Queensland Road Safety Week at Bargara McDonald’s Courtesy Bundaberg News Mail
This week is a week about communicating, having conversations and speaking up for road safety. Road safety by itself is two words that together may be interpreted differently by people. People who have been involved in a traffic crash, people who have lost members of their family, people who answer the phone call about a crash, people who attend a crash or investigate and follow up, people who transport crash patients or crash vehicles/motorcycles, people who care for crash patients or survivors, people who are related to or know of someone involved in a crash, people who research traffic and road crashes, people who work in the field of road safety education and people in the community who use the road or read, listen, watch news and follow social media about road crashes that result in fatalities, injuries and long term consequences. There are a number of people involved and so the term ‘ripple effect’ becomes evident.
As a police officer of 15 years, I have seen and been aware of many road crashes including fatalities. I certainly haven’t seen or investigated as many as some of my colleagues have, but every road crash or incident police attend is one too many. There are some crashes that remain in our memories and in the nature of our work we don’t generally follow up on all crashes we attend unless the matter is going to court.
Over the years, my passion towards road safety has grown both professionally and personally. December 12 this year will mark a 30 year anniversary since I was involved in a car crash.
I was a child, who apparently ran onto the road and was hit by a car. I don’t remember running, being hit or what exactly happened. I was walking home from school and I was at a T-intersection. This T-intersection was a common crash zone area and on prior occasions I had seen a couple of cyclists who had been hit not far from where I was hit. What I do remember is a truck being positioned on the corner and the driver waving to me, so I probably interpreted that to mean hurry across the road, which may be how I ended up running – I really don’t know as no one has been able to confirm this. If the truck driver was waving, perhaps he was actually wanting me to stop, as he was obscuring my visibility and he could see what was coming, where I obviously could not.
A female driver had just left her friends home before I was hit. I don’t know the speed she was travelling at and due to the short distance she had travelled, it may possibly have been a low speed. The driver didn’t realize she had hit me until she heard a thump. I was flung up in the air and landed on the boot of the car and then bounced off the car and landed on the ground. Apparently I tried to get up and looked around in a daze and then fell back on to the ground.
School friends and a family member witnessed what happened and a friend went to tell my mum. I was supposed to be getting a lift home that day, so it didn’t make sense that I was lying in the middle of the road. Mum assisted with others where she could and comforted the female driver who naturally was in a state of shock.
I’ve been told an off duty police officer called for the ambulance. I don’t know their name and have never met him or her. I was transported to Dandenong Hospital and then transferred to the Royal Children’s Hospital. I was in a coma for approximately four days and had swelling on the brain. I was found to have a basal skull fracture and CT scans showed left frontal hemorrhage and left temporal hemorrhage. I don’t remember coming out of a coma, but I do remember when I was alert I was trying to speak and could not get a word out. Thinking back to how frustrating this was, I feel I can empathise and somewhat understand how stroke patients feel. I had no sense of time and was learning my home phone number as I wanted mum and dad to take me home. Apparently I was phoning home at unearthly hours although could not get any message out.
Doctors and nurses were unable to give my parents any idea on what my prognosis or recovery would be. It was time to take each day on its own.
It was close to Christmas Eve and I remember Molly Meldrum coming to visit the wards. I knew who he was from watching Hey Hey It’s Saturday, but I could not say anything or be understood. I was able to be released for Christmas and certainly enjoyed being back in a familiar environment at home. Again, I could not communicate my words or thoughts and must have developed a new language style. The next day I went to play the piano, which I now consider to be a significant part of my life and music is a language in itself. I could play tunes from memory without music and I could read music in my books. This was a key to my parents that my long term memory must still be there and I’d be OK.
When it was time to return to hospital, medical staff were able to see the improvements I had made at home. I guess I was fortunate my dad had good negotiating skills and I was able to be fully discharged from hospital, but had to return for appointments with the speech pathologist and the hospital staff would make an outpatients appointment with the neurosurgeon. I didn’t see the neurosurgeon again and after a period of time I stopped attending the speech appointments. I didn’t like missing out on school and as teachers didn’t notice or report any issues, everything was good. Initially it was believed I would need to recommence my schooling from Prep, although I was able to resume schooling like my friends and went into Grade 6, not knowing anything different.
School life did not present any issues and in 1988 I moved to Queensland.
At the end of Year 10 I started a part-time job, like many other teenagers. Half way through Year 12 I was offered a full time position, although I still wanted to complete Year 12. I was lucky my employer kept the position for me and I commenced full time work not long after finishing school. I continued to study internally through my workplace and later commenced tertiary studies.
I had considered joining the Queensland Police Service for a while and in 1999 I submitted my application. There are numerous medical/health questions to be answered and I disclosed details about my 1985 head injury from the motor vehicle accident/crash and that I had a full recovery.
In 1999, I was invited to participate in a research project as I was aged between 8 and 13 years when I had a childhood head injury and would be between 18 and 25 years at the time of answering the questions. In 2000 I visited the Royal Children’s Hospital to meet with someone on the project team and she was amazed that I was just about ready to join the police. I had certainly had a recovery that was not expected from the injuries I sustained.
In 2003 I visited a neurologist for the first time since 1985. Scarring and damage from the head injury were confirmed and I had fluid on the brain. In 2010 my health was declining and further tests again confirmed the scarring and damage. There were also concerns about the mobility of my right arm. My work hours were reduced from full-time to part-time to help me recover. In 2011 my work position was reviewed and I was required to attend an Independent Medical Examination. I needed to gather as much medical information/history as I could and for the first time I was able to access my records from the childhood head injury. I had never seen the results or notes before and can now understand how extremely fortunate I have been with my recovery, considering I have survived with a traumatic brain injury.
Looking back now, it’s interesting how some physical movements I considered to be normal, may not have been. As a child we adapt to many things and being young probably assisted my recovery. My flute teacher in 1987 had noticed something about my hand/arm, but I could still play and wasn’t in any discomfort. In 2000 at my firearms training, an instructor noticed something with my right hand/arm movement, but as I had spent a week using my dominant arm, I continued training in this way. Over time my mobility and function in my right arm has decreased.
It was recommended that I attend a period of time with a neurophysio, to improve function in my right arm. A neurophysio is someone who works with stroke patients. I had also been seeing an occupational therapist. I did regain some movement, although my arm is not fully mobile like it once used to be. This is considered to be a long term delayed consequence of my childhood head injury. Reasonable adjustment was made at my workplace, and I was able to continue working. I returned to full time work late 2013.
I previously worked as a School Based Police Officer and am lucky in my current role as a Crime Prevention Coordinator to perform a variety of duties and roles. I enjoy working on projects involving schools and community stakeholders. A number of these projects relate to road safety, something I am interested in both professionally and personally.
I’ve never met the driver from 1985 and don’t know if she is still alive, but hope she hasn’t had to go through any more road crashes over the past 30 years. I’ve never met the off duty police officer or ambulance officers and don’t know if they are still working in these roles. Naturally I don’t remember all the hospital and medical staff from nearly 30 years ago, although I do think of them and thank them for their response, performing their duties at the time and essentially helping me survive. Family, relatives and friends also played a vital part during my recovery as a child. I am inspired by the dedication of the speech pathologist who saw me in 1985 and early 1986 as she is still working in this field and also the researchers who aim to improve recovery and better outcomes for injured patients.
The saying ‘things happen for a reason’ can be difficult to understand at times, especially when people are grieving for loved ones who have died or been injured in road crashes. Perhaps sharing my childhood crash story and recovery may instill some hope for families and also create awareness that a traumatic brain injury is invisible from the outside, it’s life long and may have some delayed consequences. In saying that, there are also so many things that people can do and my life journey can confirm this. I have a wonderful family and friends and within my workplace some amazing and supportive colleagues. In my role I also have the opportunity to work with and meet many people who also work alongside police and share similar crime prevention and road safety ideas.
This week is your chance to Speak Up for Road Safety and encourage children to cross roads safely or pledge to a safe behaviour on the roads for yourself or family.
Oxley Academy Recruit Group 151
Graduation Day January 25, 2001 Ted Butler Community Service Award
Graduation Day 2001