Holiday driving dangers - a video to share
I've been putting together my holiday meal post for Migraineurs, but a video came across my desk and I wanted to share it with everyone at WEGO Health.
Very early one morning about 4 yrs ago, the telephone woke us abruptly out of a sound sleep. Hubby went to the other room so he wouldn't wake me, but I had heard enough. The daughter of a patrolman, I knew the meaning of unexpected calls when the rest of the hemisphere were still in their beds.
My son was in a car accident.
He had fallen asleep, drifted to the left across the oncoming lane of traffic where he hit the shoulder and a curbed driveway. The curb launched his vehicle into the air, and at a speed of approximately 60 mph it flew like a rocket until it hit the banked ditch many feet away. His car flipped, end over end approximately 8 times, and the banked hill caused it to simultaneously flip sideways with such speed that car parts were later found hundreds of feet from the vehicle's trajectory. Eventually the car came to rest, facing backward but on its wheels. The ceiling had crumpled down onto my 6' 4" toe-headed son.
We had done what many parents refuse to do for their kids: we bought him a car. Afraid of what he would buy if left to his own devices, we spent money we didn't have so he would be safe. I begrudgingly drove the 15 yr old junker car that was falling apart at the seams... so he would be safe.
Safety in our choice only went so far, and our quietly rebellious child was often seen driving without his seatbelt.
As someone who has heard horrific stories that only a state trooper can tell in the privacy of his own home, and witnessed sights too ghastly to put into print here or anywhere else, and as an emergency dispatcher for the Sheriff's office, I could only imagine what I would find when I arrived at the site of the crash.
The car looked like a crumpled tin can at the bottom of a ditch so deep it could only be termed a ravine when seen to contain what was left of my son's car. Not a soul stirred within the vehicle at the end of a long pathway littered with debris and flying paper.
My son survived his accident because his airbag deployed and he was wearing his seatbelt that morning.
When you are in a traffic accident at even the slowest speeds, your body experiences 3 collisions.
*The car hits an object
*The body hits the interior of the vehicle
*The organs hit the interior of the body
Each collision is an excuse to die.
The video linked below was produced in the UK and was deemed too graphic to be shown before 9pm. Personally, I would like it to be shown to every single driver before the first time they start the ignition. It should be shown to every person who rides in a car that is old enough to refuse to buckle up. I'm going to pass it along to the friends and family I love so it will be fresh in their minds as the holidays draw near. View it yourself and see what you think...
...and please, please.... buckle up this holiday season. "What's stopping you?"
View this UK seatbelt commercial video HERE
.
A post script to my story:
The last thing my son remembered before the crash was being passed by a car full of teenagers driving under the influence of alcohol. He described the vehicle and it was located within minutes. They witnessed the accident and were found 2 miles down the road, pulled off with seatbelts on, keys out of the ignition, trying to asleep.
A whole handful of people learned a valuable lesson that morning...
.
Very early one morning about 4 yrs ago, the telephone woke us abruptly out of a sound sleep. Hubby went to the other room so he wouldn't wake me, but I had heard enough. The daughter of a patrolman, I knew the meaning of unexpected calls when the rest of the hemisphere were still in their beds.
My son was in a car accident.
He had fallen asleep, drifted to the left across the oncoming lane of traffic where he hit the shoulder and a curbed driveway. The curb launched his vehicle into the air, and at a speed of approximately 60 mph it flew like a rocket until it hit the banked ditch many feet away. His car flipped, end over end approximately 8 times, and the banked hill caused it to simultaneously flip sideways with such speed that car parts were later found hundreds of feet from the vehicle's trajectory. Eventually the car came to rest, facing backward but on its wheels. The ceiling had crumpled down onto my 6' 4" toe-headed son.
We had done what many parents refuse to do for their kids: we bought him a car. Afraid of what he would buy if left to his own devices, we spent money we didn't have so he would be safe. I begrudgingly drove the 15 yr old junker car that was falling apart at the seams... so he would be safe.
Safety in our choice only went so far, and our quietly rebellious child was often seen driving without his seatbelt.
As someone who has heard horrific stories that only a state trooper can tell in the privacy of his own home, and witnessed sights too ghastly to put into print here or anywhere else, and as an emergency dispatcher for the Sheriff's office, I could only imagine what I would find when I arrived at the site of the crash.
The car looked like a crumpled tin can at the bottom of a ditch so deep it could only be termed a ravine when seen to contain what was left of my son's car. Not a soul stirred within the vehicle at the end of a long pathway littered with debris and flying paper.
My son survived his accident because his airbag deployed and he was wearing his seatbelt that morning.
When you are in a traffic accident at even the slowest speeds, your body experiences 3 collisions.
*The car hits an object
*The body hits the interior of the vehicle
*The organs hit the interior of the body
Each collision is an excuse to die.
The video linked below was produced in the UK and was deemed too graphic to be shown before 9pm. Personally, I would like it to be shown to every single driver before the first time they start the ignition. It should be shown to every person who rides in a car that is old enough to refuse to buckle up. I'm going to pass it along to the friends and family I love so it will be fresh in their minds as the holidays draw near. View it yourself and see what you think...
...and please, please.... buckle up this holiday season. "What's stopping you?"
View this UK seatbelt commercial video HERE
.
A post script to my story:
The last thing my son remembered before the crash was being passed by a car full of teenagers driving under the influence of alcohol. He described the vehicle and it was located within minutes. They witnessed the accident and were found 2 miles down the road, pulled off with seatbelts on, keys out of the ignition, trying to asleep.
A whole handful of people learned a valuable lesson that morning...
.
Tags: accident, auto, car, collision, driving, holiday, vehicle, video
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