A guy has shared shocking photos online of his injuries following a car crash to raise awareness of the importance of driving safely.
On March 12 this year, 25-year-old Brian Latch, a student at the University of Mississippi, was involved in a car accident.
Although Brian has been involved in a few car crashes before as a passenger, this was his first incident as a driver.
Returning from picking up his vehicle from the mechanic, Brian was driving his SUV home on the US Highway 45 South in Biggersville.
Admitting he ‘wasn’t paying attention at the time’, Brian didn’t notice a tractor trailer pulling out into the highway driving straight into its rear at a speed of 70 miles per hour.
The impact forced Brian’s car to spin around, shattered his windshield and took off one of the wheels on the tractor which went flying.
Speaking exclusively to UNILAD, Brian revealed once the car stopped spinning he began to realise the extent of his injuries.
He explained:
It was strange. I was really calm and it felt as if time slowed down after the initial impact.
I was able to make decisions on how I wanted to brace myself for the impact of my landing. I consciously made the decision to grip the steering wheel and hold on tight.
I knew that there wasn’t much I could do and I was just along for the ride at that point. After my car stopped I knew immediately my leg was messed up and I hardly noticed I was losing so much blood from my head.
After someone rang the emergency services, Brian was swiftly airlifted away to a hospital.
Having shattered his pelvis and hip socket, at the hospital doctors carried out an emergency surgery in an attempt to repair his hip.
However, unable to do so Brian had hip replacement surgery later that week which then became infected resulting in doctors having to remove the prosthetic.
Brian admits this couple of weeks were very intense:
I was scared but I kept trying to stay positive. My dad was at the scene not long after and I kept reassuring him that I was alright even though I wasn’t sure.
They kept me strapped down and in a neck brace but by that point they had given me medication to calm me down. I never lost consciousness even though they could not stop the bleeding so that made me feel that the damage wasn’t life threatening.
The recovery was rough. The first few days in the hospital I was in so much pain I screamed. Eventually the pain did lessen and I was able to think about something else which I’m not so sure was good either.
I kept having nightmares about my accident and I would have panic attacks during the day when I thought about it.
When Brian was released from hospital, he found riding in cars and driving past the accident very difficult as this left him upset.
Being forced to drop out of school needing time to recover, especially since he was unable to walk due to his injured leg, Brian also had to move back in with his parents.
In the UK the perils of driving at high speeds have been made unavoidably clear by Richard Hammond’s repeated close call driving incidents:
As the pain lessened, Brian found himself able to relax more although he admits in the weeks leading up to his final surgery he became ‘restless’ and ‘frustrated’.
Having his final surgery on July 10, Brian is now recovering and building up enough strength to walk unassisted.
Now realising the importance of driving safely, Brian shared photos of himself before and after recovery on Reddit.
He believes more needs to be done to educate people on the importance of road safety admitting he has learnt a lot of lessons himself.
Brian concluded:
When I am the car with someone I am the most vigilant person in the vehicle, constantly making sure the driver is giving the road their full attention and watching out for other vehicles.
Even though I am not the one driving my eyes almost never leave the road. I think it is safe to say that I learned my lesson the hard way.
I think drivers’ education should be mandatory, where I live it isn’t required. With my accident it wasn’t a lack of safety knowledge as much as it was me not paying attention.
I think that harsher penalties for distracted driving would do more.
We wish you all the best with your recovery Brian.
To find out more about road safety for all road users, you can visit Safe Driving For Life’s website which has plenty of information.
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