Increasing People's Chances
Drivers operate powerful vehicles at speed and are all guilty, at times, for forgetting how dangerous their vehicles can be. Not just for themselves, but for other motorists, cyclists and pedestrians alike. Motorists are often so wrapped up in the purpose of the journey and where they are going that they give little consideration to the actual processes of driving during the journey. It is however, unfair to only mention motorists, as other road users are also guilty of not giving appropriate consideration to the potential dangers when using roads.True road safety is a responsibility of all road users, motorists, cyclists and pedestrians. There is fault within each of these groups, and each will have cause to criticize the other for things such as; cyclists skipping lights, motorists not using indicators and pedestrians stepping into the road without looking.
Large amounts of people die on UK roads each year, approximately 3200 people in fact, with 500 of those being young people . The Red Cross has been running a campaign called тЂ˜Don"t be a Bystander" which has been creating awareness of road safety and has also been training young people basic life saving first aid skills. The Red Cross identified that up to 85% of preventable pre-hospital deaths from road accidents could be successfully avoided by administering basic first aid to the casualty before the emergency services arrive. Clearly, if more people had knowledge of life saving basic first aid, more people would survive road accidents.
Having first aid knowledge or skills is obviously the primary requirement but having access to the correct first aid kit is also important. First aid kits will contain variations of standard product mixes but those designed for storage in a car or vehicle are likely to have slightly different contents. For instance, a specific motorist kit may contain a greater quantity, or larger sized absorbent dressings designed for larger injuries, resuscitation face shields for administering CPR and emergency foil blankets for keeping accident victims warm.