We've had a couple of great days of weather here in the midwest, and my fiance and I decided we were going to go out for a quick walk down to the corner grocery store to get some exercise - when we watched a pretty terrible ATV accident unfold right in front of us.

A couple of guys were drag racing their ATV's down a residential street when one of them lost control and dumped it. He was going a pretty solid 35 - 40 when he was ejected, and bounced his head pretty good on the sidewalk (Yes, he managed to jump the curb...) and was unconscious.

I was about a 1/4 block away from him when it happened, and by the time I got to him I already had my phone out and had contacted 911, and informed them we had an ATV accident, the age of the driver, that he was unconsious and breathing shallow and labored. I gave a quick assessment of his condition - gash to the head, bleeding from his nose.. and an arm that appeared to bent at a slightly strange angle.

Other who ran up to him seemed to want to immediatly flip him onto his back, but I spoke up and recommended to NOT move him at all, that his breathing was not obstructed.

911 told me if I had a something clean to help stop the bleeding a little I could use that, so I pulled out my EDC and had a few bandages that I used to help slow the bleeding until the first responders showed up about five minutes later. He actually started to wake up right before they arrived, and he wanted to try to get up.. but when he moved he winced a lot and said his arm was hurting a lot. He didn't know what had happened, but I tried to keep him calm and told him not to move.

When the paramedics arrived, they really thanked me for helping out - I think they were a little surprised that someone had a first aid kit on them right at the scene of the accident.

The police showed up, took statements etc.. The driver was very lucky, he missed a parked car by about a foot with his body. If he would have hit the car, I am sure his injuries would have probably been even more severe.

There have been a slew of ATV accidents here over the last few months, and police have been pretty much powerless to catch them as they are pretty hard to catch. This incident will definately slow down these two drag racing "Big Kids" for a while I am sure.

In short - you never know when you might be able to render a little aid to someone. It felt good knowing I was a little prepared for something as unexpected as this.