Super Mom Saves Not-So Super Driver

Driver’s education is an imperative part of any individual’s education who intends on, not only operating a motor vehicle, but also putting their lives and the lives of others in their hands. Astronomical numbers regarding deaths, driving while intoxicated and the shear number of accidents are staggering. It is even more amazing to note the number of incidents that occur by simply not paying attention and abiding by the regulations of the road.

Minding the simple rules and etiquette of the road while paying attention can avert a great many tragedies. Following speed limit signs, slowing down during poor driving conditions, putting away or not answering your cell phone and avoiding loud music or distracting conversations while in the car are simple, but very effective ways to increase concentration and avoid potentially deadly mistakes. It is also imperative to realize your surroundings. Did you notice the crosswalk? What about the school zone? Was your music to loud to notice the ambulance sirens behind you? A few seconds for that ambulance could mean the difference between life or death for that patient.

From a statistical standpoint, around 739 fatalities occur from car crashes in the snow, 2,732 from rain and an additional 4,488 from wet pavement according to chicagolaw.com. No one thinks about those beautiful sunny days though. Sun glare can be attributed to around 9,000 serious accidents a year. Those serious accidents are more than the fatalities from snow, rain and wet pavement combined!

Dawn and dusk can be particularly hazardous times. Not only does the sun cause a lot more accidents that other natural elements you may expect, but that is when there is an influx of animals crossing roadways to head to food sources or bedding grounds. Deer, yes deer, are one of our leading culprits in major car accidents, fatalities, and monetary damages. According to thesilverlining.com roughly one and a half million deer-related car accidents occur annually. This kills over 200 people a year, and if you thought the vehicular damage totals were out of control at over one billion dollars a year, wait to you hear what the government must spend on trying to avoid these cute four-legged death traps. Estimates are upwards of three billion dollars to reduce and manage the astronomical number of car and Bambi collisions.

As for myself, I have been lucky enough to avoid that fate. However, I never will forget the most horrific car accident I personally saw. When I was about six years old, a hot looking yellow sports car went flying past us on the express way during a downpour. My mom instinctively slowed down, with a mother’s intuition that something bad was about to happen. Within seconds, the car skidded across the road right between our car and the van ahead of us flipping end over end like something out of a movie. Then it was gone. It had disappeared over a sixty-foot raven that dropped off the right-hand side of the road. It was the first, and most scary time, I saw my mom fly into “nurse mode.” She pulled the car to the side by the ravine, snatched her nursing bag, threw the cell phone in the back seat, and said to call 911. Somehow, she even knew the approximate mileage marker we were at and barked back at my brother and I to stay on the line and indicate there was at least one person hurt in a rollover off a ravine and she would be administering aid until help arrived.

I never could understand how she held onto her bag, or kept her cool, that day. She jumped straight off that gorge, sliding, and tumbling to the base where the car was flipped upside down, smoking, with the driver’s side door jammed at an angle between the tree and the ground. We stayed on the phone, giving the operator updates on what little we could hear my mom yelling. We were able to make out that the car was smoking and there was a gas leak. The man was conscious but in bad shape. She yelled back that they need to get a medical helicopter and firemen on the scene ASAP!

Later we found out she had used the hard part of her blood pressure cuff to cut through some of the brush on the passenger side to help the gentlemen crawl out of the car. Then she used the soft tubbing from the cuff as a belt, of sorts, to help steady him up the ravine and way from the smoldering car. After a makeshift concussion protocol, gauze and several vital signs, the police, firetruck, and paramedics arrived.

My mother was a little to confident in his nonchalance about the event and suggested a full toxicology panel once he was medically cleared. Then she simply threw her clean, red, contamination bags down on the front seat and drove the rest of the way home like it was just another day. Meanwhile, my brother and I were somewhere between terrified that this is what she did for a living and tickled that our mom was just in the coolest action flick we had ever seen.

This was a valuable lesson for me regarding respecting the rules of the road and how terribly wrong things can go if you don’t follow them. As a child, I was always told that it doesn’t cost a dime to be kind and use your common sense. Abiding my signs, paying attention, placing deer whistlers on electric or hybrid cars, leaving early enough to not rush yourself and being kind to others on the road seems like common sense. This is especially true if you don’t just happen to have a super nurse following you around while your drive!