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Auto Trader Trucks team pick up life-saving first aid skills
Auto Trader Trucks has shown its support for a national road safety initiative by encouraging team members to learn new skills that could save lives.
Words by: Auto Trader
Published on 2 March 2018 | 0 min read
Driver First Assist (DFA) is a not-for-profit organisation that arranges training courses across the UK. The group works with individual professional drivers as well as companies, equipping them with skills and first aid knowledge that could make all the difference at the scene of an accident. Expert instructors who are either current members of the emergency services, or have previous frontline experience, deliver the DFA's one-day courses.
Colleagues from Auto Trader Trucks were taught the correct steps to take if they come across an accident, including how best to manage the scene before the emergency services arrive. The course also focussed on basic first aid techniques that could significantly increase the chances of survival of casualties who've been critically injured. According to the DFA, many road deaths can be linked to a blocked airway. Once a casualty has stopped breathing, death can follow in just four minutes, yet the target response time for an ambulance is twice that. The DFA hopes that by providing professional drivers with the ability to administer emergency first aid, many lives can be saved. Joanne Earl, an Account Manager at Auto Trader Trucks, was able to put her newly learnt skills to the test less than 24 hours later. She said: "The course content and delivery were great. I actually put my training into action the following day by assisting a cyclist who had been involved in a road traffic collision. I created a safe zone until the emergency services arrived at the scene and can definitely say I benefited from the additional knowledge and guidance received as a result of the course." Last week, DFA founder David Higginbottom highlighted the potential role that HGV drivers can play in helping to cut road deaths. Speaking to the Road Haulage Association, he said: "HGV drivers represent a huge, immediate-response resource. They are often first at the scene of an accident yet few are trained in first aid skills – skills that can mean the difference between life and death. "The medical knowledge of the first person to arrive at the scene is critically important. Over half of those seriously injured in a road traffic collision lose their life before the emergency services even arrive. It's easy to see why proper emergency training really can make the difference between life or death for the victim."
Colleagues from Auto Trader Trucks were taught the correct steps to take if they come across an accident, including how best to manage the scene before the emergency services arrive. The course also focussed on basic first aid techniques that could significantly increase the chances of survival of casualties who've been critically injured. According to the DFA, many road deaths can be linked to a blocked airway. Once a casualty has stopped breathing, death can follow in just four minutes, yet the target response time for an ambulance is twice that. The DFA hopes that by providing professional drivers with the ability to administer emergency first aid, many lives can be saved. Joanne Earl, an Account Manager at Auto Trader Trucks, was able to put her newly learnt skills to the test less than 24 hours later. She said: "The course content and delivery were great. I actually put my training into action the following day by assisting a cyclist who had been involved in a road traffic collision. I created a safe zone until the emergency services arrived at the scene and can definitely say I benefited from the additional knowledge and guidance received as a result of the course." Last week, DFA founder David Higginbottom highlighted the potential role that HGV drivers can play in helping to cut road deaths. Speaking to the Road Haulage Association, he said: "HGV drivers represent a huge, immediate-response resource. They are often first at the scene of an accident yet few are trained in first aid skills – skills that can mean the difference between life and death. "The medical knowledge of the first person to arrive at the scene is critically important. Over half of those seriously injured in a road traffic collision lose their life before the emergency services even arrive. It's easy to see why proper emergency training really can make the difference between life or death for the victim."