‘I could have killed you mum!’ Crash victim re-launches safety roadshow
The blink of an eye; a moment’s lost concentration; and in less time than it takes to read this, a potentially catastrophic car crash. The words (in the headline above) are those of the driver. What prompted them is now available online https://www.gloucestershire-pcc.gov.uk/i-could-have- killed-you-mum-crash-victim-re-launches-safety- roadshow/. It shows what should have been a routine drive home after work, dramatically interrupted when a mother and son’s car overturns late at night on an icy road between Gloucester and Stroud – all captured on the dashboard camera. The seven second soundbite is a chilling accompaniment to a glimpse into oblivion and the brief but terrifying uncertainty that will stay with the couple forever. It is also a salutary lesson to all young and novice drivers and is the essence of ‘What if…?’, a programme developed under the Police and Crime Plan’s Safe and Social Driving priority. Celebrity feature writer Katie Jarvis, the passenger, takes up the story: “At that moment the car just felt like it was flying. It took off and just went straight over. “It doesn’t sound very long but we hit the bank; we turned over; and then we turned over again. “There are two things I remember. When we first turned over I thought: I’m still alive but we haven’t finished yet.We’re still trying to lose 50 miles an hour. Am I going to be alive in the next second? I knew we were still moving, we hadn’t come to a standstill and I didn’t know what was going to happen next. “Worse than that, I had my child beside me. I have never been so pleased to hear him use bad language because I knew he was still alive. But when we came to a standstill, he went quiet. I knew I was alive, but I didn’t know what had happened to him. “It felt like forever before he answered me and said I’m fine”.
For once, ‘miraculous’ seems fitting as Cotswold Life writer Katie, aged 56 from Nailsworth, and her son Miles, who was 20 at the time, escaped severely shaken but otherwise unscathed. They were pulled from the wreckage by passers-by barber Andy Jones and bricklayer Jack Rice who later received Royal Society of St. George Awards. Whilst Miles’ response has been to train as a retained firefighter, to go to the aid of other accident victims, Katie went through it all again as one of the presenters of ‘What if..?’ The safer driving campaign instigated by Gloucestershire’s Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) is in partnership with Gloucestershire Constabulary, Great Western Air Ambulance Charity, the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, the Severn Major Trauma Network and the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) l
What if? Under the Police and Crime Priority for Safe and Social Driving, the ‘What if…?’ campaign targets new drivers in schools and colleges around the county between the ages of 17-24, the age group most at risk of being involved in a serious car crash. Between February 5 and March 29, it was seen by around 3,500 stu- dents, teachers and visitors from 28 schools and colleges. Since ‘What if…?’ was launched in 2016, it’s been seen by nearly 14,000 novice and learner drivers
September 2019 | www. punchline-gloucester .com | 79
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