It’s only been a few weeks since I posted about the number of RTC’s we attend where a major contributory factor to the injuries received is the lack of wearing seat belts.

Yet this in the early hours of this morning, the Chaos shift had to turn out to yet another scene of mangled debris and destruction. This time we were met by the sight that we see far too often, and is so easily avoided.

The driver of the only vehicle involved in this collision was out of his car by the time we arrived. By out, I mean ejected ….. through the windscreen and onto the not so soft, fluffy and forgiving tarmacadam surface of the carriageway.

Sadly, there was nothing that could be done for this guy – he was dead by the time we arrived; probably (and hopefully) he’d died instantly and without too much suffering. But there would be suffering; the dead person was only in his thirties – somewhere this guy would most likely still have a mom and dad around, possibly a partner, maybe even kids. Whatever the make-up of this man’s personal circumstance, someone will suffer the consequences of his actions for a very, very long time.

I mean YES the guy was travelling far too quickly (witnesses told us that straight away), YES he was on an unlit country road (but you should still drive to the conditions, speed limits are exactly that, a limit not a target), YES he probably was late home and YES the whole sequence of events was most likely his own fault – but that is no comfort to those left behind; and even less comfort will be the fact, and it will come out at the inquest if not before, that if he’d spent two or three seconds fastening his seat belt, the whole outcome would 99% guaranteed have been a different matter.

With the scene contained, and the Road Collision Team in place to begin the investigation proper, it was down to myself and our Sarge to break the news to the family. Thankfully, the chap had ID on him and it matched the keeper details of the car, which came back to an address less than a mile from where we were.

We arrived at the address within a couple of minutes. Lights were still on downstairs. You need to have been in the position we now found ourselves in to understand the thoughts and feelings that were going through our minds. There was no need for the Sarge or I to converse on the matter any more; as experienced coppers we both knew what lay ahead.

I suddenly remembered watching one of those TV Cops on Camera type shows – it may have been Traffic Cops or Road Wars, I can’t recall, but I clearly recalled at this point a scene where a traffic officer had to go and tell a family their daughter had been killed outright; crushed by a lorry driver who it later turned out had been on his mobile phone. He referred to this point as ‘The Longest Walk’ and he was right – there were two of us there but it was one of the loneliest places you would ever want to be.

The knotted sick feeling in our stomachs was only compounded walking down the short garden path as we realised, around us were the signs of children; a skateboard; a bike just left propped against the wall; a toy JCB on the grass – these were things that despite the hours of darkness, just shone straight at us as if illuminated by an arc lamp. It really doesn’t matter how long you’ve been in the job, this is one task that will never get easier.

Standing at the front door, we could see the TV on in the front room, but on knocking it seemed to take forever to get a response. After what seemed like eternity, but was probably only a few seconds, the door was answered by a pretty young lady, tucked up in her pyjama’s, of somewhere around the same age as our victim. “May we come in a moment” Sarge asked in somewhat of a low voice (which in itself was unheard of for him). “Of course” was the reply “is it my husband you’re here to see, he’s not home yet, due any minute if you don’t mind waiting”. Deep breath time.

“Shall we sit down” I said, trying to be as calm and reassuring as possible, but that was it – instantly, call it woman’s intuition if you like, but instantly she knew something was wrong, and it was bad. “What’s happened, where’s MIke, is he okay, has he been arrested” all blurted out in about half a second. “I’m afraid there’s been an acci…” what about as far as the Sergeant got before the poor lady in front of us realised where this was going and simply collapsed into a screaming heap on the floor in front of us.

Almost immediately, the children appeared in he doorway behind us and came running over to mummy; crying and screaming although at this point they knew not why – just that mummy was very upset herself. It was horrendous. I’ve been around the block and back a few times, seen and dealt with almost everything the great British public could throw at me, but right then I’d rather be anywhere else in the world. But I couldn’t be; that’s the job we do, and just another of those things that gets forgotten about when the number crunchers are dreaming up ways to further reduce our numbers and capabilities.

“Is there anyone else, family, we can call to come round and be with you ?” I asked. Through the sobs we established the nearest relatives were Mike’s parents, 30 plus miles away. We needed them here … and now. Sarge left the room quickly to radio the control room and get them on the case – we needed officers at their door pronto; and them transporting over here even quicker. The traffic department were great – there was no way we would let the parents drive themselves after receiving news like that and given the circumstances it was decided they would be ‘blue-lighted’ here to support the family. Even then, time stood still whilst we waited their arrival. There is simply no level of training (especially these days) that can prepare any officer for a scenario like this; only time and experience. And sadly this was by no means the first, nor will it be the last time yours truly was in this position.

Once mum and dad had arrived, we gave them all the information we had, excluding the seat belt knowledge; that could wait for another time. We explained what would happen next and that a Family Liaison Officer was already allocated and on the way. Once the FLO arrived, we said our goodbyes, offered our sympathies and left the family to grieve in piece. We had been there a little over an hour, but it felt like all night. I don’t think a word was said on the whole drive back to the station nor for the rest of the shift, which thankfully was very quiet.

It’s very rare that I take my work home with me, but this was one of those times when it was unavoidable. My house was all quiet when I got home. Mrs Chaos and the Chaos kids were all still fast asleep in bed. I sat in silence on our sofa, and am not ashamed to say the tears rolled down my cheeks. Not for the dead guy, not really; but for the wife and children, and his parents, left behind to deal with the aftermath, all because he couldn’t be bothered to put a seat belt on.

I also knew, that within a couple of days, I would be stopping another motorist for a seat belt offence, and I knew that without a doubt I would be on he receiving end of a tirade of abuse, demanding to know why I “haven’t got anything better to do’” and why I’m always “persecuting the innocent motorist”. Personally I would like to look at it as saving your life, but there’s no need to thank me.

And one random image keeps coming back into my mind – nothing to do with the mangled car, or the shattered windscreen, or the casualty lying in a mangled heap in the carriageway – no; it’s the sight of a small yellow plastic toy JCB lying on the grass by the victims front door.

Constable Chaos

Richard B July 11,
2012 at 01:59

A very moving piece, and thank you for posting it. Like other commenters, I
am not comfortable with the idea that the State should protect us from
ourselves, but that does nothing to diminish the respect I have for the people
who have to do the kind of awful duty you describe here.

Plodnomore July 10, 2012 at 22:11

Have had the exprience of doing that walk a number of times, though I could
not have described it so eloquently or moving. The first time was to notify a
mother that her 5 year old son had been knocked down and killed (her husband,
who had been with the boy, was in intensive care). In all, my Sgt, a woman
with 14 years experience, and I were with that lady for 4 hours until her
sister could get there. Back at the station I locked myself in the toilet and
bawled my eyes out. The next day, in briefing, my Inspector mentioned how
disappointed he was that we had not met our targets in stop and search and
suggested that we were ‘coasting’. My Sgt stood up, took out her pocket book,
handed it to the Inspector and asked him to read the last 10 pages before
walking out of the room. Silence. Then the Inspector apologised and took the
PNB back to the Sgt. I did a further 16 years before being retired medically
after being assaulted but I never forgot that. Incidents like this happen
every day somewhere in the UK and the Police, Fire and Rescue. and Ambulance
have to deal with it. Meanwhile, in a plush office overlooking the Thames, a
politician will look at the ‘value for money’ statistics on the emergency
services and decide they’re not worth the money they’re being paid. Once that
decision has been made, they will go off to their subsidised restaurant, eat a
subsidised meal and drink subsidised wines and liqueurs before returning to
their plush offices to do more harm to the nation.

Engineer July 11, 2012 at 08:24

When the public purse is empty – when the money earned is far less than
the money spent – the books have to be balanced. Looking for ‘value for
money’ isn’t just a whim, it’s an unpalatable necessity given where the
country is economically.

Friend of Dog
July 11, 2012 at 10:29

I too have walked the walk and cried the tears and I agree that the
books have to be balanced but why does the axe always have to fall on
those at the bottom of the pile, preferably those not allowed, or
unwilling, to take industrial action.

Engineer
July 11, 2012 at 11:02

It isn’t just falling on those at the bottom of the pile, but I agree
that pay cuts, pension cuts or in extremis, job cuts are no easier on a
public servant than they are on somebody in the private sector. The
simple truth is that life ain’t fair – if the situation hadn’t been
allowed to develop in the first place (and political stupidity and
hubris played it’s part in it’s developing) the need to face hard
choices would be somewhat less.

Joe Public July 10, 2012 at 19:12

Thanks for sharing that thought-provoking experience.

Sadly, all your, and your colleagues’ efforts will not achieve a single
extra ‘tick’ in one of those boxes that the bean-counters demand as a
demonstration that crime has been reduced. [And which is so essential to
preserve the jobs of said bean counters.]

Frankie July 10, 2012 at 18:55

An excellent piece, Con Chaos… Who is it that says that police officers are
thick, uncaring, unfeeling, ignorant robots?? Clearly, not…

Over the past 20 or so years I too have made the ‘longest walk’, to deliver
the news no one wants to hear. Occasionally, I have had to do it twice or more
on the same day. There is no formulae for this most difficult and upsetting of
jobs. You just take a deep breath and do your best. I can remember every one
of them as if it were yesterday… where they were, who they were, what I said,
the reaction I got, everything. I always felt that I could have said something
better, delivered the blow more gently or somehow made the awful situation
somehow easier, but I have never felt I have succeeded in this, but not for
want of trying.

I will not sully this post by referring too much that the difficulties that
the police service finds itself in at present; wagons drawn in a circle and
hostile politicians howling for blood, but there are plenty of good blokes and
blokesess ‘in the job’ who do care and who are worthy of our best thoughts,
especially on a day after one of us has made the ultimate sacrifice…

Engineer July 11, 2012 at 08:16

“Hostile politicians howling for blood…”

Politicians can be idiots, politicians can be hypocrites. No arguments
about that. However, the country finds itself in a situation where it’s
public spending vastly exceeds public earnings week on week, month on month,
year on year. How we came to be in that position is debated at length in
other places, but it does not alter the simple facts of the matter. The
current crop of idiot politicians is simply trying to address that
unpalatable problem; nothing to do with ideologies.

Life isn’t a fairy story when everybody lives happily ever after – I
don’t need to tell you that, you know as well, or better, than most. If it
was possible to spend more money on public services, I’m quite sure many
would. But we don’t have more money, we have a lot less money, and that
situation doesn’t look like improving for some years. The current ‘cuts’,
not limited to the Police, are simply an attempt to balance the country’s
books. No more, no less.

Frankie July 11, 2012 at 23:15

I have no wish to disagree with you, but… If this is jut an attempt to
‘balance the books’, why , having read the entire Winsor report, Parts 1
and 2 am I convinced, as are all those with an interest, that it is an
attempt at root and branch reform of the police and why, for goodness
sake, are we still building a couple of aircraft carriers that will have
no aircraft to fly off them for ten years and more, other than
helicopters?? Billions of £’s. Two HUGE white elephants, one of which will
be immediately ‘mothballed’.. There are other examples of massive,
profligate Government wastage…

If the Government were serious about cutting wastage it would fire off
the thousands of people who run the procurement department of the armed
forces, which is massively overstaffed, and also the thousands of NHS
managers, of which there are so many that it is nearly man to man marking
vis a vis nursing staff.

This is far more insidious than an attempt to cut costs.

Engineer
July 12, 2012 at 11:26

I’d add a few more to the ‘why oh why’ list. The ridiculous HS2
railway, for example, and the daft adherence to wind-farm construction.
I agree entirely about overstaffing in the NHS (it should not have been
a ‘special case’), and about MOD procurement. The aircraft carriers were
a stitch-up by the previous government; by making the cancellation
charges effectively higher than the build costs, somebody who shall
remain nameless assured ongoing work in his constituency.

Cost-cutting is happening, albeit patchily. I don’t belittle the pain
that will cause those who end up cut, but then as we said, life is
seldom fair, as those in their 50′s trying to provide a pension for
themselves in the private sector will readily attest. Police reform is
also contentious, I accept that too. From the point of an ordinary,
law-abiding member of the public, I’d like to see more bobbies on the
beat, more neighbourhood local coppers, more attention given to the
supposedly mundane stuff like petty vandalism. I think if coppers have
good local knowledge of their patch, they are in a position to nip a lot
of things in the bud before they become serious. We have just that where
I live now, and it works. We’ve lost it in too many places. I don’t seek
to belittle the difficulties of the job, and I certainly don’t blame the
Constables and Sargeants at the sharp end. If current refom efforts get
coppers out from behind desks and back on the streets, I’m in favour.
Clearly, I’m in no position to understand the details on the ‘inside’ of
policing, but I do feel that a divide has opened between the police and
law-abiding public over the last twenty or thirty years – the police
often do not feel like ‘part of the community’ any more. Anything that
helps to rebuild that link is a good thing from my point of view.

JimS July 10, 2012 at 18:16

I don’t envy you your job but we can always say “if only…” after the event.
Sadly, though young men will always kill themselves however much we try and
stop them.

You imply that the parents were brought to the daughter-in-law’s aid at
speed; excessive speed? Blue lights don’t suspend Newton’s Laws of motion. A
near miss “if only…”.

It was the anniversary of my brother’s death this weekend. A drunk driver
pulled across his path in a stolen vehicle driving in the wrong direction.
If only the police had arrested and detained that driver when he was
found drunk and asleep in a vehicle that didn’t belong to him two days
earlier. If only the highway authorities had closed the cut-through he
used when they first raised the issue. Three years and 13 casualties later
they did.

Post-incident the police support was excellent, the liaison officer
couldn’t have been better. For the funeral police motorcyclists ensured that
the cortege had a clear run and remained intact.

As for seat belts, well for me it is as automatic as closing the door.
Don’t driving instructors do these things by drill any more? Second nature, no
thought required.

alan July 10, 2012 at 16:16

For the most part this an excellent piece, but I found the overall tone
very authoritarian; the state must protect us from ourselves.

I would be stopping another motorist for a seat belt
offence
Constable Chaos, I have great admiration for the police and the
harsh realities of life you, and your fellow officers, have to deal with every
day. But I have to ask. When the law crosses the boundary between using the
police to protect the public, to protecting the individual from themselves,
why do the police not understand they will rapidly lose the respect of,
otherwise law abiding, individuals?

Further, the law hasn’t kept up with technology. Air bags? Which does
create an interesting debate between the spirit of the law and the letter of
the law.

Stephen July 10, 2012 at 13:03

My thoughts and thanks go out to you and your colleagues, I was wincing
just reading your account. I suppose it is all part of the job – but most of
us should be very grateful that someone other than ourselves is doing it.
Perhaps to get the message across your post should be added to PHSE lessons in
school. It shouldn’t be beyond the wit of man to design cars that don’t start
unless the seat belts are being used.

bruce July 12, 2012 at 10:08

I seem to remember reading about that idea yonks ago. It may well have
been outside the UK. Drivers got around it: they buckled the belts across
the seats, then sat on top of them.

Remember everyone, half the drivers on the road are of less than average
intelligence. This also applies to consideration, courtesy, reaction time
and a host of other factors.

GildasTheMonk
July 10, 2012 at 12:56

An excellent piece Constable, and very moving. I think Raccoontage is often
at its very best when it speaks from the real life experiences of our landlady
and the occassional contributors like yourself.

Trundlemaster
July 10, 2012 at 11:35

Appalling but moving story. Don’t know what else I can say.

TBH July 10, 2012 at 11:14

A very moving piece- for me especially- as my mother was the woman in a
similar story in a different time and place, and I was one of the children
confused and upset at what was going on, never to see my father again.
I
agree that we have a strong moral obligation to look after ourselves, for the
responsibilities we have to others- that moral responsibility being more so
when we have small children as dependents/ elderly parents etc. With all that
said, it is very much up to me to risk manage my own life, by choosing to
drive to work when I know how many people die on the roads, by
smoking/drinking/eating fatty food when I have risk data on these activities
at my fingertips, or by pushing myself in a stressful job when I know stress
is one of the main casues of early death and heart attacks.
While your
argument has dressed up the point, that the seat belt law is to protect the
unseen victims of such tragic events, in fact, you are really suggesting that
the law should take up the pursuit of protecting us from ourselves. As I can’t
be expected to take responsibility for myself, even for the sake of my wife
and children, the law should step in and take that responsibility for me- and
in the process, remove a fundamental part of being an adult.
By couching
your language in the emotive, you lose sight of the principle at stake. I can
think of a hundred examples, but let’s take a couple: if it was shown that
wearing an inflatable cusion suit reduced the chance of serious injury by 50%,
should we legislate that all people should now wear an inflatable suit when
driving? Would we then deride as irrisponsible the casualty who wasn’t wearing
his infltable suit, and use this to make the case for stronger enforcement of
said law? If no- why is this different from a seat belt? If yes, then where
does it end?
Just to add, I do feel for you, in that giving news like this
must be a very horrible task, and I have every respect for you doing it. You
cannot legislate away danger, and you will never rule against tradgedy. The
best thing we can do is teach people to behave like adults and take
responsibility for their own lives.

Mudplugger
July 10, 2012 at 15:28

My thoughts too.

alan July 10, 2012 at 16:30

Yup, Very well put.

binao July 10, 2012 at 17:51

Serious stuff, and a reminder of the respect we owe the frontline
police.
I do agree about the need to reinforce our own responsibilities,
but I’m sure the huge reduction in UK road deaths, now a quarter of what
they were in the late 60′s, could only have been obtained by legislation
(including vehicle improvements) and enforcement. Big wins.
I noticed
last week on a brief dash from Dieppe the H. Vienne and back via Vendee, not
just a lot of new speed cameras, but locals mainly driving under the speed
limit. And very few of the traditional tailgaters.
So I guess the French
buy into this too.

MIM July 11, 2012 at 11:18

You’re making many valid points, and perhaps the written internet is not
the best way to discuss areas of agreement and disagreement. Whereas I agree
that you can’t legislate away danger, and that we as adults are responsible
for our own safety, there is a place too, in my opinion, for legal
constraints on our risk-taking. These might arise where the risks are simple
to avoid, and must also take into account that the taxpayer is expected to
bear the burden of nursing back to health those people who are still alive
after an accident. There is a balance to be struck.

Ed P July 10, 2012 at 11:10

That’s a very moving and sad tale, which brings back a similar event in my
family. My mother & stepfather were wearing seat belts when they had a bad
crash, but the rear seat passengers were not and suffered major injuries. My
stepfather, driving, was killed in the impact, made certain by the unbelted
passenger behind him forcing his seat forward so he was crushed between it and
the steering wheel. There’s complacency nowadays due to airbags, but the one
behind you is the greater danger.

JuliaM July 10,
2012 at 15:27

And any unbelted dog or unsecured luggage too…

Anna
Raccoon July 10, 2012 at 16:05

Especially those ghetto blasters they keep on the back window sill
around Brixton way – always thought one of those could take your head off
in an emergency stop!

Lerxst
July 13, 2012 at 00:57

Funny you should say that. I had a bit of an accident a couple of
years ago. Ended up upside down in a ditch actually, hanging by the
seatbelt. I was very fortunate though and walked away with nothing more
than a minor case of whiplash, and a bruised shoulder from where the
factory-installed CD player had shot out of the dash and clobbered
me…

Hysteria July 10, 2012 at 11:10

Powerful stuff. As a safety professional (in the oil and gas business) it
is one of the great frustrations dealing with the sheer waste, the totally
avoidable heartache that characterizes all “accidents” – actually – that is a
word I wish we could stop using….

bruce July 10, 2012 at 12:31

Have you noticed – the emergency services now call them RTCs, not RTAs,
as in collisions not accidents.