In this line of work I cover a lot of car crashes where people die or are seriously injured because they aren't wearing a seatbelt. At the end of the stories, I almost always tag with the line, "officers say wearing a seatbelt could have prevented this." On Wednesday night, I didn't listen to my own advice and am now paying the price for it.
Photographer Andy Grossman and I were running late to get our piece on the double fatal crash on Centerville Turnpike fed into the WVEC newsroom. While we were driving, I was logging our tape and writing up my story. I was sitting in a metal folding chair with my back to the windshield, a chair that doesn't have a seatbelt.
We were heading down Elbow Road and according to Andy, someone stepped in front of our truck without looking. Andy hit the brakes and I flew out of my chair slamming into the large metal mast inside the truck. Andy pulled over to make sure I was okay, and we continued on our way.
Consider the lesson learned. When I woke up this morning, I found bruises from underneath my left arm to my waist. Now, no matter how late I'm running, I will be buckled in.
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