Traffic accident

Providing first aid

If there are injured people in the vehicle, it is first necessary to quickly find out their condition. If injured people are helped out of the vehicle before carrying out the necessary examinations and providing of first aid, more injuries can occur or life-threatening injuries can lead to death. The only exception is the situation where the vehicle has ignited. In this case, assessment of the condition of the victim is not important. If it is possible to help the victim out of the vehicle without endangering your own life, then it must be done immediately.

In examining the condition of a victim, the victim must first be checked:

  • for consciousness
  • for breathing
  • for heart activity
  • then for the appearance of signs of bleeding and shock

In the event of traffic accidents, there is a very high risk of injury to the spine. If there is any doubt, the victim should not be moved. If the people in the vehicle have had their seat belt fastened, there is a very high risk of multiple injuries, in which the injured person has had two or more injuries at once (injuries to the chest, head, shoulder, neck, and femurs).


Typical injuries in motorcycle accidents include brain trauma, skull fractures, and tibia fractures.


Cycling injuries are the same as those of motorcycle riders, but lighter. Until the arrival of an ambulance, it is important to maintain the vital functions of the injured person and prevent the injured person from getting additional injuries.

The removal of a victim from a vehicle is usually a professional job that must be done by several people at a time. If there is no immediate need to remove the victim from the vehicle (the vehicle is not burning, the vehicle is not in water, etc.), it is best to wait until the emergency services arrive. If you suspect that the victim has an injury to the spine, try first to fix their neck. Neck fixation means keeping it in a fixed position. To do this, it is best to fit a special neck brace to the neck, but any support made of means at hand can also be of help. This prevents injury to the spinal cord. Try to keep in mind that if it is absolutely necessary to get the injured person away from the accident, then they must not be carried, but carefully dragged to move and burden them as little as possible.

If a vehicle is flipped over and there is a person in it who is fastened with a safety belt and is hanging upside down or in another position, this situation must be considered a very dangerous situation. The weight of the human body is large enough to cause a serious injury when falling on the head (even more so if a person is already injured). In order to avoid such a situation, the victim must first be moved so that their feet would touch the floor (which, in this case, is the ceiling of the vehicle). It is also good if they support themselves with their hands and the assistant supports them as well. Only after the victim is locked in a position where they are firmly supported on the floor, the seat belt buckle can be opened.