ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
I had been out to Harrogate today for my stepdaughter's graduation ceremony. Afterwards, she, her husband, her mum (my ex) and I went out for a celebration meal in Nidderdale. We were in good spirits after the meal and I suggested driving back by a scenic route. So, we were heading up the steep ascent out of Pateley Bridge on the way over to Grassington and I had just commented on how dodgy the descent was and that there had been many serious accidents involving cyclists there when suddenly the driver of a 4x4 towing a caravan ahead of us braked hard and stopped.
We pulled up and got out to see what the problem was and saw a cyclist lying unconscious in the road. He looked in a very bad way. I felt as though I had jinxed the poor man.
A couple from another car ran over to him and were trying to decide what to do. The driver of the 4x4 was already on his phone to the emergency services. I went forward and the driver asked if I would take over the call while he tried to help the cyclist.
The man at the call centre was just trying to do his job, but I was getting frustrated with the delay that his questions were causing. I told him that it looked very serious but he insisted on trying to narrow down the exact location, asking for names of nearby buildings and so on. I told him to just get the emergency services on the way. It was on the B-road from Pateley Bridge to Grassington, about 1 mile up the hill. A quick look at an OS map would show exactly where that is - there would be no confusion from that description.
Anyway ... eventually a police car arrived and I passed the call over to one of the 2 police officers. The other joined the helpers who had got the victim in the recovery position.
Some people had gone up the hill to stop traffic coming down towards the scene. I went down the hill to explain to other stranded drivers what was happening and to try and keep the road clear for the ambulance when it arrived. I was just explaining to a young woman that an ambulance was on its way when it came tearing up the hill towards us, overtaking the stationary traffic. I motioned to her to pull forwards to the nearside verge but she panicked and instead reversed back out into the road, forcing the ambulance to stop. It was all very stressful ...
Everything seemed to be taking forever, though it was probably only a few seconds delay here and there. We got her forwards out of the way and then the ambulance got through to the accident scene.
I had already been thinking that it looked like the Yorkshire Air Ambulance might be needed when I heard it in the distance. It suddenly shot overhead and the pilot did a loop around the scene, trying to find a safe place to land. The terrain was not ideal, but he managed to put the chopper down in a field not too far from the victim.
At that point, one of the police officers came down the line of stationary vehicles, thanked us for our help and suggested that we all u-turned and head back down the hill to find alternative routes away since our help was no longer needed and we could not continue up the hill.
I am not 100% sure what happened, but I don't think a vehicle was involved. The incident took place on a very steep, tight, treacherous-looking bend so it might have been due to rider error, or it could have been caused by some problem with the road surface or with the bike.
I'm really hoping that the injuries were not as serious as they looked and that the rider makes a full recovery. If he does, I will try to contact him and explain to him what happened.
Strangely enough, I washed three bags worth of surplus clothes only yesterday and donated them to a Yorkshire Air Ambulance collection. I thought then what a great job it does and how we should all support such services.
Let's be careful out there, folks ...
We pulled up and got out to see what the problem was and saw a cyclist lying unconscious in the road. He looked in a very bad way. I felt as though I had jinxed the poor man.
A couple from another car ran over to him and were trying to decide what to do. The driver of the 4x4 was already on his phone to the emergency services. I went forward and the driver asked if I would take over the call while he tried to help the cyclist.
The man at the call centre was just trying to do his job, but I was getting frustrated with the delay that his questions were causing. I told him that it looked very serious but he insisted on trying to narrow down the exact location, asking for names of nearby buildings and so on. I told him to just get the emergency services on the way. It was on the B-road from Pateley Bridge to Grassington, about 1 mile up the hill. A quick look at an OS map would show exactly where that is - there would be no confusion from that description.
Anyway ... eventually a police car arrived and I passed the call over to one of the 2 police officers. The other joined the helpers who had got the victim in the recovery position.
Some people had gone up the hill to stop traffic coming down towards the scene. I went down the hill to explain to other stranded drivers what was happening and to try and keep the road clear for the ambulance when it arrived. I was just explaining to a young woman that an ambulance was on its way when it came tearing up the hill towards us, overtaking the stationary traffic. I motioned to her to pull forwards to the nearside verge but she panicked and instead reversed back out into the road, forcing the ambulance to stop. It was all very stressful ...
Everything seemed to be taking forever, though it was probably only a few seconds delay here and there. We got her forwards out of the way and then the ambulance got through to the accident scene.
I had already been thinking that it looked like the Yorkshire Air Ambulance might be needed when I heard it in the distance. It suddenly shot overhead and the pilot did a loop around the scene, trying to find a safe place to land. The terrain was not ideal, but he managed to put the chopper down in a field not too far from the victim.
At that point, one of the police officers came down the line of stationary vehicles, thanked us for our help and suggested that we all u-turned and head back down the hill to find alternative routes away since our help was no longer needed and we could not continue up the hill.
I am not 100% sure what happened, but I don't think a vehicle was involved. The incident took place on a very steep, tight, treacherous-looking bend so it might have been due to rider error, or it could have been caused by some problem with the road surface or with the bike.
I'm really hoping that the injuries were not as serious as they looked and that the rider makes a full recovery. If he does, I will try to contact him and explain to him what happened.
Strangely enough, I washed three bags worth of surplus clothes only yesterday and donated them to a Yorkshire Air Ambulance collection. I thought then what a great job it does and how we should all support such services.
Let's be careful out there, folks ...
A trauma for all involved.
