Crash

We and our neighbours have had a busy and traumatic morning as we dealt with the consequences of yet another car crash along one of the croft’s road frontages.

I was feeding the pigs around 7.15am when I heard a car approaching fast along Western Road from the Huntly direction and, as is often the case, I thought “another one going too fast”.

I looked up to see a black car come around the bend at considerable speed and start to slide on the through the water left by this morning’s light rain showers.

I thought “f***, they’re going to hit something”, dropped the pig bucket and started running for the road. I’d taken one or two paces when I head a huge bang.

As I ran to the gate, it swung open and I ran out onto the verge to find a VW Golf rammed into the end of our disused cottage with a woman lying on the road on the passenger side.

I quickly checked for other traffic, made sure there were no other victims in or out of the car, then ran over to her.

It didn’t look good as she was unconcious and lying on her side, but as I was checking her pulse and breathing she started to come around, asking for help.

I told her to lie still for a moment as I had to get more people out to help.

I stepped away from the car and shouted for the OH to come out. She didn’t hear me, but the neighbours in their house did and came out (it must have been a loud shout as they heard me through two-feet stone walls!).

I stayed with the injured woman until one of my neighbours could join us and comfort her, while I dashed to our house to get my father (who’s visiting) to come out, get the OH to call the emergency services, and collect the first-aid kit, lights, blankets and tools.

We then headed back to the car, where my dad - who’s ex-army and done this quite a few times - comforted the injured woman, discouraged her from moving and kept her head under control (she’d been thrown from a car in a crash so the assumption is possible spinal injuries).

I covered the woman with blankets to keep her warm and, as I was doing so, a passing motorist, who I discovered much later was an off-duty police officer, stopped, turned the car ignition off and helped with the injured woman.

That left me free to set out the lights to warn other vehicles and then turn my attention to the rest of the scene, to ensure it was as safe as we could make it.

We couldn’t get the car lights to switch off and, when I looked through a crack under the bonnet, I could see sparks jumping from the battery’s positive terminal to the bonnet. We could also smell fuel.

The OH now joined us, so she helped me wedge the bonnet open a crack, then I used a pair of bolt cutters to cut through the bonnet stay to get better access before disconnecting the battery.

The OH then took a light up the hill to flag down traffic while I went to get the Land Rover, which I parked on the same side of the road as the crash with the headlights and hazards lights on to provide some protection for the injured woman, my dad and the police officer.

Two police officers arrived soon after and their car replaced my Land Rover, which I then moved to the other side of the crash to provide some protection and allow the OH to come inside to see to our boys.

After that, it was just a matter of waiting for the fire service and ambulance to arrive, answer questions from the police and wait for things to be sorted out.

We don’t know how badly the woman was injured, but she didn’t look too good when she was taken away by the ambulance.

Our thanks to the police, fire service and ambulance team who did their usual excellent job.