...kelly
portrait of a killer
This week the UK released a psa www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGE8LzRaySk which shows the consequences of texting while driving. After trying to watch it twice now and not being able to I realized in order for me to get past it I have to write about it.
FACT: Most of you won't know this but a year and a half ago, on New Year's Day at noon my daughter was in a serious car accident. An uninsured driver pulled out in front of the vehicle my daughter was in as the front seat passenger and she bore the brunt of the impact. She suffered a broken and retracted femur which required a lengthy surgery that day and to place a steel rod in the length of her thigh and a head injury. The next year was a difficult one both physically and mentally and had an impact on my family that I would not have believed possible. However, she is amazing and strong and we are getting through it and definitely moving forward.
So I tried to watch the video, and EVERYONE should, but in the video, after the accident when the driver is screaming and crying for help I had instant pain in my chest (screaming and crying is what I heard when my daughter called me on her cell phone while she was pinned in the car) and then in the video a young man runs to the car and starts to call for help because the door is jammed closed (and that is how I found my daughter when I arrived on scene before they had her out of the car) my eyes filled with tears and I was done, I left my office. My co-worker told me later the video got much worse and I shouldn't see it. In two short minutes I was exactly back to a place in my mind I never wanted to be again.
Three weeks after the accident we were on our way to an appointment with our daughter (we spent over half an hour assuring her that we could get her there safely, she was so afraid to be in a car and was crying most of the way) when she received a cell phone call from her friend....she was screaming, we could all hear, her sister had been killed the night before in an accident while driving with friends, she was away at school and the police had just called her family. Two days later, at work, I met with the family of the other girl to complete the cemetery arrangements and felt guilty to think that three weeks before it could have been me in their place and how lucky I was to still have my daughter.
FACT: last year texting while driving was responsible for 40,000 deaths!!!
I don't know that texting played a part in either of the accidents I described but clearly there was a lack of focus or attention of the drivers that caused them.
FACT: texting has become too much a part of our daily lives....I am as addicted to my Blackberry as everyone else but it has a place!! And this I know... you will survive not knowing whether Sara bought the red or pink dress at the mall until you see her and you will survive not knowing if Evan asked Melissa to the school dance and whether or not Ryan thinks you're cute too until you get home and call them. BUT you may not survive the 10 seconds it takes you to read such highlights while driving!!!
I'm sure some of you will have similar or worse events in your own lives and those of you that don't I pray you never will. As a parent you would give anything to take the pain yourself to spare your child. Please take the time to watch this video and if your children are of an age...watch it with them.
Teach them to be safe and focused in cars.
Teach them so you will keep them....
portrait of a killer
This week the UK released a psa www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGE8LzRaySk which shows the consequences of texting while driving. After trying to watch it twice now and not being able to I realized in order for me to get past it I have to write about it.
FACT: Most of you won't know this but a year and a half ago, on New Year's Day at noon my daughter was in a serious car accident. An uninsured driver pulled out in front of the vehicle my daughter was in as the front seat passenger and she bore the brunt of the impact. She suffered a broken and retracted femur which required a lengthy surgery that day and to place a steel rod in the length of her thigh and a head injury. The next year was a difficult one both physically and mentally and had an impact on my family that I would not have believed possible. However, she is amazing and strong and we are getting through it and definitely moving forward.
So I tried to watch the video, and EVERYONE should, but in the video, after the accident when the driver is screaming and crying for help I had instant pain in my chest (screaming and crying is what I heard when my daughter called me on her cell phone while she was pinned in the car) and then in the video a young man runs to the car and starts to call for help because the door is jammed closed (and that is how I found my daughter when I arrived on scene before they had her out of the car) my eyes filled with tears and I was done, I left my office. My co-worker told me later the video got much worse and I shouldn't see it. In two short minutes I was exactly back to a place in my mind I never wanted to be again.
Three weeks after the accident we were on our way to an appointment with our daughter (we spent over half an hour assuring her that we could get her there safely, she was so afraid to be in a car and was crying most of the way) when she received a cell phone call from her friend....she was screaming, we could all hear, her sister had been killed the night before in an accident while driving with friends, she was away at school and the police had just called her family. Two days later, at work, I met with the family of the other girl to complete the cemetery arrangements and felt guilty to think that three weeks before it could have been me in their place and how lucky I was to still have my daughter.
FACT: last year texting while driving was responsible for 40,000 deaths!!!
I don't know that texting played a part in either of the accidents I described but clearly there was a lack of focus or attention of the drivers that caused them.
FACT: texting has become too much a part of our daily lives....I am as addicted to my Blackberry as everyone else but it has a place!! And this I know... you will survive not knowing whether Sara bought the red or pink dress at the mall until you see her and you will survive not knowing if Evan asked Melissa to the school dance and whether or not Ryan thinks you're cute too until you get home and call them. BUT you may not survive the 10 seconds it takes you to read such highlights while driving!!!
I'm sure some of you will have similar or worse events in your own lives and those of you that don't I pray you never will. As a parent you would give anything to take the pain yourself to spare your child. Please take the time to watch this video and if your children are of an age...watch it with them.
Teach them to be safe and focused in cars.
Teach them so you will keep them....