January 25, 2005

The post where I try to save your life.

In response to my car accident, a reader writes:
I fly a helicopter ambulance in St.Louis, and respond often to accidents much more serious than yours. I'm glad you and Tonya were no worse than banged up a little....

Your VW apparently did a good job of protecting you. I know you loved the car.....it's easy to get attached to machinery that serves us well. They have idiosyncrasies that we perceive as personalities. The VW may have had some foibles, but when it counted it acted as a protector!

It is amazing to me how well the seatbelt/airbag system works....most folks that are hurt in accidents we respond to are not using the belts and either are ricocheted around the interior, or are ejected and maybe squashed by the following rollover.

Please educate others about how important it is to wear the belt.....it keeps you in the living space, keeps you in place near the controls so you can possibly have an effect on the accident outcome, and allows the airbag to most effectively do its job!

Yes, really. The airbag totally worked. And it didn't hurt. It stung/tingled for maybe twenty minutes, and I have a slight red mark on my chin, but I'm fine. The police officer who drove me home after the accident was talking about airbags too. He said he really thought it was a shame people disabled their airbags. I assume he's seen some bad car accident injuries too.

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