Outdoor Survival Tips
Helpful Tips for New ATV Riders
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Emergency Situations
Emergency situations while ATV'ing will tax all of
your knowledge, experience, and judgment. Paul Petzoldt, the founder of the
National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) and the Wilderness Education
Association (WEA) once said, "Rules are for fools." He meant that you can’t
categorize situations into a simple rule to handle each scenario. Each situation
is unique so ATV travelers need to assess the situation and make your best
determination on the best response.
ATV First Aid - Who's in charge?
On some ATV trips there may be organized trip
leaders and participants. In this case part of the definition of the trip leader
role is to take charge in the event of an emergency. Other trips may be a group
of friends out for a trip. In this case there may be no assigned trip leaders
and everyone shares the load and the responsibility for making group decisions.
While this distributed leadership model works well when deciding where to camp
or how long to ride on a particular day, it is not the best approach when there
is a serious problem or emergency. At this point, the best thing is for a few
people (one or two) with the proper experience and training to take charge. This
is something that should be determined before the trip departs. The group
should decide who has the skill and experience to take over in an emergency
and/or who the group is willing to delegate this responsibility to. From this
point forward we will consider that, in an emergency, every group has a trip
leader or leaders. Note that depending on the type of emergency, there might be
different people who would take charge. In the event of a lost person, it might
be the person with the most backpacking or search and rescue experience. In a
first aid situation it might be the person with the highest level of formal
first aid or medical training.
Trip leaders must intimately understand certain
realities about injuries and illness if they are to deal with them effectively.
Most trips are 2-24 hours from having professional medical help arrive at their
accident site. The group is dependent upon the trip leaders to take full charge
of the situation—the trip leaders must care for the physiological and
psychological needs of both the victim and the group. A trip leader who puts
him/herself in danger physically or emotionally for the "good of the victim" is
a liability to the victim and to the group.
These realities suggest certain leadership
strategies. First and foremost, the trip leaders must stay calm and inspire
confidence in the group and in each other that the situation is being handled in
the best way. Talk through every step confidently and out loud. This way trip
leaders can fill in each other’s omission and nothing will be rushed into.
Depending on the nature of the emergency, it may be productive to ask the group
for suggestions, they may have good ideas. However, there are also times when
opening up the discussion too much only bogs down the issue and prevents people
from taking the necessary immediate actions.
Since each situation is unique, trip leaders must
remain flexible in their response. The key to properly responding to an
emergency is to remain calm, assess things carefully before acting, and continue
to reassess your strategy throughout. There are two basic things to be done,
care for the victim and care for the rest of the group. The more severe the
situation, the more both populations will need your care and support. A basic
approach to handling emergency situations is:
- Assess the Situation: determine the nature of the emergency and what type
of response is required (first aid, search for a lost person, etc.).
- Develop a Response Plan: based on the nature
of the emergency, develop an appropriate response plan (first aid treatment,
initiate search, etc.)
- Reassess Situation and Re-plan: Continue to
reassess the situation and alter the response plan if necessary.
- Assume leadership of the group and delegate
responsibility: group members should assist in patient care if needed,
locate position on map, prepare a camp with shelter and food, etc.
- The group with the victim(s) should:
- Make the victim(s) as comfortable as possible,
maintain his/her body temperature and protect the victim from the elements.
- A trained first aider should be with the victim at
all times.
- Give the other group members something to do to get
their minds off the situation and make them feel useful, such as:
- Set up a temporary camp.
- Prepare food and hot drinks for group members.
- Make sure the other group members are OK, they may
be suffering from shock or emotional difficulties. Maintain group morale as much
as possible.
This page is provided as a service to North East
Wisconsin Riders Inc. ATV Club visitors. North East Wisconsin Riders Inc.
ATV Club can not be held responsible for errors contained in this page or any
other section of this website. North East Wisconsin Riders Inc. ATV Club
strives to ensure that all our content is kept up-to-date. North East Wisconsin
Riders Inc. ATV Club is an all volunteer organization and please remember North
East Wisconsin Riders Inc. ATV Club is NOT offering any legal advice. We
are simply trying to raise awareness. As an ATV owner it is your responsibility
to know and understand the rules and regulations regarding your ATV and the
surrounding community. Lets all try to work together to educate each other.
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