteer's bosom's were so huge, I couldn't get in first. They run a course called 'ICare' based around the 'First on the Scene' concept and, again, I've signed up for details that I will gladly pass on once it they arrive. The Air Ambulance Paramedics are just so cool. Even fat and balding (a good look, in my opinion), I feel they can only be trumped by bomber pilots, who can, of course, only be trumped by astronauts in the cool stakes. I was losing the light quickly by now and didn't want to use flash during the talks, so apologies for the images starting to go south. These guys had one of those dummies that breathe, Giv' it was called. It was on the floor right next to me and it's quite spooky hearing it and seeing it aspirate on its own. To finish, Bridges own helmet specialist explained at length why he would only ever buy Arai for himself. He convinced me, but Jeanette later told me he was wrong. He also settled the 'Pinlock or not to Pinlock' debate. Apparently the answer is 'Pinlock' but only if fitted by somebody who is not a complete numpty. Based on this, Keithy went back this morning and bought himself a photochromatic one and got them to fit it, as per their recommendation. No matter how I tried though, I couldn't guess which one he put the tennis ball under and left a fiver down on the night. An absolutely brilliant event, very well executed by all the rescue professionals and the staff at bridge. I don't know if it was their idea or whether similar events are held elsewhere, if so, I'd thoroughly recommend you invest three hours in one.
Try to take it somewhere that gives a f**k. Nice little ride out, then into Exmouth to see my old dear then back home.
I`ll give you a shout when i take the flierblade in for a service, i think its sat 4th may 9 a.m. ( weather permitting). Pop round sains for a brew? or is it too early, i will give you a bell.
Sounds like it was a very interesting evening. I'm a big fan of simple but clever solutions such as having a card with important details inside your helmet with a small marker on the outside. It's that sort of immediately accessible info which could really help should the worst happen. Would be interested in seeing what the info packs they sent you say.
I've just received details of the P.A.N.I.C phone App to aid those first on the scene of an accident to assess and assist those both injured and in the emergency services to best help any injured parties. For a free, small download I reckon it's well worth looking into, especially for those of us who ride in groups. The details are as follows:- "Don't PANIC. New phone App set to help those involved in road collisions A new Phone App*could help people*who have been involved in a collision, hurt or seriously injured. The 'P.A.N.I.C' App has been developed in partnership with the Police, Fire Service and Devon County Council as part of the Learn2Live initiative. PANIC stands for: Protect Assess Number Injuries Call* This tells the user exactly what to do in the event of a crash. Another feature is a location finder to ensure the emergency services are given; as accurate location as possible which could save vital minutes. The location finder provides the App user with longitude and latitude grid reference via GPS to give to the emergency services. The App also has a basic first aid section giving emergency first aid information for those first few important minutes. The App includes an ICE screen (In Case of Emergency); where the user can upload a photograph, store emergency contact details; as well as storing allergies and medical information to assist emergency services in the event of a crash. It has a section where reminders can be set for tyre, oil, MOT, Service and Road Tax alerts. There is also an area to store useful contact numbers such as a local garage, and breakdown membership number as well as driving license details. Version 2 is now in development. The Police, Fire service and the County all contributed towards the development costs with the Peninsula Trauma network and the Ambulance service providing specialist advice. The App is available in Apple, Android and Blackberry versions and available on the Learn2Live website: Title | Learn 2 Live Please download the app and talk to your students who are learning to drive about the benefits of having this on their phones. If you have any feedback or comments please let us know." As more of the information I requested comes in I shall post it here.
Can confirm its under p.a.n.i.c when you search for it on the apple store. Just in case you do what I did and search for "dont panic" as that doesn't bring it up at all. Will be interesting how it works with a screen lock.
I'm glad you found it on the App Store. I couldn't when I searched for it, but the link from the Learn 2 Live website took me straight to it.
for android users there is also a very handy app called cradar. it can tell if you have an off then sends a pre writen text to your selected contact along with your gps location. handy if you have a bad off and you are out alone. did they also talk about LIONEL when you phone 999. handy thing to remember and helps the dispatcher L - location I - incident O - other services needed i.e. fire, animal control etc N - number of casualty E - extent of injuries L - location once more
They never mentioned that one just the P rotect yourself A ssess the scene N umber of casualties I njuries C all for help The thing they all stressed, which I wasn't aware of is that if you call 999 and ask for an ambulance, the ambulance service must inform the police and fire & rescue service, speeding up the despatch time of the paramedics by short circuiting the chain of communication.
depends on the council too. the majority of 999 calls go ambulance control centers. we were taught slightly different but that is because we were being shown the whole triage routine.Im starting my assessors course soon as its a friend of mine that runs the training school and it also will get me a few extra quid, also helped get me through the first section of the interviews for the ambulance service.
Have had a play around with the app: setting my ICE things and looking through some of the info. Seems easy to use and helpful. Not sure how helpful the ICE bit would be as you need to get into the phone and then find the app before you can get the info from it. I suppose that's something you could put onto your "green dot" information sheet although that has much the same info. Unless the emergency services have an over-ride unlock code they aren't telling anyone about (to save on people trying to get them to unbrick their phone when they get locked out).
On the Samsung Galaxy S3, and probably other phones, you can access preset numbers from the Emergency Call screen so they can be rang without unlocking the phone. Of course this requires the people on scene need to know this..........
