Car Accident

Yesterday afternoon I went to collect Carol in the car. She's been having problems with her leg, due I'm certain, as a result of the incident at the Academy when a lot of the students were fighting and they had to be separated. It seems to have been quite nasty from what she was telling me. I got a tube bandage for her leg and ankle and it has been strapped up, and walking has been quite painful. So, instead of walking to the Academy I have driven her there and collected her in the evening. 

I left the house slightly earlier than usual to drive the short distance to the Academy but we never come out  of this estate opposite the Academy and onto the grid road (Saxon Street)  as it can be really difficult to get out, due to traffic (this will be relevant as this post continues, as you will discover.) although early morning you can manage to cross over as there is generally very little traffic about. A reason for this may be that there is a 40 m.p.h. speed limit along that stretch of road from the roundabout on Chaffron Way to the next one on Standing Way, due to the hospital and the Academy are along that road. Anyway, because I'd left early I decided to go to the local shop in Eaglestone to get some milk and a tin of pineapple for use in our evening meal. From there I drove out of the estate onto Chaffron Way and then round into Saxon Street with the intention of driving into the Academy and parking as I usually do before going into the Academy reception to wait for Carol to come out. As I drove towards the turning into the Academy there was quite a queue of traffic ahead of me. A car was attempting to turn out of Eaglestone onto Saxon Street and another car was come in the opposite direction. The car turning out of the estate collided with the other car, forcing the other car to spin round in the road and hit the opposite curb. There were bits of plastic bumper flying everywhere from both cars, and a large section of the car which turned out of Eaglestone lying in the centre of the carriageway. As I am a trained First Aider and has seen all that had happened, I thought that I must go to see if the lady in the car which had ended up on the kerb directly outside the Academy was alright and might need some First Aid or at least I could say that I would be a witness if the need arose. 

I drove into the road leading up to the Academy entrance and parked up, making sure that I wasn't obstructing any traffic going in or out of the Academy, and walked down to the road where the car was, having ended up on the kerbside. I approached the driver and she looked really shaken up, tears running down her face and in a really bad state. There was no blood and she didn't appear to be seriously injured. I just said that if she needed assistance I was there to help her. There was a long tail-back of traffic on either side of the road, but no other driver made the slightest attempt to stop and assist. The lady who had driven out of Eaglestone and who had collided with the other car was on the opposite side of the road. She eventually crossed over to contact the other driver. I wondered if the lady who had been in the car which had been hit would need to go to Accident and Emergency at the hospital, but she didn't appear to have suffered any serious injury which needed any sort of hospital treatment, except for some pain in her shoulder, which, I presume, had been caused by the seat belt tightening when the car had braked suddenly during the collision. 

I rang Carol on my mobile to let her know what had happened and she eventually came out of the Academy and walked down to the scene of the accident. The lady who's car was outside the Academy and on the curb phoned her father, as she was on the way to collect her two children from school, and the Police who turned up extremely quickly to take down details of what happened. As the lady got out of her car there was a slow hissing sound and I at first thought it might have been the radiator which had burst in the accident, but it turned out to be one of the front tyres which had been damaged in the accident and had a slow puncture. The Policeman who appeared drove the car up and onto the verge and left it there. Then the lady's father arrived and she went off with him. I gave my details so that I could give a witness statement at a later date. 

Even throughout all this there were people driving past, and some getting really annoyed that they had to slow down, some driving on the slip road that went into the drive up to the Academy entrance, and, again, nobody made any attempt to stop to help.

Mindless Youths

It's a really mild and sunny day today. Considering it's early February, it makes a change to have the sun out and have almost Spring-like weather.

I have been sitting here on the iMac, viewing emails this morning and suddenly there was the sound of an engine outside. I opened the curtains and looked out across the garden and I could see a youth riding what appeared to be a mechanised go-cart along the Redway. I remember as a youth myself, building similar contraptions, but without any sort of motor on them, just a very flimsy construction held together with little more than a few nuts and bolts and then pushing them down hills near where I used to live. But this  was mechanical. It was moving at quite a speed. It went past in one direction, and then came back in the opposite direction. When I first looked there was one youth, but later two further youths were either riding it or standing around watching. It could have been a sort of motorised lawn mower that had been converted to go at speed. Whatever it was it shouldn't have been driven along the Redway as these paths are intended for walkers and cyclists and certainly not motorised vehicles. My concern was that someone was likely to get injured if this machine was driven at such speed. An elderly person might have walked out into the Redway and then been hit by the youths jaunting up and down the Redway.

I had heard and seen this going on a few weeks ago and thought then that it was an accident waiting to happen. I thought it might be an idea to inform the local Police and let them deal with it. I already had the Police station's telephone number so I managed to telephone them and gave details.

I went out in the car briefly to do some shopping and when I returned there were two female Police officers standing on our doorstep. I was quite surprised how quickly the call had been taken and responded to. They asked me one or two further questions, and I could not hear the youths riding the go-cart contraption along the Redway. They said that they would pass on the information to the local Community Police Officer for this area and thanked me for my help. It is, of course, obvious that the youths saw the Police arrive and made sure that they were out of the way, as they would have known that they were likely to get into trouble because of their actions. I'll keep an eye out for their further appearance and let the Police know as soon as the youths re-appear.