Today I want to write a completely different blogpost to the ones I usually write.

I want to share with you a story of a horrible car crash that happened in my family years ago and it changed his life (my cousin) and the life of all the people around him. (His mom, dad, sister, brother and extended family and friends)

He is my first cousin and growing up he and his brother and sister were like brother and sister to me… Being an only child, is easy to get very close to your cousins.

When we were growing up, my 3 cousins and my auntie and uncle had to migrate to the United States of America seeking for better opportunities in life.

When they left Mexico, I was only about 13 years of age and I was so heartbroken saying goodbye to them it was very hard for me to not know when was I going to see them again. I Missed them thoroughly.

One morning, we received that horrible very early phone call that you could almost know it was bad news since the moment the phone rang!

He was after having an accident the night before. A machine was holding his life and the possibilities of him surviving were very low.

I remember my whole family was so worried and it was very sad and frustrating to the fact we couldn’t be with him and his family on this horrible episode. The only thing we do could was pray that he could get out alive of this one!

He is very tall (about 6’7) and he doesn’t fit properly in the car so he wasn’t wearing his seatbelt. His friend was driving and they crashed against this 2 American girls who were speeding. One of them died.

With the impact, my cousin flew out of the windscreen and half of his body was stock inside of the car. He obviously broke the windscreen of the car with his head and his legs were stock inside the car.

Because the way the collision happened they couldn’t get him out. So they had to use a special machine to cut the car around so they could take him out. While they were doing this, aluminum chips of the car were flying off and getting into his skin. Which later on, in hospital they had to be removed one by one with a pair of tweezers. (He still has the tiny scaring all over his body from that)

His head was very badly injured and he has a special piece connecting one of his legs together.

He was in a comma for months and long story short: he made it! He is alive and he is an amazing APP and website designer!

 

When I was 16 my parents sent me to the States to learn English and I lived with them for a year. This was a great year and I got to spend an amazing time with them! (specially him)

When I was there, he still had to walk with a stick and this was 2 years later after the accident happened.

He can’t live his life as he used to, his legs will never respond the same. But the most important thing is that he is alive and he can walk and he can tell the story and share the importance of wearing a seatbelt!

This is a story very close to my heart and I am only sharing it with the intention of preventing accidents like this. Id like to invite everybody to WEAR THEIR SEATBELT correctly so you can avoid unnecessary accidents!

STAY SAFE!

The Road Safety Authority did some research on how many women around Ireland wear their seatbelt incorrectly and this were the results:

28% admitted to misusing a seatbelt by wearing it under the arm, rising to 35% among younger women.

53% of those interviewed said that their friends wore the seatbelt under the arm.

The main reasons cited for wearing the seatbelt under the arm were to relieve neck tension (49%) and for general comfort (47%). 

9% said it was to protect their tan, or 7% to protect clothing.

While seatbelt compliance is consistently very strong among young females, it is not universal: e.g. 23% do not always wear a seat belt as a rear passenger.

For more information on road safety please visit: http://www.rsa.ie

Disclaimer: this is a paid post