If you own a motorcycle Wales and aren’t afraid of taking it out on a ride, doing this one thing might save your life if things go south.
Police are now urging all motorcyclists to take advantage of free CRASH cards which can give life saving information to emergency workers in the case of an accident.
Dyfed-Powys Police is encouraging bikers to fill these CRASH Cards containing crucial information about themselves as it can help save time if a person is unconscious or unable to communicate in emergency situations.
Road Safety Wales Partnership Chair, Rhys John-Howes, said: “At some point in your motorcycle riding life you may have an ‘unscheduled dismount’ or you may be with a rider who does. ‘CRASH’ is a set of easy to remember steps to keep you safe, as well as the unfortunate rider who has been involved in a collision.
“One side of the card has the mnemonic ‘CRASH’. The person making the 999 call is the most important person at the scene, because the information they give determines the response of the emergency services.” Read the biggest stories in Wales first by signing up to our daily newsletter here
The CRASH Cards are available to individual bikers, pillion passengers, and motorcycling club members in Wales. These contain a space to list the name and contact telephone number of a next of kin as several phones now need a pin code to access any information, which means that the ‘ICE’ number stored there cannot be retrieved.
Rhys John-Howes said: “The card follows a similar set of questions universally used by ambulance service control centres, and focuses on safety, the location of the collision, and how serious it is.
“The other side includes information used by the ambulance service and hospital, including space to list any medication to which they are allergic, current medical history and the details of any medication they currently take.”
The CRASH cards should be put in the lining of the helmet because that is where emergency services are going to be looking for it, and a rider can alert emergency responders to the card by putting the supplied green dot on the right-hand corner of your visor/helmet and make sure it’s not intruding your field of view.
Motorcyclists are also warned that removing a helmet after a collision is a skill that takes two people and should only be done by trained personnel, therefore they shouldn’t attempt to remove another rider’s helmet.
CRASH Cards are available from Road Safety Wales partner organisations or by contacting communication@roadsafetywales.org.uk.