well as a pro-tip, if you are listening to music or whatever on your headphones, and have to suddenly spring into action, including ripping headphones out of your ears and dropping them as you run to make a phone call to emergency services, remember to turn bluetooth OFF on your phone otherwise you will not be able to hear them on the phone and they won't be able to hear YOU.
Everyone ended up being okay and no ambulance was needed, but uh... if you or someone you love drives a stick shift, please teach everyone you can how to do so, or try to memorize quick and easy directions to explain to someone how to do so in an emergency that you'll be able to recite even if you, and they, are panicking
(Also, never assume anyone else is going to have the wherewithal to call emergency services! Keep your phone in your hand and start dialling as soon as you realize something is happening, say what you need --"I think we need an ambulance", --your location including city, and what, to the best of your knowledge, is happening; if you end up not needing them, you'll already have an open line of dialogue with the operator. You will *not* get in trouble for calling emergency services and not needing them, as long as you're not deliberately prank calling or wasting their time on purpose! It is better to be safe and have them on the line and not need them, than for people to not call until things are already ire and delaying medical attention)
also, last thing: if you are pinned, hurt, and need help, you need to *shout* loudly, "Help!" -- I don't care what the nihilist true-crime girlies like to fear-monger about 'the bystander effect, the *only* delay in response at this dock was the initial confusion about what was happening and where, and then everyone dropped everything to rush to help.
We are a social species and we live in a society for a reason; if someone shouts for help, people *are* going to come running, the important thing is to keep a clear head and remember that cell phones exist and can be used to get even *more* help, which can be easy to forget when everyone is consumed with the physical reality of what is happening in their immediate vicinity-- our brains are pretty much hardwired for immediate surroundings and physical tools, so if you aren't training yourself to react to emergencies in a specific way, it is very easy for instinct to take over and start shouting for nearby people *only*, instead of remembering to dial a number on our magical pocket box to summon an ambulance, a possibility that has only existed for a fraction of human existence.
