Public Warned Not To Crowd Accident Scenes
Pini Bothoko | Tuesday November 16, 2021 06:00
Instead, crowds that gather are now being encouraged to not simply gawk at casualties to satisfy their curiosity and step in with life-saving skills as they would be the first people at the scene. The Motor Vehicle Accident (MVA) Fund has responded with a collaborative launch of basic First Aid Awareness Social Media video clips with the Botswana Chamber of Mines recently.
The clips are meant to educate and demonstrate to the public how to assist road crash victims at the scene whilst awaiting emergency medical services assistance and without aggravating their injuries.
The video clips, available across all social media platforms, will provide principles of first aid, sensitise the public on required action during emergencies, making the emergency, provide information on the privacy survey, basic life support, how to handle wounds, methods of stopping bleeding, how to handle fractures, provide first aid treatment and handling head and spinal injuries. Launching the social media video clips, Botswana Chamber of Mines chief executive officer (CEO), Charles Siwawa said the tendency of members of the public to crowd accident scenes makes them spectators instead of providing first aid and possibly saving lives. “Members of the public are usually the first people to arrive at the accident scenes hence it is vital to be equipped with first aid skills to save lives. Accidents continue to claim lives in high numbers and we have lost lives that could have been saved if people could have provided first aid assistance to the injured persons.
Their safety also as the public is compromised because anything can happen, especially in collision scenes,” he said.
He stated that a crowd can make it difficult for medics to move through and access injured people who require urgent medical help. Siwawa said he is hopeful that the video platforms would provide awareness, especially that they will be easily accessible across all social media platforms. “It is worrisome that a majority of people have the habit of crowding at the scene and at times go to an extent of obstructing and making medics take time to respond and access patients who need immediate help.
People just crowd the accident scenes and just look around without assisting, something that's very worrisome,” Siwawa said. He added that the video clips came at the right time as the festive season is fast approaching the time that road accidents escalate. Furthermore, Siwawa stated the importance of teaching children about road safety and the importance of first aid awareness to be part of the school curriculum from primary level.
He stated that educating children about road safety and the importance of basic first aid is vital as it can also help them to be informed on those issues and avoid causing accidents. “Some accidents occur because children were distracting their parents being the drivers hence important to teach them about road safety at an early stage,” he said. MVA fund road safety patron, the President of Business Botswana Gobusamang Keebine shared the same sentiments as Siwawa calling on members of the public to avoid crowding accident scenes and learn basic first aid tips to save lives.