Road safety event – “My first fatal road traffic incident was someone I knew”

John McKenna was a young trainee fire fighter when he witnessed his first fatal road traffic incident – made all the more difficult as the victim was someone he knew.

John is Station Commander with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service here in Orkney and has attended numerous serious incidents during his 32 years’ service, sadly many of these have involved the loss of life.

He said: “One incident stands out more than the others for me, not only was it the first fatal road traffic incident I attended but the victim was someone who I knew. I was a trainee retained firefighter at the time in a small village community in central Scotland and I was part of a crew who attended a collision between a car and a motorcycle only a few hundred metres from the fire station.

“A young man had become trapped beneath the engine of a car following a head on collision, his crash helmet had come off and his face was visible, I recognised him instantly as I was also a keen motorcyclist.

“There was a large motorcycling fraternity among young men at the time and most of us knew each other. The driver of the car, who was not at fault, was returning from hospital where only a few hours before he had witnessed a new life being brought into the world with his wife giving birth and he was now involved in an accident where a life was lost.”

People look to the emergency services to save lives – a commendable role but one that must come with a significant level of burden.

John described his feelings following that first fatal incident: “As a person it gave me a sense of my own mortality, at how quickly and easily a life can be lost. As a firefighter I realised I was not prepared for the effect it had on me, not when I knew the victim, also the culture at the time was not one where feelings were shared or spoken about openly.

“Tragically this was the second member of this family who had been involved in a serious road collision, I found myself avoiding people for a short while, so I did not have to talk about it as members of the community naturally had questions.

“An incident of this nature is big news in smaller, tighter communities.  The wider community itself suffered a period of time where it experienced a very high number of deaths and serious injuries on the roads within the county making it one of the worst in the UK.

“This culminated in a sustained campaign of road safety awareness talks for high-risk groups from blue light services that remain in place to this day. Thankfully these incidents have reduced dramatically through a combination of improved road engineering and speed control measures, active monitoring by Police Scotland and ongoing community education involving blue light services.

“Incidents like this are definitely more difficult in a small community, most people will know someone who is involved, including those who deal with the incident, first responders, hospital staff, doctors etc.  Grieving and coping post incident is also different, there can be great levels of support but there is also the possibility for there to be a lack of privacy for grieving families and survivors.

“This is where a small community can use its knowledge and contacts as an advantage; knowing when to provide support and knowing when to give people space and time to come to terms with any injury or loss.”