How to help in the event of a transport accident?

Amid catastrophic flooding left by the intense frontal system that hit the central-southern area of ​​the country, where several vehicles were trapped in water (What if my car is trapped in a flood?); Yesterday a fatal traffic accident in San Javier affected all who knew about it, not only because of the death toll, but also because of the way it happened.

It all happened at kilometer 271 of the Ruta 5 Sur, where initially the driver of a Chevrolet LUV truck lost control at the La Rosa curve – also known as ‘the curve of death” – almost dropping on the side of the road.

Then, two other motorists stopped to help the damaged vehicle, inside which the occupants were trapped. A good deed, which will end in tragedy after another truck – a Mitsubishi L200 – lost control at the same place and crashed into them.

A total of nine people died as a result of this collision.

According to the records of the Carabinieri of Chile – published by the National Commission for Road Safety (Conaset), in 2022 there were 86,050 traffic accidents and 1,745 people lost their lives, a figure that increased by 3 .4% from reported deaths. year 2021.

Thus, it is becoming increasingly essential to be aware and responsible on the road and, with this, to know how to act in the event of witnessing or encountering an accident. In such scenarios, the recommendations are as follows:

“To help, the first thing is to check the conditions of the environment so as not to aggravate the situation of those who are already involved in the accident or expose themselves to being part of a new one. If the accident presents injured, the first thing to do is to call the Ambulance (131), then the rest of the emergency services, remembering the ABC rule (131 Ambulance, then 132 Fire and finally 133 for the Carabinieri)” , underlines Karina Muñoz, executive secretary of Conaset.

What Luis Stuven, road safety manager of Mutual de Seguridad, completes by specifying that: “subsequently, and as long as the situation is safe for those who want to help, examine the state of health of the occupants of the vehicle. In this way, valuable and timely information can be provided to emergency teams. In the event that the accident occurs on a motorway, it should be remembered that the dealers also have emergency telephone numbers and equipment that can help in the rescue”.

If you can pull over to help and there is room to do so in a safe and visible manner, always wear your reflective vest when exiting the vehicle, turn on your turn signals to help alert other vehicles, and try to position the safety triangles 50 meters before the accident.

Now, how effective are the reflective vest and triangles? According to Muñoz, “these elements make it easier for other road occupants to see people and alert them in advance of the occurrence of an accident. While the triangles offer visibility at 100 meters and the reflective vest does it at more than 150 meters”.

Beyond these, and their effectiveness, it is necessary to advance in the legislation in order to innovate concerning the devices which prevent the accidents, like the beacon.

“In other countries, they even set up a beacon that connects via cellphone signal to emergency crews, making it unnecessary to get out of the car to help in the event of an accident or vehicle breakdown. “, he says. Steven.

“In this way, the structure of the car itself protects the person. In addition, this signal is also picked up by georeferencing systems, such as mass displacement applications. Thus, most people who approach this point are warned of the incident. This has allowed, in the countries where it is implemented, to reduce the mortality of people in accidents where vehicles travel at high speed, as is the case of highways or highways, where we can observe climatic phenomena such as rain and fog which can complicate driving and rescue if necessary,” he adds.

Finally, what should you not do when you are rescued in a traffic accident?

Conaset and Mutual de Seguridad agree that under no circumstances should people exit the vehicle without a reflective vest. On the other hand, if there are injured people, they should not leave the scene unless they know first aid, since the movement of a person in serious condition can further complicate their state of health.