Motorways bore me. When on long journeys, I sometimes like to take the exit and drive for a while on smaller, parallel roads. It’s relaxing, gives a change of scenery and allows you to observe how life goes in the places you would otherwise just pass by at great speed. When driving back home to Finland after visiting my family in South-West Poland, I left the motorway near Łódź and decided to drive towards Warsaw on one of the alternative smaller roads. It is harvest time, so there is plenty of farm machinery on the road, but I was not in a hurry. As I was plodding slowly behind a tractor, I noticed from the corner of my eye a speeding Opel in my rear-view mirror. It was obvious he wouldn’t be able to stop in time. I tried to move to the side, but it was too late, and he smashed into the back of my car.
As I got out of my vehicle, I saw the other driver deep-diving headfirst into the back seat. As I approached the car, he was hiding there, trying to cover himself with a blanket. His passenger pretended to be oblivious as to what was happening. I felt a strong smell of alcohol, so I took a photo of the front of their car and called 112. On hearing “there is a drunk driver trying to hide”, the operator treated it as a highest priority and despite the rural location, a traffic police car arrived in less than 15 minutes. It was about time, as the Opel’s passenger, seeing I am not willing to “settle without involving police to save his friend from going back to prison”, started to threaten me and called his friends, while his driver ran away on foot.
CSI Skierniewice
The arrival of the police turned the tables. As the passenger refused to disclose who was driving –even claiming he “never seen the driver so can’t describe his looks” – he was immediately arrested on the grounds of harbouring a criminal. Drink driving itself is a serious crime in Poland and within next 15 minutes a second patrol car and plain clothed detectives in an unmarked car arrived at the location. From that moment on, the police action was just a whirlwind. From what I overheard, a police chopper already in the air (it was the day when the new Polish president was sworn in, and an accident took place not far from Warsaw) was asked to fly by and look for the Opel driver on the run.
Soon more police vehicles arrived, including 4×4 pick up. While one of the officers sat down with me, taking my statement, some of his colleagues searched the passenger’s phone and others were driving around the fields of corn in search of the fugitive, directed by a giant drone with thermal imaging that was flying around. Just over three hours after the accident happen, the driver was brought back to me in handcuffs for identification. He turned out to be 18 times over the limit! My car was inspected by the chief of local police himself, and I was advised I could safely drive it to Warsaw, some 80km away, but as my battery died (I probably left my lights on), the friendly police officers helped to jump start my engine using one of the police vehicles.
As I was leaving, an investigative team arrived with dogs, to secure scent evidence, while a team of men in overalls were dusting the Opel’s steering wheel for fingerprints. I was really amazed at the speed and professionalism of the Polish police and by how serious they take drink driving related crimes. As I was about to drive away into the night, I joked to my girlfriend on the phone that it was something like watching CSI Skierniewice. Then I recalled a situation from my time as police interpreter in Scotland when a victim of a crime asked the cops if they are going to take fingerprints. She was laughed at and told that she had been watching too many American movies.
Saturday night at the A&E – Helsinki style
Unfortunately, it was not the end of my ordeal caused by that drunk driver. While I was able to safely return back to Helsinki, a few days later I developed strong pain in my neck. I called non-emergency health line and was advised to immediately go to the Accident and Emergency department in HUS – Helsinki District Hospital. On arrival, the triage nurse, who saw me within 15 minutes, was already briefed of my circumstances and after about 40 minutes wait I had been examined by a second nurse and then a junior doctor, who sent me directly for an X-ray.
After the results of the X-rays came back, I was sent for a CT scan. Soon after I had been seen by a senior doctor and advised that one of my vertebrae is cracked. I had been instantly put into a neck brace and then asked to wait for another CT, this time with contrast liquid. “We need to check your soft tissue too” – the doctor told me – “I am 99% sure it will be alright, but our procedures won’t allow us to let you go home just yet”. He turned out to be right, but it was such a contrast from the time in 2018, when after being assaulted in Scotland, I had some junior doctor snapping fingers around my head and telling me to go home and lie down “and I’ll be fine in two weeks”. It turned out, I had a severe head injury, ended up suffering for a year and wasn’t fully back on track even two years later.
My Helsinki A&E adventure took all night, but it was busy, as it was Saturday evening and we shared the waiting room with apparent participants of a large pub brawl. Still, the longest wait for the next procedure was about 1hour and 15 minutes. I was asked to come back for a specialist orthopaedic consultation the next day – which was Sunday! Then I was scheduled for an MRI scan, which, as my case was no longer deemed urgent, incurred a 3 day wait. As for basic X-rays, you don’t even need an appointment: you just walk in and are taken in almost straight away. A single bus ticket (valid for 80 minutes) was enough for me to get to a hospital 25 minutes away, get an X-ray and get back home, and I still grabbed some groceries on the way back.
As I write those words, it has not yet been two full weeks since I entered through the doors of that A&E department, and I already had two CT scans, and MRI, three X-rays of various parts of my spine and had spoken to the specialist orthopaedic consultant on three occasions.
Breaking news: Britain is not so great
In the waiting room during that Saturday night I befriended an American lady, who had hurt her knee during her cruise holiday. As she noticed from my accent that I used to live in Scotland, she asked me how I would compare the Finnish health service to the NHS. Some British friends had told her that the NHS is the best in the world. I almost felt bad for having to shatter her beliefs and tell her the truth: that when I had a very similar car accident back in 2008, after several hours of waiting in the A&E department I was given a sheet of ibuprofen tablets and told to go home. Despite being barely able to walk, I was only sent for an X-ray by my GP after I shouted at him on my third visit that if I wanted more paracetamol, I’d go to the gas station across the street. She was also appalled to hear the story of my Scottish assault ordeal, and was not willing to believe me that waiting time for an urgent neurology consultation in Scotland was nearly a year (you can read that story here). She said, “we don’t have it that bad even in the US”.
Meanwhile in Poland, the investigation against the drunk driver is going ahead. The police officer leading the case keeps me updated, and I have already been asked for my medical documentation for the prosecutor’s office. I got all my data from the hospital in 15 minutes, on a fancy, HUS Hospital branded USB stick, and free of charge. I was also advised that I can act as auxiliary prosecutor in the court proceeding. Yet again, what a stark contrast: after the assault I suffered in Scotland – my attacker faced Sheriff’s Court in Glasgow – the procurator who was assigned to my case called me at 8 am on the day of the trial to ask me what the case was about. I was not even allowed to be present in the courtroom, not to mention being given a chance to speak. The attacker got off with 100 hours community service and on the next day turned up at my work to mock me.
Take a deep breath
A friend of mine, who recently moved from Britain to Germany, told me that leaving the UK after a decade was like going out of the stuffy room and being able to finally draw a deeper breath. We spoke in context of the housing standards, so I just assumed he speaks about being able to move into a flat where every room is not a mouldy hole the size of a broom closet. Yesterday, as I phoned with KELA (the Finnish social security institution), where after a mere 50 seconds of being on hold, a very friendly lady speaking fluent English gave me very detailed instructions and advice about what should I do under my circumstances. Due to the accident, I had lost the job I was about to start. When got off the phone, I realised my friend meant more than just housing. Outside Britain you can take deep breath and relax. You know, that when the worst happens, the state institutions will be there to help you out.
P.S. The doctors say I will be fine. Another month in a neck brace and I might be able to get back to work in October. So, if any of the readers know a transport company in Uusimaa that needs a driver, let me know!
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