All contents copyright ©, Drive and Stay Alive, Inc., 2003 onwards, unless specified otherwise. All rights reserved.
IMPORTANT: click here to read the DISCLAIMER |
||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||
|
First Aid
Every
year, around one million people die in traffic accidents across the
world and a further 20 million are injured or disabled. Of all victims
who are killed, 57% die in the first minutes after the crash, before the
arrival of the emergency services. Immediate First Aid action provided
on the spot in these vital first minutes can save lives as well as
having a clear psychological support value for the victim and other
people involved. The Road Accidents and First Aid report, published by the British Red Cross on May 8th 2001, stated that simple First Aid skills for road users can dramatically affect the outcome for casualties of road accidents. The report recommended all new drivers should complete First Aid training before they can acquire their licence.
For more information on the need for first aid at crash scenes, go to the Road Safety web page of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).
Scale
The first automobile accident death happened in 1896 in London, and since then motor vehicle accidents have risen to at least ninth place on epidemiologists’ list of leading contributors to the “Global Burden of Disease.” This burden is calculated by the lost years of human productivity either by way of deaths or by disabilities.
In 1990 the Top 10 Leading Contributors to the Global Burden of Disease as estimated in a 1996 Harvard study were, in descending order: 1. lower respiratory infections 2. diarrheal diseases 3. perinatal conditions 4. unipolar major depression 5. ischemic heart disease 6. cerebrovascular disease 7. tuberculosis 8. measles 9. road traffic injuries 10. congenital abnormalities The same study projected that by 2020 traffic accidents would rise to third place, behind heart disease and depression. [Source:
Panama News, Vol. 10, No. 5;
March 7-20, 2004, here.
|
Accident Investigations
|
|||||||||
|
|
||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||
