This afternoon I was sitting at the dining table tinkering with some electronics when out of no where came a clash of metal from outside. It sounded like a car accident but then again, not really. I look out of the window and saw a young girl lying outstretched in front of car over a crumpled bicycle. It didn't look good. I raced outside, down the steps to the yard and could already see people with horror on their faces. Only why were they walking away! I opened the gate and could see the car was still there, and the girl had not moved. People were standing there but doing nothing. I went to the girl and saw blood on the road but could not tell from where it was coming from. The girl was lying over the bike, not moving. I reached down and placed my head near hers. Hallo, können sie mich hören? I felt her pulse and got one, it was slow and steady. I was surprised it wasn't racing and then I heard a muffle moan. I kept talking to her and got more in response. She was conscious, that was important for me to hear. She started to move and tried to get her self up. We calmed her and allowed her to move herself as much as she could without pain. I supported her to roll over and could then see more of her injuries. Her cheek had a gash but it had already stopped bleeding. Her jaw was swollen and seemed out of shape. It was hard for her to speak and when she saw the blood on the road she asked if that was hers. It immediately stressed her to see it and I tried to explain that its not much and that the bleeding has stopped. Out of the 3 or 4 people standing around, a young woman appeared and I could see she was trained. I kept the girl supported and the woman talked to her and examined her, looking for bruising or deformity in arms and legs. The girl was lucky, she had hit the car head on and there were signs of her crashing with the car bonnet. the bike had a mangled front wheel. The woman and I agreed to move her off the road and guy helped me lift the girl carefully off the road onto the footpath. I sat behind the girl and held her in my arms, stroking her hair and comforting her as much as I could. Her pulse was still slow, perhaps normal for her, and regular. I could now see that she wasn't as young as I had initially estimated. She now looked about 17, maybe 20 of Asian decent. I asked her if she had a mobile phone and wanted to contact anyone but she said there was no-one. I thought that strange and decided that maybe my German was not clear enough and decided to let the woman do the questioning so as not to confused matters. More people came to see, a neighbour came out with a blanket a pillow and I could see this was a good time to cover her up. We wrapped her in a blanket and I was still supporting her in a supine position. I could hear an ambulance siren in the distance and was sure we wouldn't have to wait long. Instead of an ambulance, a doctor arrived and quickly opened his emergency bag. He also did a quick exam of her and then unwrapped a long oxygen tubing to be placed under her nose. I didn't notice where the oxygen bottle was but help to keep it in place and tucked the tubing behind her ears. The doctor asked her to open her mouth which was clearly a painful task, her teeth were red with blood but there were no loose or broken teeth. Her jaw was now starting to worry her, the pain was becoming more intense and she started to cry. At last the Ambulance arrive and so to did the police. The woman and doctor handed over the situation to the ambulance guys who quickly cover the area with equipment. They wanted to place a neck brace on and I took this chance to get out of their way. I was thanked for my help and the woman was especially nice about the way we worked together in keeping the girl calm.
I went back into the house and watched the police measure distances, examine the bike and talk to the driver of the car. I didn't even notice who was the driver while I was attending to the girl but now could see that the driver was a woman of about 40yrs, there were 2 young boys in the car with her. In trying to understand how the accident happened I can imagine that the girl tried to cross the road, or maybe was riding on the road, against the traffic. It happen just around a bend in the road so there would have been little chance for the driver to see the danger and for the girl to know that a car was coming.
Now, I am sure it could have been worse. The girl was lucky not to have been killed outright and we all have a little more respect for the dangerous corner that we live next to.
How fragile we all are.
Take care!
Yabby
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