There was a time in my life when I drove fast, did not wear a seatbelt, and thought that I knew best. That was before I had been in 11 car crashes. Before you say that I must be a bad driver, I have to say that I drive hundreds of miles a week for my job and there are deer, dogs, cats, cars, trucks, etc. that often are on the road and out of my control. Not once have I hit another car or truck, but most are due to others hitting me or me hitting an animal. Some were high speed and others were low. Some were hard impacts and took out my vehicle and others were just small dents. Each was scary, each left an impression and each left me a little more with a fear of crashes. The most recent crash was 2 years ago when my wife and I were rear-ended by a youth who was going way too fast on icy roads. My wife was hurt, but my grandson was safe. I could not help her and to see her suffer through surgery, physical therapy, and now living with pain each day, add to that fear. That fear is what drives me to be safe, wear my seatbelt and be more mindful of weather conditions and my surroundings.
Month: November 2020
Falling Close to Fire
10 days before her first birthday a little girl was singing and playing in a friend’s living room. A family friend was watching her because her parents were out of town. This living room was on the smaller side but had a gas fireplace at the center. Because of the cold weather, the fireplace had been turned on. The little girl suddenly tripped falling right towards the hot fireplace. She stuck her hands out on the glass fireplace door reacting to her tumble. Her tiny hands had touched the glass just long enough for a severe burn reaction. Once the parents were made aware, the little girl was rushed to the emergency room. Her hands were red, swollen and blisters started to appear and it became worse. They wrapped her tiny hands in bandages, and it became clear the importance that fireplace safety holds. Fireplaces are at an easily accessible height to kids and many fireplaces don’t have proper screens in place for protection. Kids around fireplaces come with their own set of dangerous possibilities. Even after the fireplace is turned off it still continues to stay hot. In fact, the glass surface of a gas fireplace can get up to between 500-1,000 degrees and that temperature can cause third-degree burns in less than a second. It would be beneficial to contact the manufacturer to get your own safety screen, further preventing your child or another child’s potential injury. This keeps everyone at a safer distance from possible accidents.
Gun Safety is no joke by D.B.
I never thought that I needed to worry about gun safety. I thought that my dad has always been so very careful. I learned that although he is very safe, keeps his guns locked up and unloaded, there is always that one time when things happen that you don’t mean to happen. I remember just hanging out with my girlfriend – now wife – in my room one day, just playing video games. My dad had gotten a new pistol and was cleaning it. I asked to see it and he showed it to me. As he walked into the room, he tripped on the edge of the sheet and accidentally pulled the trigger. The boom of the gun going off filled the room and my stepmom screamed. My girlfriend was in shock as we all looked at the hole in the wall – the gun had gone off and for some reason the gun had one bullet left. Dad swears he had unloaded it but he had left one in the chamber on accident. He had been cleaning it so the safety was off. I remember looking at the hole and thinking if I or my girlfriend had been moving, we would have been shot, in my own bedroom. My dad is the safest person I know. He keeps his guns locked up in a gun safe – he stores the ammo in a separate area away from the guns – he taught me gun safety from early on. All that yet he almost shot a human being, and I will never forget the lesson I learned that day – always, always, double check the safety is on and the ammo is removed. Instead of spending time as a family we could have then been planning a funeral.
Generational Learning by J.G.
I grew up listening to my mom tell me to “be safe” and “buckle up.” I thought that she was just being overprotective and did not want to always listen to her. As I grew up, I learned the hard way that seatbelts do save lives. I am now 26 and a father to a four-year-old boy. I have been in 6 car crashes and my son, believe it or not, has been in 4 – YES, 4. I remember the day when my girlfriend and I were traveling home in the morning when a car pulled across multiple lines of traffic and we t-boned them. They did not adhere to the stop sign and we never saw it coming. My son was in her belly and I near true fear. Later on in his life, we hit a deer and totaled our truck, we got hit by a car turning left – against the turn light – which totaled our car and then my son was in the truck when my mom and stepdad were rear-ended. Each time, my son and I walked away. We were “safe” as we had “buckled up.” I am thankful that I listened to my mom and that my son was also safe, each crash.