[DMZ_Chainsaw]

I don't usually have anything nice to say about politicians but I reckon Ron deserve a beer for this

MP pokes finger into crash victim's artery

Politician credited with saving life after Terrace Tunnel accident
MAGGIE TAIT - NZPA | Monday, 26 May 2008

NZ First MP Ron Mark is being hailed as a hero for stopping an accident victim bleeding to death.

Herman van Krieken wrote to Prime Minister Helen Clark and to NZ First leader Winston Peters to praise Mr Mark, Mr Mark's partner Chris Tracey and another woman who helped him as he lay bleeding on the road.

On May 17 Mr van Krieken, an IT and business consultant, was driving his Triumph Tiger 955cc into Wellington when he was struck by a trailer going through the Terrace Tunnel.

"While tumbling through the air I wondered where I would end up, will I hit a car and is this end?" Mr van Krieken wrote.

"I remember curling up into a ball to minimise damages and I finally came to rest on the road and within three seconds three people are onto me."

Mr Mark told him to lay still and firmly gripped his thigh telling him he was losing a lot of blood.

"It feels like he is poking his thumb into my main artery."

He lost four pints of blood on the road and Mr van Krieken told NZPA from his hospital bed that he was "absolutely staggered that he (Mr Mark) was sitting there on his knees on the road with his tie on and having his finger up my main artery.

"I was in shock I was just about to get up to see how my bike was doing and he said `stay down you're not in good shape'."

Mr van Krieken, originally from Holland who has lived in New Zealand for 18 years, recognised Mr Mark. He said he would not have made it without Mr Mark and the two women's help.

"It makes me proud to be part of a society of people that care about each other, we are called Kiwis."

Mr van Krieken emphasised all three helpers should get credit.

"Without them I wouldn't be here either."

It will take him about a year to fully recover but he was hoping to go home from hospital on Wednesday. He has a complex leg fracture, a broken hand, and a split vertebrae.

"I will be in rehab for ... between three and six months in terms of being fully mobile and in another six months I'll be back to normal."

He had not decided whether he would return to motorcycling.

Mr van Krieken said he was not into politics but wanted people to know how Mr Mark acted.

"I complain sometimes but I also like to recognise good things and this was something I definitely did not want to pass unnoticed."

Mr Mark told NZPA he and his partner were driving to the airport from his home in Carterton.

"I was trying to catch my plane ... I heard the bang and saw the man flying through the air and the bike careering off down the road and the cars braking."

He stopped in the middle of the road and ran to the man who he thought might be dead.

"I (did) the normal things, try and stabilise him, check him out ... what the most obvious thing was his leg was badly smashed and you just have to ... check there isn't serious blood loss."

Ms Tracey, who is support services manager at Parliament, comforted and calmed Mr van Krieken as he lay on the road.

Mr Mark said his and his partner's military backgrounds may have played a role but they had relied on standard first aid training.

He was delighted by the letter and had thought about Mr van Krieken and talked with his partner about the accident.

Wellington police said they would not comment until it was decided whether to lay charges or not. They would not give the name of the other woman who helped.