Introduction to Safety on the Road

“The Big Bang” SAFETY on the Road!


Hello, I decided to use safety as the focus of my blog because I was recently in a motor vehicle accident. I count myself as blessed and I realized that but by the grace of God things could have been much worse for me and my family following this sudden tragic event. This accident proved to me that anything can happen at any time to anyone. However, knowing and following basic safety procedures can help to mitigate the negatives. I will use this blog to avail readers of auto safety tips that may someday prove useful. Along the way I will tell the story of my personal experience and how it has changed my life.

Safety Tip of the Week: Your GPS Isn’t Infallible - Buy And Carry A Good Road Map: That new GPS may be addictive, but they are not foolproof in every situation. For example, a bad accident stalls traffic for hours on a major highway and has you stranded in unfamiliar country. A good map may provide a feasible escape route, and will often provide an alternative to an official detour route that is much faster if you are in a standard passenger vehicle (official detour routes have to accommodate large trucks and busses).



The game changer!

My fifteen year-old-son and I had just spent the day touring the monuments and wondering through museums in Washington DC on Saturday a few weeks ago. The family and I had been planning our summer vacation for months and we were looking forward to the next week of relaxation and fun. I had schedule time off from work. My wife, who is completing her master’s degree online, had been working for weeks to get ahead on her class work and free up time for vacation. My daughter adjusted her work schedule to free up time. She was due to register for the fall semester at NVCC the week after we returned. My son: he was just enjoying the summer and trying to make it last as long as possible.

We had driven to the metro station, which is less than a mile from our home and hopped the train into DC on the spur of the moment. This, I’ve found, is one of the great things about living in the National Capital Region; you could spend the day viewing the sights and still be home for dinner. After eating lunch at the Smithsonian we headed for home, picked up the car at the metro station and were on our way. We were talking and listening to the radio when my son picked up a newspaper that was laying on the dash. Flipping through the pages he found a photo in a story that talked about the high temperatures in the area. “Hey, dad we just saw this painting...” I looked over at the paper. You’re right we saw that at...

At that point the Game changed! I looked back at the road and traffic as I slammed into the rear of an Uhaul truck stopping at a traffic light. At this point things seemed to happen in slow motion but with extreme violence. The noise, the jarring reaction to my car stopping in its tracks while traveling at 40 mph. Objects flew through the air. And then it was still. I could see my son with a shocked look on his face. He was grimacing with pain. I asked if he was ok and he said “yeah,” but not convincingly. I then felt the shooting pain in my right leg and noticed that the airbag had been deployed on the passenger side of the car. I tried to move but found the pain was too severe.

Check in next week for more safety tips and the next chapter of my story: The dramatic rescue.