Heavy Situation

The other day were were traveling south along the Pacific highway in a rain storm. I have been in some nasty weather in the past but this was epic rain, think the hardest thunderstorm for hours on end. For a few hours the rain came down in a fashion that would make Noah say holy shit. Our travel van Remy leaked liked the Titanic post iceberg confrontation, everything was soaked and we were quite unimpressed with the entire situation. The rain got especially bad for a few moments which led to poor visibility on the highway. Andi was driving and I was starting to nod off just when we noticed the truck in front of the car in front of us slide to a stop and started steaming. It took me a minute to register what had just happened but I told Andi to get over to the side of the road as quickly as she could and I jumped out into the pouring rain. It was a head on collision on the highway and I was the first responder to one of the vehicles.

I have never been in a situation like this in the past and it was a heavy one, I did not know what to expect as I approached the smashed in Toyota Hilux. The rain streaming down my face I came too the window to see a 30 something guy obviously shaken but conscious. It was first reaction to make sure he was awake and see if he had any obvious serious injuries. As soon as I noted he was awake, albeit not completely with it, I shouted over to the man handling the other car and told him that my guy was alive and awake and I ran to the nearest car to get them to call the emergency line (which is 000 if you are every in Australia and in a similar situation). Just as I was returning to the car a man came running up and declared himself as an off duty paramedic (Ambo) and he took control of the entire situation.

I was shaking until I knew that somebody else was calling the shots, I can't say I knew exactly what to do but all I could think about was keeping my guy awake and to make sure an ambulance had been called.

The other car had a middle aged man and a young boy who looked white as a ghost, but nothing real serious. I overheard conversations of abdominal injuries on the young boy but cannot confirm anything. My guy had a broken leg I think.

In the end the ambulances showed up as well as the cops who then took control of the site but until that time it was up to us the people who responded to the situation to make sure we could do what we can to help these people. It was a scary ordeal as I walked up to the truck not knowing what I was going to see. I am glad that everybody survived but I can say that I don't want to have to do that again.