Crash Talk: We Need to Humanize Statistics
Car crashes injure & traumatize millions each year. You’re not alone and you’re not a statistic. Sharing stories to make a safer world for all.
If you have been in a car crash whether you were inside a vehicle or outside, you may have had trouble coping with after the crash.
Maybe it seemed like the crash wasn’t a big deal. Like no one was really injured and you should be over it by now.
You’re alive — so what’s the big deal?
I Should Be Over It By Now
That’s how I’ve felt every day for years — that I should be over it by now.
It’s hard not to become impatient, to feel incompetent, wimpy, embarrassing, like a total failure.
Like everyone is just giving you the side-eye, wondering why it’s taking you so long to get over something that happens to so many people.
You Are Not Alone
And I know I’m not alone.
And I know you’re not alone.
The internet is packed with stories of people struggling to cope with the aftereffects of a crash. Friends, family, neighbors, strangers — everyone has a story or knows someone who was killed or injured by a car crash.
It’s so common and so many people seem to return to life as normal so if that doesn’t happen for you, it may seem like you’re a failure.
Like other people have gone through so many worse things… so how is it you or me or anyone could continue to suffer long after their visible injuries fade?
I hate this topic and I never want to talk about it again but every day it’s on my mind and it continues to happen and to isolate people and the world gets a little worse every time someone is left out to deal on their own.
But it’s impossible to escape cars, whether you live in the woods, a suburb, or even a city with okay public transit, like New York.
Get Over It Already
I’ve been reading people’s posts on reddit and other websites about car crash trauma for years (I’m so fun at parties).
I’ve consistently seen posts from people who think (or thought) what they experienced wasn’t so bad and they should be over it but they’re not and that makes the healing more elusive.
The attitude from those who haven't experienced this type of crash -- that we should just "GET OVER IT ALREADY" -- is exasperating, pervasive, and cruel.
If we heal faster physically, it's easier for others around us to deal with that and forget about /ignore the life-crushing trauma that can come from having your personality (perhaps) permanently altered.
Politicians Don’t Care
Politicians don’t care. City leaders don’t care. Maybe they’ll attend a press conference if someone prominent is killed by a car (probably not), but nothing changes.
Our streets and roads, cities and towns are designed for speed, not for preserving human life. They talk about deaths, the tragic and horrific loss of life that happens on our roads but what about the rest of us that are still here, but just barely?
Those of us fumbling to get back into society?
We Need to Humanize Crash Statistics
Remember: you’re not alone and you’re not a statistic.
We are still alive, even if sometimes it doesn’t feel like it, even if it feels like we are a shell of our former selves.
I’m starting a collection of resources — things I wish I knew as soon as I was hit by a car — and I’d like to include stories of those who have come before and after me and survived and thrived, somehow. And those in various stages of the process.
I’m not saying let’s rehash and collect our trauma.
I want to collect share stories of resilience! Let’s share who we were before, who we’ve become, and who we want to become. We need to humanize crash statistics!
Let’s help each other and work towards making a safer and more compassionate world for all!
Do you have something to share or know someone who does?
What do you wish you knew right away?
Let’s Share Our Stories of Resilience
Let’s make an Emotional Support Book!
Car crashes injure & traumatize millions each year. You’re not alone and you’re not a statistic. Sharing stories to make a safer world for all.
