CWTK - Worst accident you have witnessed

[Crashlington]

I count myself lucky in life that I have not witnessed a fatality or extremely bad crash. I would like to know though, what is the worst accident/incident whether on the road or off it, that you have seen first hand.

The worst one for me that springs to memory was on the R1 ride a few years back where a forum member slid off the road from blue metal being on there and ended up a few metres into the bushes. Whilst we were taking off his jacket (after determining we couldnt keep him still), we noticed bloody running down his arm. Turns out he had hit a rock whilst flying through the air and put a hole in his arm and broken some small bones in his elbow. Took the ambos about an hour to get there but thankfully, all the major nerves and the artery were missed by millimetres.

Not forcing anyone to put up something they don't want to but for those that do, what were the circumstances of the incident and what did you do?

[RsvPaul]

i was on a cb250 20 years ago coming back from birdswood
It was a Sunday and this guy was on a Kr250 green and black) and he over took me around a left hand bend and i remember thinking what a dick.
Then as i went around the bend and looked up, saw him heading for a tree around a right hand bend, he was going too fast and then he bounced off the tree.
He was in alot of pain, cars pulling up putting blankets on him, ambulance only took 10 minutes as there is a hospital in Gumeracha.

I watched the 830pm news that night and they pronounced him dead

[19andrew59]

Many, many years ago, driving towies part time, lady in an MG made it most of the way under a tabletop truck.
Her head was in the back seat.

We were riding back down the Pacific Hwy one Friday night when a bloke on a Katana (they were new then) went past us like we'd stopped for a smoke.
Put himself straight into a rock wall then the bike stuffed what was left of him down an open drain.
Two other riders went for help, I and a few others sat with him for the forty minutes it took him to die.
Nothing any of us could do for him.

Bloke driving a HQ wagon head on with a tree.
Thing was though, he'd been drinking a long neck at the time and the steering wheel drove it out the back of his neck.
Fortunately, everyone else got out with minor injuries.

[Sventek]

I saw a kid knocked off his bike about 25 years ago. He went flying through the air - to me it was in slow motion - hit his head on the kerb, and died. That was the first time I really realised how dark blood is. Lots of other people rushed to his assistance (I had a clear view, but was a few cars back), so all I did was provide witness details. I was never contacted about it.

[g0zer]

Many, many years ago, driving towies part time, lady in an MG made it most of the way under a tabletop truck.
Her head was in the back seat.

when i was in high school we were behind a semi heading towards south street murdoch lights. truck went through too late on the amber red change and cleaned up a motorbike and dragged it. was at night so all we saw was an explosion of sparks from under the truck. pretty sure we saw the riders head come out the back too, only good thing about it was it was at night.

[mystery]

Stu Campbell's crash a few years back in the basin at Barbagello when he did some pretty serious damage to his back. Very nasty crash, I think this was one of the first times I was up there as a marshall.

[Daise]

Simoncelli's crash.

IRL, being a passenger in a car that hit a woman trying to kill herself on Reid Hwy. Between Alexander Dve and Mirrabooka westbound, at midnight. Stupid bitch was walking in the middle of the lane in the same direction as traffic. It was pitch black, we only had low beams (borrowed car) and struck her just after the crest. It's amazing how much gets burned in to your memory in an instant - she never turned to look when the car approached, and I remember the fact that she was wearing socks, but no shoes. She rolled over the right side of the vehicle and vanished into the dark. The driver swerved to avoid her but clipped her with the right side of the car. Luckily, she survived. Turned out she was on weekend release from a happy hospital. And the driver copped a suspension from leaving the scene (panicked, but returned within 10 minutes).

This was several years ago and I still have trouble driving at night, particularly in unlit areas. Even thinking of it now makes my skin crawl.

[Evil Dwarf]

...

[agrid]

When I was about 15. A head on, mum and dad in the front dead, kids in the back screaming.

[Prefectionist]

Saw a kid on a push bike a year or so ago get hit by a car at the Barrington Street/Stock Road lights. A truck was waiting to turn right onto the industrial side of Barrington Street, and the kid and his mate rode out from in front of it, while there was still a green arrow to go straight. Lucky for them the old lady in the Mercedes decided not to go through the lights at 80km/h. He bounced a bit, got up and hobbled over to sit on the grass.

Also saw a guy on a bike hit a plank of wood laying in the middle of the road somewhere in Rockingham.

Both were very minor compared to what you guys have seen though.

[grum666]

Early nineties, 5am on the way to training saw the aftermath of a car hitting one of the trees in the median strip on west coast hwy just after Oceanic drive (heading south).
Car was split in half and people were doing CPR on driver / passenger, couldn't tell as they were a long way from the car!

[GreenMeanie]

I have seen some horror incidents in my earthmoving and driving career. Most caused by absolute stupidity and a few by just plain bad luck. Either I have chosen not to remember the worst or my mind chooses for me to forget.
Some of the most horrific involved trucks on the Old Hume Hwy, Pacific Hwy and Bruce Hwy.
The most tragic was on the Bruce Hwy. A experienced driver avoided a car that crossed to his side of the road. He took avoiding action and crashed his truck. The other vehicle was virtually untouched because of that. The crash killed his wife and kids as they were in the truck with him. Saving someone else and costing yourself.

[Spock]

I once saw the result of an accident involving a truck vs pedestrian - the paramedics were using a shovel to get bits of flesh into a body bag.

[milesiles]

Have not seen much on the road but seen a few nasty paragliding injuries. Saw a guy pendulum swing into a massive rock, broke his back and a few other bones, knew it was gonna be bad before it even happened. Ambos took about an hour to arrive, then another half hour for the chopper they called. Could do nothing but try comfort him. Nice guy, his wife had been pestering him to give it up as she thought it was too dangerous. All he could do was worry about what his wife was gonna say and his kids while he lying in extreme pain.

Then saw another pilot land on HV power lines. Again, nothing you can do from the ground, just watch. Called 000 before he even hit the ground. He was pretty messed up, big burnt chunks missing from his ankles. At the time I was involved with the committee so was involved in an investigation and it came out from western power that they cut the power for a few seconds to allow what is on the lines a chance to fall off (usually a tree branch or animal), then send another 20,000 volts down to clear it. Lucky bugger.

[xsnoiz]

When I was younger living in Bunbury, was the only witness to a couple of guys losing control on Beach Road, at the Jarvis Street intersection. They took out a couple of roadside trees, a neighbour's car and a power pole. The driver wasn't wearing a seatbelt, and was flung free, where the guy wire of the power pole decapitated him. I was 8 or 9 at the time.

[Max Power]

Think i'm going to lock myself in my bedroom and never venture outside ever again, some pretty horrific stories goin on up there

[McFly]

When we were about 6,5 and 3 we lived in a small North west town and my brothers and I were in the back of a soft top Suzuki 4x4 coming home after school when a guy on a current model (1976) Suzuki 900-1000 cc rode straight through and off a left 45 degree sweep in the road not far from the turn of to our street (a cul de sac). This was the edge of town and basically he flew of the road into a boulder filled gully. We yelled at mum that the motorbike that had been following us for several kilometers had run off the road. At first she didn't believe us but when she got to our street she turned around and headed back. Our tears and shouting probably had something to do with this, as any motorcycle rider was considered the "King of the Road" to us and required lots of shouting and waving as they rode past us standing up on the back seat of the car (pre seat-belt laws or general 70's country child raising).

We showed mum where he had gone off the road, at the apex of a 45 degree bend in the road but when she stood there all she could see was his bike about 50m off in the scrub smashed up on a pile of huge boulders. We jumped out to help her and only when we were right at the grass edge of the road did we look down a 6 foot drop off and he was hidden in the high grass. Mum scrambled down to help him with me coming after her. She could not lift or move him as he was over 6 foot and out cold. He was choking on the helmet strap as the helmet was rolled forward and pulling up into his throat. Mum didn't know how to undo the strap so she managed to move the helmet back a little but he was still choking to some degree.

Mum told me to run to the nearest house and ask for a knife to cut the strap. I ran 100m or so to the nearest house. It happen that I didn't know who lived there and when I knocked on the door the lady answer to this distraught crying 6 year old spluttering and asking for a big knife "to help cut the rope off a mans head". She obliged but did take the knife to mum rather than hand to me, smart lady. It was a serrated bread knife which looked a bit gnarly to cut a helmet strap with though it did the job.

Long and short was the guy's helmet came off, ambo arrived took him away, and we headed home for dinner. He worked in the same area as our dad (if I remember right) and we got to meet him once he got out of hospital, he came to our house to say thanks to mum and us.

Not the worst accident I have ever seen but the first bike accident an one that stays with me all my life.

[mekon]

A few over the years, but a lady cut up under a train at Victoria station Mosman park well over a decade ago. Suicide.

[Deano]

Saw a car hit a power pole 1sec from 60kph (so braking down to about 50 I'd guess). Crumple zone absorbed most of it, woman driver was protected by airbag, husband not so lucky -- he was knocked out but otherwise fine. First time I got to truly exercise my SFA, although I did make a rookie mistake by removing him from the vehicle. Supported him entirely with assistance from bystanders, I just didn't feel safe working around a vehicle with fluid going everywhere. Live and learn I guess; I know now it was a dumb thing to do. Suspect I will see a lot more in my future occupation.

[McGoo]

Saw a car hit a power pole 1sec from 60kph (so braking down to about 50 I'd guess). Crumple zone absorbed most of it, woman driver was protected by airbag, husband not so lucky -- he was knocked out but otherwise fine. First time I got to truly exercise my SFA, although I did make a rookie mistake by removing him from the vehicle. Supported him entirely with assistance from bystanders, I just didn't feel safe working around a vehicle with fluid going everywhere. Live and learn I guess; I know now it was a dumb thing to do. Suspect I will see a lot more in my future occupation.

If you are worried about danger to yourself, you are never wrong. If you aren't safe, nothing else matters or even happens until you are. If you have to move someone or something to make it safe, then that's what has to happen.