According to the Stop the Bleed campaign, the average bleed out time is 3 to 5 minutes, while the average time for first responders to arrive is 7 to 10 minutes. In rural areas, this response time can be longer, between 30 to 45 minutes, due to large jurisdictions. With bleeding being the No. 1 cause of preventable death after injury, how can we fill this gap?
This is where bystanders come in as pinch hitters!
We can fill this gap by equipping individuals with this lifesaving skill. Stop the Bleed is an official program of the U.S. Department of Defense and a training program administered by the American College of Surgeons that prepares people to stop the bleeding of a severely injured person. Stop the Bleed, which prioritizes bystander safety, “encourages bystanders to become trained, equipped, and empowered to help in a bleeding emergency before professional help arrives.”
As transportation practitioners, we can double down and ensure that our staff that are out on the roadways have this lifesaving training and the tools necessary to assist if needed.
In the words of Stop the Bleed, “the only thing more tragic than death, is a death that could have been prevented.”
For Rural Road Safety Awareness Week (RRSAW), we are exploring what practitioners and the general traveling public can do to promote the success of post-crash care and save lives on our rural roadways.
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The National Center for Rural Road Safety provides coordinated, multidisciplinary, scalable, and accessible safety resources in order to empower rural road users to accelerate road safety improvements and save lives.
