By
Leslie Fisher
It’s
every mother’s worst nightmare. On Feb. 11 of this year, in the afternoon, I
got a couple of phone calls from an unknown number in Tulsa, Oklahoma. When I
got the first call, I declined (thinking it was spam), then they called right
back again. So, I did pick up the second time.
It
was my oldest son, Joshua, calling me from a hospital in Tulsa. My son
was driving his semi down to Texas to begin his own trucking business and got
involved in a terrible accident about an hour past Tulsa. He was traveling down
with his girlfriend, her five-year-old daughter and their dog.
They
had stopped at a rest stop to wait out the storm during the night and then
switched over to a different highway that was supposed to be clear, according
to his GPS. They had just gone through a small town and hit a stretch of
highway that was solid black ice.
He
started to slide sideways and across the center median and was t-boned on the
passenger side by an oncoming semi. He and his girlfriend were wearing their
seat belts, or they would not be alive today.
My
son received lacerations, severe bruising all over, a sprained knee and ankle
and eventually passed some gall stones due to the impact. His girlfriend
received multiple bruises, laceration, a lacerated tendon between two fingers
in her right hand and a severe compound fractures of her lower right shin, both
requiring multiple surgeries. Her daughter and dog were secure in the sleeping
bunk and had a few scratches but were otherwise physically unharmed. The truck
was totaled and ended up at the salvage yard in about four to five different
piles.
So,
our message to anyone is - always wear your seat belt no matter what you
are driving - they will save your life. For the second time in less than five
years, seat belts have saved the lives of my mother’s grandsons. A blog about
my nephew, Max, was written by his step-father and published in this blog
series in 2017 – click on the link here.
Leslie
Fisher is an Applications Developer at KDOT in Topeka
Oh my gosh, so glad everyone was ok - shows how important seat belts are.
ReplyDeleteThis is a wonderful testimony on the importance of wearing seat belts. I'm so thankful everyone was okay in this situation. I had the unfortunate occasion to witness a car crash on I-70. The car rolled three times and everyone walked away, including a three month old baby. My 16 year-old son was with me, and he learned how important a seat belt is. Thank you for posting these stories.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your story. Getting the phone call from Joshua about crash and that all survived is certainly much better than a knock on the door and worse news from authorities. Wearing seatbelts is the vaccination from severe injuries in crashes.
ReplyDeleteLooking at that photo, you wouldn't think everyone made it out okay. So glad they were! Black ice can be so dangerous, especially if you're not expecting it. Thank you for sharing their story!
ReplyDeleteThank you Leslie! There are so many positives we can take away from this story and none bigger than they all survived!! Thank you so much for sharing this incredible story. Seat Belts Save Lives!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this story and life lessons Leslie. Very thankful there were no tragedies.
ReplyDeleteYour story (and photo) are a great testament to the importance of wearing seatbelts. I can't imagine being on the receiving end of that phone call and am glad it was your son calling and not a state trooper.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this story. Seatbelts do save lives, in everything from semi trucks, to tractors, to UTV's.
ReplyDelete