Community Devastation caused by a mobile phone In December the news reported a push to increase the maximum sentence for causing death by dangerous driving, placing the offence on a par with manslaughter. Adam Pearson from Milton Keynes tells his story of the devastation caused by the use of a mobile phone at the wheel, and how crucial the service of the Air Ambulance is. My name is Adam Pearson, and on 10th August 2016 I discovered how lethal the combination of a mobile phone and a moving vehicle can be. On 11th August, I gradually emerged from the void of anaesthesia to see the hectic environment of a hospital emergency department and recovery room. Through my haze, I was told about a road traffic accident, I had been airlifted to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford and had spent the last few hours in surgery. Anaesthetic takes away shock and panic, so I reacted with remarkable calm. Although I had no memory of any accident, I established that I had been alone in the car and my wife and children were safe. Some hours earlier, I’d come to a halt at the back of a queue of traffic on the A34. At 5:13pm, a heavy goods vehicle approached the back of the queue. The driver was busy changingmusic on his mobile phone. Later proven beyond doubt to have been distracted for at least 8 seconds, with strong evidence that he barely looked at the road for up to a minute or more. When being sentenced, the judge said he “may as well have been driving with his eyes closed.” He looked up when 22 metres away from the back of the queue. Unable to react in time, he crashed into the rear of my car at 51mph. Dashcam footage showed that in the split second before impact, I had turned the carto the left, evidently aware of what was about to happen. This small but significant movement caused my car to be pushed towards the verge and launch into the air after impact with the van in front, landing on the roof in the ditch. The footage shows thatit took a few seconds for my car to accelerate from 0 to 51mph and come crashing back to rest. I’d suffered multiple injuries. An aortic rupture, 5 thoracic spinal fractures, 19 broken ribs, a collapsed lung and multiple lacerations. I was bleeding heavily both internally and externally, and was in desperate need of medical intervention. I was lucky. Tragically, three vehicles ahead, a mother, her two sons and a step-daughter – children of similar ages to my own – had been killed on impact. In the vehicle behind them, afather and son were forced to watch helplessly as their loved ones – partner, daughter, sister, friends – died because of a mobile phone. I’m here to tell the story because Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance was able to attend. I later discovered that aortic rupture has a 90% mortality rate, and of those, 75% die at the scene due to internal bleeding and consequential loss of blood pressure. Of all road traffic accident deaths, 18% are relatedto aortic rupture, an injury often associated with sudden deceleration. The Air Ambulance doctor and paramedics took the difficult decision to leave those already confirmed dead and attend to me as the only life-critical casualty. I was cut free from the car, sedated and transfused with blood before being flown to the nearest major trauma centre. I have no memory of the Air Ambulance service, butI’ll be forever grateful for what they did. Because of their commitment, professionalism and skill, I’m hoping to make a full recovery and I’m fortunate enough to be able to look forward to a future with my family. If only everyone involved in this dreadful event could have seen the same outcome. The lorry driver was sentenced to 10 years for 4 counts of causing death by dangerous driving. He’ll serve half of that time. By most people’s reckoning, simply not long enough. Meanwhile, the country’s regional air ambulances continue to provide such remarkable emergency trauma care with no public funding. 6 Please mention Essentially Local when responding to adverts
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