Shepherd Center is pleased to announce it has received a $19,768.72. grant from the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety (GOHS). For the fourth consecutive year, Shepherd Center will continue utilizing the Safe System Approach, with its Rural Roads Seatbelt Safety Project. The grant year began on Oct.1, 2026, and will end on Sept. 30, 2027. 

The grant will help finance increasing seat belt compliance using a social norming campaign targeting rural Georgians. 

“Although seat belts are the best way to protect yourself in the event of a crash and have been well-documented to save lives and reduce injuries, seatbelt compliance continues to be a challenge,” said Emma Harrington, director of injury prevention at Shepherd Center. 

In the project’s third year, Harrington continued working on a renewed media push as well as several community events geared toward seat belt safety and ended the year with a compliance rate of 93.8% up from a starting point of 79.9% in 2024. 

“The Governor's Office of Highway Safety continues to work with state and local agencies to develop innovative projects and campaigns that are designed to save lives and protect everyone traveling on Georgia's roads and highways,” said Allen Poole, Director of the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety. "We remind all drivers that following the rules of the road not only helps saves your life but also helps to make sure others make it home safely to their families as well." 

Shepherd Center and the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety ask that drivers do their part to make the roads safer. 

The Governor's Office of Highway Safety's mission is to educate the public on safe driving behaviors and implement highway safety campaigns and programs designed to reduce crashes and eliminate fatalities and injuries on Georgia roads. For more information on this grant program, contact GOHS at 404-656-6996, and for more information on GOHS and its other highway safety programs, visit www.gahighwaysafety.org. 
 

Thanksgiving 2020 started like normal for Teona Osborne, 36.

“My kids and I were getting ready to start cooking,” Teona explains. “But when I went to get up, my legs wouldn’t move. I was terrified and confused.”

Teona, who lives in Dallas, Georgia, was rushed to Wellstar Cobb Hospital. Despite many tests over several months, no clear cause of paralysis came to light. Teona saw a neurologist at Emory University Hospital, and again, testing came back normal.

“The theory was that COVID had affected my spine, but they couldn’t say for sure because nothing showed up,” Teona says. “Life had changed for me in an instant, and I didn’t know how to process it. But I have two kids who rely on me, so I went into survival mode.”

Always a go-getter who doesn’t let obstacles slow her down, Teona knew she needed to get her body as strong as possible and learn to drive while using a wheelchair. Her physical therapy team at Emory referred her to Shepherd Center for more specialized care.

Teona started Shepherd’s Driving Evaluation and Rehabilitation Program.

“I needed to learn how to break down my wheelchair to get it in and out of the car by myself. The team showed me different adaptive driving equipment, and I practiced inside the facility and in an actual car on the road.”

Teona passed the driving test and traded her large truck for a smaller car, so it was easier to get in and out. Getting the car made a huge difference in her day-to-day life.

“My son does football and other sports, and my daughter does gymnastics and cheerleading. Being able to drive helped them keep going with their regular lives even though this huge change had happened to us,” Teona says.

Prior to losing mobility in her legs, Teona was a preschool teacher at a daycare. She decided to take time away from this physically demanding job, instead putting her efforts toward completing her degree.

“Being able to drive allowed me to go back and finish college. I graduated in December 2025 with a bachelor’s in education,” Teona says.

Teona’s outgoing spirit has helped her get stronger, too. Through physical therapy and exercise at Shepherd Center’s ProMotion Fitness Center, Teona has learned more about what her body is capable of.

“I feel stronger and way more independent,” she says. “The Shepherd team worked around my school schedule, especially my main therapist, Drew Oswald. They wanted me to graduate. I’d be working out, and my therapist would help with my homework. They saw the whole me, not just the patient me.”

Teona even took advantage of Shepherd’s recreation therapy offerings and tried adaptive golf and cycling.

“To me, it’s important to not give up and find a way. I didn’t know I could ride a bike, but they showed me there is a way. Live life to the fullest.”

Teona has accomplished so much since losing mobility in her legs, but she isn’t stopping anytime soon. Her next big goal: get an accessible minivan and find a fulltime teaching job using her degree. Teona explains that having to disassemble and assemble her manual wheelchair is time consuming and very difficult when the weather isn’t cooperating.

“A wheelchair-accessible vehicle would completely transform my daily life. I could use my electric wheelchair to simply roll into the vehicle on a ramp, giving me the freedom to reliably and safely go to a full-time job.”

Teona is determined to make her goals a reality, something she encourages others to do as well.

“I’m strong-minded. I tell my students, if Ms. T didn’t give up, you can’t either! Now I say that to everybody. Keep pushin’.”

Written by Damjana Alverson

It’s guidance many drivers have heard time and time again, yet distracted driving continues to be a public health crisis. In 2024, 3,208 people were killed and 315,167 people were injured in motor vehicle crashes involving distracted drivers, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

While cellphones can be a major distraction for drivers, other kinds of distractions can also claim drivers’ attention on the road, like a spilled drink or a missed exit. Luckily, there are steps you can take to stay focused while driving.

For Distracted Driving Awareness Month, experts from Shepherd Center share their advice to ensure a distraction-free drive, keeping you, your passengers, and other people on the road safe.

JJ Brown

Driver/Tech, Recreation Therapy Program

The Recreation Therapy team is committed to promoting safe, attentive driving — especially when driving patients during community outings. Taking a few simple steps to stay focused behind the wheel can make a big difference in keeping everyone safe. Here are some practical tips to help reduce distractions while driving:

• Lead by example: Whether transporting others or driving in your personal life, modeling attentive, distraction-free driving encourages others to do the same.
• Practice patience, slow down, and manage frustration: Traffic can be unpredictable, and it’s easy to feel frustrated. Take a breath, give yourself extra time, and avoid reacting to other drivers. Staying calm helps you stay focused and make safer decisions.
• Prepare before you start driving: Set your GPS, adjust mirrors, choose your music, secure all passengers and any personal items before putting the vehicle in motion. A few extra seconds upfront can prevent distractions later.
• Stay aware of your surroundings: Regularly scan the road, check mirrors, and anticipate what other drivers might do. Staying mentally engaged helps prevent your mind from wandering.
• Limit multitasking: Avoid eating, adjusting controls, or reaching for items while driving. Even small actions can take your attention off the road longer than you realize.
• Create a calm driving environment: Keep noise levels manageable and minimize anything that could pull your attention away, like loud music or clutter in the vehicle.

Photo caption: Brown, right, with close friend Chris Heitzman. Both are former Shepherd patients — Brown sustained a spinal cord injury in 2018. Read more about Brown's story here. 
 

Matt Abisamra, OTR/L, CDRS

Program Supervisor, Driving Evaluation and Rehabilitation Program

If you’re using hand controls to operate your vehicle, you can’t free up your hands to adjust the radio, temperature, or other settings. But, you can prepare before starting your drive to make sure you have a comfortable and safe environment.

• Connect your phone to your car via Bluetooth for hands-free communications, navigation, and adjust to your music or podcasts.
• Use your car’s auto temperature setting to keep a consistent and comfortable temperature.
• Ideally, find a vehicle with automatic lights and windshield wipers, so if weather conditions change while you’re on the road, you’re prepared.

Additionally, for some of our clients with cognitive challenges, GPS apps offer support even on routine drives. Apps that tell drivers which lane to be in are especially helpful and can keep drivers focused on the road.

Photo caption: Abisamra, right, works with a client in the Driving Evaluation and Rehabilitation Program
 

Emma Harrington, MSPS

Director of Injury Prevention

• Set an example for your kids: Model the behavior you want to see from your future teen driver and lay the groundwork for a culture of safety in your home before the car seats turn around.
• Georgia is a hand-free state: Before you shift into gear set your music, podcasts, and GPS routes. If you need to adjust anything, pull over safely.
• Use technology that helps you block… technology: Enable your phone’s built‑in Driving Focus/Auto‑Silence modes or use blocking apps that disable notifications while driving.
• Set expectations for a culture of safety with your loved ones: Let family, friends, and coworkers know you do not respond while driving.
• Treat all alerts as distractions: Infotainment screens, smart watches, smart glasses. They all count.
• Let passengers help — or hold you accountable: Passengers can manage music, messages, or navigation. When you’re the passenger, reinforce a culture of safety and offer to help the driver.

Photo caption: Harrington is the Director of Injury Prevention.

For Gloria Bone, managing her multiple sclerosis (MS) means maintaining independence. With help from Shepherd Center’s Driving Evaluation and Rehabilitation Program, she’s doing just that.

Gloria was diagnosed with MS about 15 years ago, and for the last 10 years, she’s been going to Shepherd Center’s Andrew C. Carlos Multiple Sclerosis Institute. There, she’s participated in physical therapy and pain management, which have helped her maintain her active lifestyle as a retired IBM administrator and educator, mother, and dedicated volunteer in her community. 

A few years ago, however, MS symptoms began interfering with Gloria’s ability to drive. She started experiencing drop foot, characterized by difficulty lifting the front part of the foot. She made the decision to stop driving until her MS team referred her to the Driving Evaluation and Rehabilitation Program.

Gloria says that going into the program, she wasn’t expecting to get on the road right away. But with the help of Lakisha Gray, MSOT, OTR/L, CDRS, an occupational therapist and certified driving rehabilitation specialist, she was back in the driver’s seat. Gray taught Gloria how to use hand controls rather than foot pedals, allowing her to drive safely even when experiencing drop foot. She also helped Gloria manage her hesitation and anxiety toward getting back on the road.

After driving one of Shepherd Center’s adaptive vans, Gloria moved on to driving her own vehicle using hand controls. She says Gray met her at her car dealership the day they installed the controls to do a test drive, followed by a couple of additional practice sessions.

“[The support] matters a lot for a person like me, coming in being an older woman who’s used to doing what she pretty much wants to do,” she says. “Lakisha is so soft-spoken and patient and encouraging ... I think that’s part of her DNA.”

It’s been a little over two years since Gloria finished training in the program, and her ability to drive has made a world of difference. She credits Gray, as well as her family’s support, for giving her freedom back. 

“[Driving rehabilitation] has been the most beneficial to me. With the progression of the disease, and the inability to be as mobile as I want to be, [driver training] has provided me with the will and desire to continue to do things — it gives me joy to know this is one thing that hasn’t been taken,” she says.

Written by Erin Kenney

Shepherd Center is pleased to announce it has received a $233,971.59 grant from the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety (GOHS). For the third consecutive year, Shepherd Center will continue utilizing the Safe System Approach, with its Rural Roads Seatbelt Safety Project. The grant year began on Oct.1, 2025, and will end on Sept. 30, 2026. 

The grant will help finance increasing seat belt compliance using a social norming campaign targeting rural Georgians. 
 

“Although seat belts are the best way to protect yourself in the event of a crash and have been well-documented to save lives and reduce injuries, seatbelt compliance continues to be a challenge,” said Emma Harrington, director of injury prevention at Shepherd Center. 
 

In the project’s second year, Harrington continued working on a renewed media push as well as several community events geared toward seat belt safety. 
 

“The Governor’s Office of Highway Safety and our partners continue to implement programs designed to save lives and promote safe driving behaviors,” said Allen Poole, director of the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety. 
 

Shepherd Center and the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety ask that drivers do their part to make the roads safer. 
 

The Governor's Office of Highway Safety's mission is to educate the public on safe driving behaviors and implement highway safety campaigns and programs designed to reduce crashes and eliminate fatalities and injuries on Georgia roads. For more information on this grant program, contact GOHS at 404-656-6996, and for more information on GOHS and its other highway safety programs, visit www.gahighwaysafety.org. 


 

Access Technology Lab 

The Access Technology Lab offers specialized expertise, personalized assistive devices, and technology solutions for living, working, and playing. It fosters independence in every-thing from switching on a light to calling for help to accessing a mobile device. “We do comprehensive evaluations to determine a patient’s function and goals, then provide treatment. We educate patients on potential solutions and trial them to see what works best,” says Graylyn Jones, OTR/L, an occupational therapist in the Access Technology Lab. “Nothing is one size fits all. We could have 35 patients with the same injury, and we'll probably have 35 combinations of assistive tech for each of them.”

Jones says assistive technology helps her patients in many ways, including returning to work, communicating with loved ones, and enjoy-ing their favorite pastimes. “We ask folks what they like to do, and they say, ‘Oh, I played video games with my brothers, but I can't anymore because of my injury,’” Jones says. “Getting to see how happy and excited they are when they get to do something they didn't think was possible is so fulfilling.” 

People who can benefit from assistive technology include those with:

• Mobility barriers due to traumatic injury, paralysis, amputation, or other conditions
• Visual barriers due to blindness or low vision 
• Hearing loss 
• Cognitive and learning disabilities 
• Speech or communication-related disabilities 
• Neurological conditions like cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, or traumatic brain injury 
• Older adults experiencing age-related challenges 

Driving Evaluation and Rehabilitation Program 

Shepherd Center’s Driving Evaluation and Rehabilitation Program helps people with disabilities regain or gain for the first time the indepen-dence that comes with driving. “Driving means so much to our patients,” says occupational therapist and certified driver rehabilitation specialist Lakisha Gray, MSOT, OTR/L, CDRS. “It gives them a better quality of life when they know they can have reliable transportation to return to work and go to medical appointments. They can leave the house to see friends or enjoy an activity. They can take some burden of care off loved ones by picking up the kids or groceries. It gives a sense of purpose and normalcy.” 

Gray conducts a driving evaluation, including a clinical assessment of cognitive, vision, and motor abilities. An on-road assessment is also com-pleted which includes discussing best vehicle options, determining assistive driving equipment that is compatible with patient’s function, and a drive using the equipment. “For example, we may find a person has decreased strength in their arms. We can implement different steering options so they can exert less effort to steer their car,” Gray says. “We have a fleet of vehicles that we can set up with the equipment they need so they can test it out and practice at Shepherd Center. We will train the patient until they feel totally comfortable and safe, including accom-panying them to get the equipment installed in their own vehicle and doing one more prac-tice run at the shop once it’s ready. 

Wheelchair Seating and Mobility Clinic 

The Wheelchair Seating and Mobility Clinic provides in-depth evaluations, custom fittings for first-time and experienced wheelchair users, and ongoing modifications and support. “It's a team effort between the therapist, patient, patient's caregivers and loved ones, and the equipment supplier,” Gina Toffenetti-Guertin, PT, ATP, explains. “We are all trying to determine what will give the patient the greatest independence, comfort, and safety.” Pressure wounds are a common health risk for people who use wheel-chairs. Therapists can use advanced pressure mapping technology to con-figure wheelchair parts to reduce the risk of pressure ulcers and ensure optimal pressure distribution. “There is all this tech out there that people may not know about that can change their lives,” Toffenetti-Guertin says. “For one person, it can look like using seat elevation to raise their wheelchair seat to cook a meal for their family at the stove. For another person, it can mean using power assist on a wheelchair to get to class on time and finish their degree.” 

 By Damjana Alverson

“No kidding, I don’t remember pain or anything. I just remember seeing all my deceased loved ones,” Dusty says. “Truly, my Mamaw Mac came up to me and gave me one of those Little Debbie Zebra Cakes. Then my Granddaddy Bill, daggum cigarette in his mouth and a cup of coffee. And he leans down to me and just says, ‘Not yet.’”

And that’s all that Dusty, now 35, remembers from his accident or many of the days and weeks before and after it. Following numerous surgeries at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, the Stockbridge, Georgia, resident had a similarly surreal experience when he arrived at Shepherd Center in March 2020.

“I began to wake up right as the COVID lockdowns happened,” Dusty says. “My wife Julie and the rest of my family couldn’t be around because of the protocols. But I didn’t understand that. I’m seeing all these strange faces in masks and protective equipment. It felt like, ‘Is this purgatory?’”

Adding to the dreamlike vibes, one of Dusty’s ICU nurses was Michael Ellis, RN — a good friend and someone Dusty’s known since high school. Dusty credits Michael and Suzie Goggin, RN, CRRN, with helping him gradually understand his situation.

Dusty’s most significant challenge to a full recovery was the traumatic brain injury he’d sustained. At Shepherd Center, his care team helped Dusty re-learn how to talk, walk, eat — in short, everything. He also received vital care for his wounds. While many people with complex injuries and illnesses face an increased risk of obtaining wounds as a secondary complication, Dusty’s expert wound care team helped prevent further complications and additional surgeries that could have derailed his rehabilitation.

“Honestly, I felt like a child at first,” Dusty says. “The progress felt slow, but with everything they were doing, my brain eventually started kicking into gear.”

Dusty also completed outpatient therapy at Shepherd Pathways, and he utilized Shepherd’s Driving Evaluation and Rehabilitation Program to re-learn how to drive. Today, he’s once more taking his kids — Madison, 8, and Rhett, 5 — to and from school each day. Dusty’s also flying again with his pilot father-in-law. And the longtime Atlanta Braves fan is excited about a new baseball season.

“I could very easily be dead,” Dusty says. “I never forget that. So, I’m just happy every day to be alive and well.”

Written by Phillip Jordan

Seat belts are the single best way to protect yourself in a crash, and numerous studies have reported that they save lives and reduce injuries. Despite enjoying years of relatively high rates of seat belt compliance, in 2023 almost 62% of Georgia roadway fatalities were either unbelted or unknown. And in Georgia and the nation as a whole, seatbelt use has declined since 2021.

Still, most of us do buckle up and expect our loved ones to do the same. How do we reach the risk-takers on our roads? It starts with your own sphere of influence: Here is what you can do to decrease your risk and strengthen a culture of safety in your community.

1. Model the behavior you want to see in your children. As soon as their car seat is forward-facing, they are watching and learning.
2. Make a family rule that the vehicle does not start until everyone is buckled up. Make this non-negotiable.
3. Model the correct way to wear your seatbelt on every trip.
4. Understand that backseat passengers who do not wear their seatbelts are a liability for everyone else in the vehicle. Unrestrained passengers can become projectiles and injure belted passengers in the event of a crash.
5. Pay close attention to your car seats. Do not switch your child to a forward-facing position or a booster until absolutely necessary based on height and weight. The longer your child can be rear-facing and in a harness, the more protection they have.
6. Do not let your children sit in the front seat. Their smaller frames are much safer in the backseat.
7. Refuse to drive unless all of your passengers are restrained — this includes sticky situations with coworkers, bosses, and other people’s children.
8. Maintain these norms even if you are just going around the corner on a short drive.
9. Talk about the importance of seat belts with your kids and why you expect them to buckle up every time. The same principle applies to wearing a helmet and other expected safety behaviors. If you insist your kids wear a helmet but don’t model the behavior yourself, the lesson is lost.  

In Georgia in 2021, 701 lives were saved thanks to proper restraint use for passengers ages five and above (Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety 2021 Risky Driving Quick Facts). Working together, we can all make the roads safer for everyone.

EMMA HARRINGTON is the director of injury prevention and education services at Shepherd Center. Previously, Emma started the injury prevention program at Grady Memorial Hospital in the Trauma Department. She holds a master of education degree in international education policy from Harvard University. Originally from Boston, Emma is a licensed social studies teacher.

“After that, they couldn't get me to shut up,” she laughs. “They couldn’t get me to stop talking, and they couldn't get me to stop going behind the desks, talking to the nurses, calling everybody code names.”

Egypt made the rounds of the hospital, occasionally stopping into CEO Sarah Morrison’s office for a chat. She especially loved Fridays at Shepherd because the adolescents went on outings or had group activities.

“Either way, everybody’s going to be together, so every Friday was fun,” she recalls.

Egypt was discharged last summer, and this June, she returned to Shepherd from her home in Montezuma, Georgia, to practice for what’s considered a major milestone by many teens —her driver’s license test.

“It means a lot. It means I don’t have to wait on anybody; I can be free to do things,” Egypt explains.

Egypt, who uses a wheelchair, took advantage of Shepherd’s adaptive driving services to learn how to drive a car using hand controls. Occupational therapist and certified driving educator Lakisha Gray, MSOT, OTR/L, CDRS, works with clients to inform them of transportation options, evaluate their needs, and provide instruction and training on using adaptive equipment.

Adaptive driving services aren’t limited to Shepherd patients. They are available to anyone in the community who needs to be evaluated for safe driving, including people with spinal cord or brain injuries, as well as those who have cognitive, visual, or physical disabilities, or concerns related to aging.

After driving evaluations and training, the adaptive driving services team completes fittings.

“If people need equipment in their vehicles, we'll meet them at an equipment installer, make sure all the equipment is in the right place, and make any adjustments. Then we'll complete another training in their vehicle at that time,” Gray explains.

Many clients are re-learning how to drive, but it was Egypt’s first time getting a license. Gray says Egypt learned quickly.

“She was anticipating that it would be a lot harder than it was,” Gray explains. “But once we practiced, she got more confident. She went from, ‘I’m just going to be in the house even though I can drive,’ to, ‘Now I'm going to go everywhere!’”

Egypt practiced with Gray every day for a week, beginning in the Shepherd parking deck and then expanding into nearby neighborhoods and around Atlanta.

“She took me to different places during the week, learning how to yield, how to merge into traffic, when to brake, and when not to. I was nervous all week until the day of my driving test. But Lakisha walked me through the steps of what to do and what not to do, and that Friday morning, I took my driving test.”

For Egypt, it turned out to be another fun Friday. She passed the test and got her driver’s license. And that’s not the only significant milestone Egypt has to celebrate this summer – she also graduated from high school in May and is off to college this month.

For more information on Shepherd’s adaptive driving services, visit shepherd.org/driving.

Written by Ruth Underwood

Pursuing Possible with Shepherd Center

To support patient stories like this, please consider contributing to Shepherd Center's Pursuing Possible campaign. Click here to learn more.

One evening, as Aiden was studying for a midterm, he noticed his roommate stumbling to the door after drinking, preparing to return to his fraternity house. Aiden immediately offered to drive his roommate.

“Get in, and if you think I’m too bad to drive, then you can drive,” said his roommate.

Aiden reluctantly agreed. His roommate drove erratically through town, reaching speeds over 100 miles an hour before he hit a curb, sending the car flying until it landed against a pole. Aiden immediately knew that he could not feel or move anything below his neck, and when the car caught fire, he could only feel the heat on his face.

A bystander rushed over to the vehicle.

“You have to pull me out,” Aiden instructed.

Just as the bystander pulled Aiden from the vehicle and got him safely across the street, the car was engulfed in flames.

Aiden was life-flighted to TriStar Skyline Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, where he had an MRI and emergency surgery.

“The life flight nurse found my mom,” Aiden says. “And she told her, ‘This isn’t going to make sense right now, but you have to get to Shepherd Center.’ Then everyone started telling us the same thing.”

Aiden was admitted to Shepherd Center’s Adolescent Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Program and spent the next three months working toward his therapy goals among his peers.

“Everyone was so welcoming,” Aiden explains. “It’s just amazing how at Shepherd Center, people are at their absolute worst, but the atmosphere and the staff there make it the happiest place on earth. That’s what always stuck with me. I was in a bad position, but it never felt like that. The atmosphere at the gym just feels like you’re hanging out with your friends, and everyone is just getting work done. It never felt like therapy.”

Aiden’s positive mindset helped him progress, graduating from the inpatient program to Shepherd Center’s Outpatient Day Program. He moved from a power wheelchair to a manual wheelchair, and finally, during the last week in the outpatient program, he came to therapy using hand crutches.

Today, Aiden is using his experiences to help others in similar situations.

“I was a music major, and playing instruments was my life. Now, I feel like my calling is to help people and create awareness about spinal cord injuries. I’m in a unique situation since I started in a power wheelchair and can now walk, so I feel like I can give insights into each stage of recovery. I try to help people in as many ways as I can.”

Written by Lindsey Rieben

By Emma Harrington, director of injury prevention and education at Shepherd Center

Ask any new parent who is routinely pouring their cereal into their coffee if fatigue impacts their ability to function. Not getting enough shut-eye has serious cognitive consequences, like inhibiting decision-making, attention, and memory — all significant skill sets needed to drive safely. Substantial time and attention have been paid to the distracted driving epidemic in our nation. Still, perhaps more education needs to be done on drowsy driving because it is easy for even the most vigilant among us to slip into it. The CDC reports that 1 in 25 has fallen asleep at the wheel in the last month. Most likely underrepresented in the data, at least 6,000 fatal crashes may have involved a drowsy driver in 2020. Certainly, more research on drowsy driving needs to be done, but for now, here are a few tips on how to keep yourself and your loved ones safe.

1. Talk to your kids about the importance of getting enough sleep — and lead by example. Set regular bedtimes and limit screen time before bed.
2. Familiarize yourself with your state’s Graduated Drivers Licensing laws: most states restrict new drivers to daytime driving, as nighttime hours are far riskier. This is especially true for drowsy driving, where most injuries and fatalities occur between midnight and 6 a.m.
3. Recognize and talk about the warning signs of drowsy driving, including weaving, hitting the rumble strips, missing your exit or turn, blinking and yawning, and not remembering the last few miles driven.
4. When appropriate, pull over and call for help or switch drivers. Using your parents’ trick of turning up the radio is not enough to keep you safe on the road.
5. Be aware that your brain may operate differently late at night. According to neurologists at Mass General, your brain’s chemicals change at night, resulting in negative changes in attitudes and behavior.

Sources:

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnsys.2014.00046/full

https://www.cdc.gov/sleep/features/drowsy-driving.html

https://www.wishtv.com/news/medical/scientists-say-when-it-comes-to-the-brain-nothing-good-happens-after-midnight/

If you feel like people are going faster than ever on the roadways and are noticing more distracted drivers on the roads, you are not imagining it. In Georgia and nationwide, we are seeing a significant uptick in fatal crashes even though many of us continue to shelter in place and forgo our usual driving routine. With wide open highways and byways, speeding has increased dramatically, leading to more force being dispersed during a crash, resulting in catastrophic injuries and fatalities. Now more than ever, it is important to control what you can as a driver, paying particular attention to your teenage drivers.

At Shepherd Center, we have seen an increase in referrals due to motor vehicle crashes. In fact, the number of patients referred to Shepherd Center due to injuries caused by car, truck or motorcycle accidents in the fourth quarter of 2020 was 22% higher than the same period the year before. Of those, there was a 44% increase in the number of patients with brain injuries, with the number of patients referred for spinal cord injuries remaining flat. Finally, the number of patients referred under age 21 due to motor vehicle crashes was more than 50% higher than the same period the year prior.

Instead of fearing the roads, I encourage everyone to take some basic, life-saving precautions that can prevent you or your loved ones from becoming part of these statistics. Here are my top tips for staying safe while driving.

1. Always wear your seatbelt and insist that everyone in your car wear one too. Unrestrained passengers can become human projectiles during a crash.
2. Leave plenty of room in between your car and the car in front of you. While dangerous drivers may use the space to zip in and out of lanes, you will have enough lead time to stop if needed.
3. Never drive in between two tractor trailers.
4. Always pass on the left!
5. When passing big trucks, make sure you can see their mirrors and leave plenty of space. Eighteen-wheelers need a lot of time and space to come to a complete stop.
6. While it may be tempting to take advantage of a clear interstate at rush hour, stick to the speed limit.
7. Focus! Take away all distractions before driving and just drive. Now more than ever, it is nearly impossible to unplug. Use your driving time as the precious alone time you rarely get!
8. Keep an eye out for the super speeders and the lane hoppers and avoid them. There is nothing wrong with driving in the slow lane!
9. Use this time to give your teen driver plenty of practice, but plan your route accordingly to avoid high-speed situations. Slowly gain confidence and skills around the neighborhood during non-peak driving hours.
10. Utilize Shepherd’s free AutoCoach® app, a tool developed to guide parents in teaching safe driving practices to teenage drivers.

“That first day was a little overwhelming,” Ashley says.

But there was something else she felt that first day as a college student. Something she didn’t know she’d feel again a couple years before. Independence.

On Sept. 27, 2015, Ashley sustained a traumatic brain injury in a car crash. First responders doubted she’d survive, and Ashley remained in a coma for three full weeks. A little more than a week after she awoke at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, though, Ashley was transferred to Shepherd Center to enter the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Program. There, she relearned how to breathe, walk, eat and start talking again.

“I loved everyone at Shepherd Center,” Ashley says. “They were so supportive and they had so many therapy options. There was music, games, yoga, swimming. They did not let you get bored!”

She laughs and recalls the moment when she realized just how much she appreciated her time in Atlanta.

“I remember being at Shepherd Center and being homesick,” Ashley says. “Then we got back home and I immediately wanted to go back to Shepherd Center!”

She is nothing if not resilient. After returning home, the biggest goal she set for herself was to learn to drive again. This fall, she is driving, indeed – commuting the 30-some miles between Hurt and Liberty’s campus in Lynchburg. The arrangement allows her to live at home and still be involved in family nights that she relishes with siblings, nieces and nephews.

Ashley’s goal is to one day be a social worker, perhaps with an adoption agency. Nobody doubts her resolve. Back at her high school graduation, Ashley was the recipient of a Tenacity Award for “extraordinary perseverance and academic excellence.” Despite her injury – and the four months she spent at Shepherd Center – Ashley graduated on time with a 4.11 GPA.

Written by Phillip Jordan

Partnering with the Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety (GOHS) and IT management consulting firm CapTech, Shepherd Center’s certified driver rehabilitation specialists and injury prevention experts used their specialized training to create AutoCoach, an innovative app that makes it easier for adults to effectively teach their teens to drive defensively and safely.

AutoCoach tracks training hours, as well as night driving hours, which in Georgia is a prerequisite for obtaining a driver’s license. The app’s curriculum is applicable in all 50 U.S. states. AutoCoach is available as a free download in the Apple App and Google Play stores.

“With motor vehicle crashes being the leading cause of death for teens in our country, we must make sure our youngest drivers receive the proper training before they get behind the wheel,” said Harris Blackwood, director of the Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety. “It has been a great pleasure to partner with Shepherd Center and CapTech in developing this first-of-its-kind, comprehensive driver’s education app that will help parents, grandparents and other adults provide training in a manner teens will be able to learn and use when they begin driving on their own.”

Features of AutoCoach’ include a customizable parent-teen agreement, a graduated driver’s licensing quiz by state, distraction notifications, a driving log and a 10-chapter curriculum for parents based on best practices.

Those chapters cover basic topics, such as adjusting mirrors, seats and tire pressure, and the difference between double yellow and dotted yellow lines, as well as complex driving skills, such as merging onto crowded highways, driving around 18-wheelers and safely recovering from an overcorrection.

Some parents might choose to spend very little time on the most basic chapters and spend more time teaching more complex skills, said Emma Louise Harrington, MSPS, Ed.M., director of injury prevention and education at Shepherd Center. And that’s fine.

“Some kids already know the very basics and their parents are comfortable with their teens knowledge of those,” Harrington said. “But in the more complex chapters, it’s a good refresher for the parents, but vital that teens learn these things.”

Harrington acknowledged that AutoCoach is a time commitment for parents, but she believes once parents weigh the time commitment against the risks, it’ll be an easy decision.

“It will save somebody’s teenaged son or daughter his or her life,” Harrington said. “We’re confident the curriculum is so precise and so needed on our roads, that it will prevent many teenager-related accidents.”

Teens are a particularly vulnerable population on U.S. roadways because of their inexperience and risky driving tendencies. In Georgia, between 2013 and 2015, drivers ages 16 and 17 had the highest licensed-driver fatality rate among all motor vehicle crashes. And drivers ages 16 to 19 are three times more likely to die in a car crash than older, more experienced drivers.

Pierre St. Brice, 18, of Winston, Georgia, wishes AutoCoach had been available to the family of a 16-year-old who crossed a center lane in December 2015 and crashed into the car in which St. Brice was a passenger.

The 16-year-old was using the social media app Snapchat while driving, authorities later told St. Brice. That driver died on the scene. St. Brice, a highly regarded football recruit, sustained a T-12 spinal cord injury, paralyzing him from the waist down.

“I’d just been offered a chance to play at Stanford,” St. Brice said. “Now, if I see someone driving distracted, all I can do is pray for them.”

The need for AutoCoach is well documented. Studies show that one of the most protective factors against teenage injuries and fatalities due to car crashes are parents who model, monitor and enforce safe driving practices, Harrington noted. But rarely are parents and guardians trained in how to teach their teen to safely operate and maintain an automobile, she added.

The AutoCoach curriculum was developed by Shepherd Center’s certified driver rehabilitation specialists (CDRS), who specialize in adaptive equipment and vehicles, and are often trained as occupational therapists.

CapTech provided the Apple and Android planning and development of the AutoCoach App. “Leveraging the latest smartphone technology to improve driver safety aligns well with CapTech’s values,” says Boyd Christian, CapTech’s Atlanta office lead. “We are combining the best in education content and the best in driving log accuracy to deliver a beautiful user experience that will prevent future injuries.”

RESOURCES:

Learn more at shepherd.org/auto-coach.

Download or listen to our podcast from the file posted above or at Shepherd Center Radio.

Download our AutoCoach postcard and flyer above.

NEWS MEDIA CONTACTS:

Jane Sanders, Shepherd Center, 404-350-7707, jane_sanders@shepherd.org

Tony Wilbert, Wilbert Public Relations Company, 404-260-6440, twilbert@wilbertcompany.com

Emily Krause, CapTech, 804,545-8733, ekrause@captechconsulting.com

The Spinal Cord Injury Model System (SCIMS) program, in which Shepherd Center participates, produces a series of fact sheets as resources for people with spinal cord injury (SCI), as well as their families. In previous blogs, I have featured topics such as pain management and adaptive sports and recreation. Now, I will showcase information on adapted driving and respiratory health.

Driving

In collaboration with SCIMS, experts from the adapted driving program at Shepherd Center created a useful fact sheet, which covers a series of factors that someone with an injury needs to consider before deciding whether driving is an option:

• severity of the injury and level of function
• procurement of an adapted vehicle
• available assistive technologies
• meeting the expense of equipment and vehicle modifications.

A driving rehabilitation specialist can provide an evaluation to decide if you are ready and able to drive. Here are some requirements for a return to driving:

• You do not need narcotics to control pain.
• You have good vision.
• You can control muscle spasms and tightening caused by your injury.

When you meet with a driving rehabilitation specialist, he or she will evaluate your:

• medical data
• driving history
• vision
• strength/range of motion
• ability to transfer from your wheelchair
• wheelchair/mobility device loading
• behind-the-wheel driving to assess equipment options.

Additional elements in the process of driving include how to pay for needed equipment and the best time to begin the process.

“It is our sincere hope that the information in this new fact sheet will inspire readers to explore their options for transportation and driving,” says John Anschutz, ATP, RET, manager of the Shepherd Center Assistive Technology Center. “We hope the information and resources presented will help ease concerns about whom to see, what resources are available and how to approach the maze of options without spending too much or getting overwhelmed. Shepherd Center’s Driving Program gets great satisfaction with every person who regains the freedom and independence that personal transportation can foster.”

Respiratory Health

Before your injury, you probably breathed with very little thought. After injury, breathing can be more challenging because it involves motor function that may be damaged. Signals sent from the brain may no longer be able to pass beyond the damage done to the spinal cord, and this deficit can lead to health issues such as bronchitis, pneumonia and sleep apnea. Bronchitis and pneumonia are lung infections, while sleep apnea occurs when the back of the throat collapses and then opens repeatedly while you’re asleep. Loud snoring is a sign of sleep apnea, as is feeling very sleepy during waking hours.

To reduce the chances of having any of these conditions, consider the following:

• Avoid all exposure to tobacco smoke, even second-hand smoke.
• Stay hydrated when you have a respiratory infection.
• Manage your weight. Diet and exercise can help.
• Avoid close contact with people who may have a cold or the flu.
• Get a flu shot annually, and get vaccinated against pneumonia.

For additional information on both of these fact sheets, as well as the entire series available from SCIMS, go to: msktc.org/sci/factsheets.

LESLEY HUDSON, MA, is co-director of the Southeastern Regional Spinal Cord Injury Model System at Shepherd Center. She is also the former executive director of the American Spinal Injury Association. She has worked in a number of administrative and research positions at Shepherd Center since 1976.

As part of the injury rehabilitation process, clients in the Assistive Technology Center at Shepherd Center get help with regaining their mastery of a motor vehicle so they can attain the liberty that everyone needs.

“Driving is probably the pinnacle of independence, freedom and personal satisfaction,” says John Anschutz, manager of the Assistive Technology Center. “It empowers an individual to do what they want to do, and they don’t have to be dependent on alternative transportation or friends. It’s life-changing, and being a part of that is very satisfying.”

The Assistive Technology Center has two functions related to driving: to evaluate clients’ physical capabilities (e.g., eyesight, reaction time, brain function) to see if they are candidates for driving, and to teach clients how to use technology that will assist them in navigating roadways.

Occupational therapist Matt Abisamra is one of the first people clients meet when they visit the Assistive Technology Center. As a driving program supervisor, he evaluates clients’ current level of function and how their disability may affect driving. He then rides with them to see how they do on the open road.

“I look at their vision, their peripheral vision, distance acuity, how their brain interprets what their eyes see,” Abisamra explains. “For example, they might have a problem where they think they are driving in the lane, but they might actually be bumping against the curb.”

He then heads out with the clients and records the whole trip on video. He looks at their awareness of traffic, street signs and intersections. He watches how clients control the vehicle during turns, as well as how they negotiate hills. When they get back, Abisamra shows the video to the client to illustrate what tools may help them drive independently, or sometimes to show them why driving is not a safe option.

Assistive Technology Center client Modou Jawo grew up with polio in Gambia. He had to use crutches to get around, and his legs have never had the strength necessary to operate the pedals of a motor vehicle. The Assistive Technology Center has helped him gain newfound freedom.

“When I went to school, I had to call my wife to ask her to pick me up, but I wanted to be more independent and do things for myself,” Jawo explains. “Learning to drive made me more confident. I always had this dream that I wanted to do things for myself, so I wouldn’t have to rely on anybody.”

There are many different types of controls that can help clients like Jawo drive again. Usually, a client will need a device to help them accelerate and brake. At its simplest, this is a series of levers that connects the pedals to a hand control. The hand control works most commonly by pushing toward the dashboard to brake and pulling back to give it gas. There are also systems that work by twisting a knob or a handle, much like a motorcycle throttle. These can be devised as an electronic system if the client needs help moving those levers.

"For example, we can mount a control at the shoulder so that moving it back and forth can activate the accelerator and brake," Anschutz explains.

Additionally, if a client doesn’t have the full range of motion in their arm or has difficulty grasping the wheel, the Assistive Technology Center can make it smaller, or they can attach another handle to it so the client can nestle their hand into the wheel rather than grasping it. Power steering can also be adjusted so that almost zero effort is required to move the wheel. There might be further adjustments for operating the turn signals, door and window locks, ignition controls and light switches.

When it’s time to train clients to drive, that’s when certified driver rehabilitation specialist James Kennedy goes into action. At the Assistive Technology Center, he uses the client’s first day in the program to help them adjust to him and to the vehicle.

“Most people, when I get them out for the first time, they’re a little scared,” Kennedy says. “I’ve seen people generally panic at the beginning, but by the end they don’t even know what they were worried about.”

Jawo loves the newfound freedom afforded by being in the driver’s seat. “Sometimes when my wife and I go somewhere, I drive,” he says. “Sometimes she drives us in her car, but most of the time we drive in my car because I just like to drive. It just gave me my life back.”

More information on Shepherd Center's Adapted Driving Program is available here or by calling 404-350-7760.

Written by David Terraso

Top 10 Holiday Driving Safety Tips (Download PDF by clicking here.)

1. Distracted driving is even more pronounced during the holidays because of increased travel and busy schedules. When you get behind the wheel, make driving your priority. Avoid using cell phones, adjusting the radio or changing CDs, reading maps, and eating and drinking while driving.
    
2. Stay alert, keeping your eyes focused on searching and scanning the driving environment. Drive defensively. Wear your seat belt and always expect the unexpected.
    
3. With additional holiday activities and increased stress, changes in sleep schedules and shorter days, drivers are vulnerable to drowsiness. Fight fatigue by getting enough rest, allowing extra travel time, taking frequent breaks, sharing the driving, asking passengers to stay alert and limiting driving to times to when you are normally awake. Drowsy driving impairs judgment, slows reaction time and increases stopping distance.
    
4. With all the holiday festivities, impaired driving occurs more frequently, and police increase the number of checkpoints and patrols. Use good judgment and drink responsibly. If traveling by car, always have a designated driver. Even small amounts of alcohol can impair your driving ability. Be extra cautious on the road at night and report any driver you believe to be driving impaired.
    
5. Winter weather can bring rain, snow, sleet and ice. Check the forecast and road reports in advance of traveling and make contingency plans for bad weather, even for short trips. Increase your following distance an extra 2 seconds for poor weather conditions. If you break down or are caught in bad weather, look for shelter and wait out the storm instead of trying to drive through it. Avoid sitting in a running car to keep warm because of the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.
    
6. Keep your vehicle well maintained, including tires that are properly pressurized and road worthy. Carry an emergency kit that includes flashlights, blankets and jumper cables. Communicate your travel plans to another person and advise them of any changes.
    
7. With increased traffic during the holidays, there is also an increase in commercial vehicles on the road. When driving near large trucks, do not linger in the danger zones behind, in front and to the sides of these vehicles because it is difficult for the truck driver to see you.
    
8. When shopping, be sure to park in an appropriate-sized spot. Position the vehicle in the center of the parking space to keep your vehicle free from scratches and dings. Pull through the space, if possible, to avoid having to back up. Watch out for small children who may have strayed from their parents. Return shopping carts to stores or corrals to avoid obstruction for other drivers.
    
9. Crime increases during the holidays. To increase safety, park in well-lit areas close to the business you will be visiting. Place any valuables and packages in the trunk or out of sight. When you leave your vehicle, double check that it is locked and have your keys out and ready upon returning. Be alert. If something doesn’t seem right, trust your instincts and avoid the situation.
    
10. Holidays often mean spending more time behind the wheel. Consider postponing driving instruction for new drivers until the stresses of the season have subsided. Limit a newly licensed driver’s travels, especially at night.

Compiled by Dan Allison, Occupational/Driving Therapist, Shepherd Center; Adapted from the National Safety Commission

Be alert. Eliminate distractions. Don’t drive after drinking. It’s simple advice — often repeated and often forgotten. But it’s easy to remember for these three former Shepherd Center patients, each of whom was a pedestrian struck by an automobile.

The occurrence of incidents like this is significant. The federal government recorded 4,280 pedestrian fatalities and an estimated 70,000 injuries in 2010.

“When a car hits a pedestrian, you have this huge mass that’s colliding with something a fraction of its weight,” says Shepherd Center physician Anna Elmers, M.D. “So just by sheer physics, the injuries that occur are going to be significant — often multiple trauma, broken bones and brain and spinal cord injuries.”

In fact, the severity of brain and spinal cord injuries may mean that other injuries, such as ligament damage to knees, may not even have been diagnosed by the time patients arrive at Shepherd Center, Dr. Elmers notes.

“It’s difficult to tell in a trauma setting what a patient ultimately will be able to do,” she says. She has learned that some recoveries are surprising.

Patrick’s Story

Patrick Helper-Ferris didn’t use his usual corner to cross Memphis’ Central Avenue on a Saturday morning walk with his two dogs, Hector and Percival, on July 11, 2009. He didn’t like being shielded from the road by the thick hedge on the northeast corner of the intersection.

“But it was a very hot day, and that hedge was providing shade. So my dogs wanted to go to that shade,” Patrick recalls.

When the traffic light changed, he took the dogs briskly into the crosswalk to be sure he could get across the five-lane road.

“I don’t remember being struck,” Patrick says. From the police investigation, he knows a driver unfamiliar with the neighborhood was looking for street signs and didn’t see the traffic light. The car, traveling at 40 to 45 miles an hour, struck a sport utility vehicle “so hard that it spun around 360 degrees and knocked me out of the crosswalk and back onto the sidewalk I had just left,” he explains.

Patrick, now 43, remembers nothing of the next two weeks. It was a frightening time for his wife, Laura Helper-Ferris. She returned home from a tai chi class that Saturday to find one of the dogs, Hector, on the front porch. Soon after, a woman arrived who had found an injured Percival at the accident scene. She had taken the dog to a veterinarian and used the dog collar to find Laura. They went to the accident scene and tracked Patrick to the Regional Medical Center at Memphis.

He had sustained a complete T-2 spinal cord injury, causing paralysis from his chest down. His left wrist and clavicle also were broken, causing severe nerve damage in that arm. His head was hit hard enough to damage his peripheral vision on the left side.

After 10 days with his life in the balance, Patrick had spinal surgery in Memphis. He was on a ventilator when he arrived at Shepherd Center on July 27, 2009. He needed multiple procedures to overcome his lung problems, but finally was able to breathe on his own.

In physical and occupational therapy, Patrick learned to roll, sit up, slide on a board from bed to chair, and use a swing and lift for the toilet and shower. Physical therapy helped restore about 25 percent of the function of his damaged left arm. “The index finger and thumb can close, so that helps,” he says.

“I tried to use my hands as much as I could, especially the left one — practiced working those arms, turning the chair, driving the chair,” he recalls.

Laura stayed in Atlanta throughout Patrick’s four months of treatment, living first in housing provided by Shepherd Center and then with a woman who responded to a call for help from the Quaker community. That host even permitted Hector and the mended Percival to come along. Later, she lived with Patrick in a Shepherd Center apartment when he graduated to Shepherd’s Day Program. Laura recalls that Shepherd Center therapists were “incredible teachers,” training her to help Patrick move in and out of his chair, dress his lower body and even to suction a tracheotomy tube, although the last task proved unnecessary as he recovered.

She described his homecoming on Dec. 5, 2009 as “triumphant.” Friends, neighbors, Quakers, family and coworkers pitched in to help modify the couple’s home for Patrick. They raised money and even helped design and build wheelchair ramps and bathroom and kitchen renovations.

After more therapy and four followup surgeries in Memphis, Patrick resumed the college classes he had begun before the accident with the support of his employer. In January 2011, he returned to his job as an information systems administrator. He expects to receive his college diploma in January 2014.

In 2012, Patrick started working as a volunteer counselor for a Memphis suicide prevention hotline.

“I had been looking for an opportunity to give back,” he says. “Since the accident, I’ve really been humbled by the generosity and kindness of just about everyone in the world — certainly, my family, friends and coworkers. But anywhere I go, strangers hold doors and are very helpful.”

Patrick now drives a customized van, purchased with family support. One of his persistent injuries is a vision “field cut,” like a smudge on the left lens of a pair of glasses. He adds, “When I stop at an intersection, I definitely turn my head around to be sure I’m not missing anyone stepping from a corner, especially on my left side.”

Jay’s Story

Jay O’Neal “woke up” one day in 2006 at Shepherd Center, looking in a bathroom mirror.

The face looking back at him was scarred. His head was shaved.

“I thought, ‘What happened to me?’ I was kind of waking up to the world,” says Jay, now 28. “I’m glad it happened at Shepherd because they were so much better able to explain it to me and handle me.”

Shepherd Center professionals explained that a drunken driver had veered off the road and hit him as he walked toward his car after a church outing at a Columbus, Ga., park, on the night of June 14, 2006.

The impact “completely crushed” his pelvis, requiring major reconstructive surgery at Columbus Regional Hospital. “I’ve got a lot of titanium bolts, screws and that kind of thing,” he says.

“They saved my life,” Jay says. “My family was all excited about it.” Then a doctor told his relatives: “You don’t understand. That’s not his worst injury.”

All four lobes of Jay’s brain had been injured. When doctors let him emerge from a medically induced coma, he was confused and prone to outbursts. His family had been told to consider a nursing home, and then “Shepherd Center found us,” he says. Only after his transfer to Shepherd did Jay regain awareness of what was happening to him.

“What I love about Shepherd Center is they try to build community among patients and staff,” Jay says. He dined with other patients and was expected to keep track of his own treatment schedule.

“They taught me how to be self-reliant and functioning,” Jay says. “Every morning, I had to look at the therapy schedule and see where to be. My recovery was up to me.” He also credits Shepherd with promoting early therapy for patients with brain injury, rather than waiting for the brain to heal itself. The approach worked for him.

“It was a gradual thing,” he recalls. “I’m not going to lie and say there was never a time that I sat there and cried because my life had changed. But there were things that would happen that would make me realize life isn’t all that much different.”

One was an outing with a fellow patient. They got approval one day to go with their mothers to an offsite restaurant — to the horror of their mothers. “They said, ‘You’re not leaving the hospital.’ But we did. It made me realize I’m normal. I thought, ‘Look at me, I’m in public.’”

Jay’s family participated in training at Shepherd Center before he went home, and he continued to improve with physical, speech and cognitive therapy in Columbus.

Jay had been pursuing paramedic training before the accident. But in fall 2007, he transferred to Columbus State University and became a communications major. “I think it is quite ironic,” he says, because his family was told at one point that he would have to relearn how to read, write and talk again. He wrote a paper on patient communication at rehabilitation hospitals, centered on his Shepherd Center experience. The paper was approved for presentation at a national conference.

He expects to receive his diploma in December 2013, but he already is working as executive director of the Contact Disability Resource Center in Columbus.

Now, he works to prevent drunken driving. He is alert in restaurants to patrons stumbling toward the door. “I’ll pay for their taxi, and then I’ll go to the bartender and say you’re overpouring,” Jay says.

He calls his healing “a true gift from God” and says he has no anger toward the driver who hit him.

“She needs her own healing,” Jay says. “It was a mistake. I’m getting better and I hope she’s getting better. I don’t regret the accident. This has made me who I am.”

Von’s Story

Von Fusco, 18, of Orlando, Fla., would still like to have a career in the Air Force, though he knows his career path may have to change. That is the strongest sign of his recovery since he was literally knocked off an Orlando street.

He and a friend got off a city bus on the way to another friend’s home. It was some distance to the nearest crosswalk, but they started across the street while the light for oncoming traffic was red. They started too late.

“I was told the driver was on the phone and hit the gas when the light turned green,” Von says.

The impact broke his legs, shattered his right wrist and severely injured his brain. That was Sept. 3, 2012.

“I don’t remember the two weeks before the accident or anything until my birthday on Oct. 21,” he says. “I woke up with two metal rods in my legs. That’s how I knew something happened.”

In high school JROTC, Von routinely ran 10 miles. But when he regained his faculties on Oct. 21, he needed a helmet to protect his head when he walked.

At Shepherd Center, Von started walking slowly with a therapist close behind for support. But he progressed quickly. He graduated from inpatient care on Nov. 6 and left Shepherd Pathways outpatient care on Dec. 14.

“You need inner strength,” he says. “What gave me the physical strength was the doctors’ and therapists’ work with me. What gave me the spiritual strength was the love of my friends and family.”

Once home, Von got back on track at Colonial High School, doing some classwork at home. He graduated with his class this past June.

By summer, he was “pretty much up to speed” and training to run in a 5K race.

While on disability status, he would like to attend college if he can secure funding. Otherwise, he will work when he is cleared for employment. In either case, he still hopes to join the Air Force when he’s 23. His father is a full-time recruiter in the Air Force Reserve.

Von is able to drive now, and he does so with caution.

“One thing I never do is touch my cell phone while driving. There’s no reason to,” he says. He spreads that message to his friends.

“A majority — not all of them unfortunately — but a majority of them do learn from what happened to me,” he says.

Written By David Simpson
Photography By Jamie Harmon, Louie Favorite and Jacque Brund

But driving experts like Rob Foss, Ph.D., say that thinking is backward. “Parents should put teens in the newest, safest car in the family,” says Rob, who directs the University of North Carolina’s Center for the Study of Young Drivers. “The tendency is to put them in the junker, but with that rationale, you’re putting a higher priority on the car than on the person.”

If you aren’t sure which car in the family offers the best protection, check out the safety ratings. The government’s five-star rating system rates cars in terms of collision safety (www.safercar.gov), as does the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (http://www.iihs.org/ratings). Consumer Reports also offers detailed reports on vehicle safety features available on each vehicle model.

While no car – no matter is how safe it is – is guaranteed to protect against accidents, here are a few common safety features available in newer cars:

• Electronic stability control, which senses when the car is starting to lose control and automatically applies the brake to one or more wheels to turn the vehicle in the appropriate direction. It is mostly found in full-size vehicles that are more prone to rollovers.
• Forward collision warning signals when the car gets too close to another car, serving as an alert to brake or steer.
• Lane departure warning senses and monitors lane markings and warns when the car is unintentionally drifting or leaving the road altogether.
• Back-up auto sensors can be installed on the back bumper to help detect anything behind the car when it’s in reverse.

Other features, such as low tire-pressure monitoring, automatic headlights and rain trackers can also be useful to drivers – new and experienced.

While the bells and whistles are helpful, they shouldn’t take the place of good practices and consistent awareness, says Jim Kennedy, a driving rehabilitation specialist at Shepherd Center. “If you become dependent on these devices, and they malfunction, then you risk putting yourself and your passengers in danger.”

A video camera in the back of the vehicle, for example, has the potential to get drivers out of the habit of checking mirrors. If the camera is blocked or has sun glare, objects are never seen.

“These features are nice to have,” he says, “but you can’t depend on cameras and warning sounds to tell you if you are going to hit something. Nothing is better than a visual.”

Homer Stillwell of Accident Avoidance Workshops says the best safety device may be the “off” switch. “The phone has one, the radio has one, the iPod has one and so on,” he says. “Drivers who are responsible enough to use the off switch are always safer than those who don’t.”

Written by Sara Baxter
Photography by Meg Porter

TIME TO DRIVE (www.timetodriveapp.com), developed by the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center (HSRC) and the Center for the Study of Young Drivers, this app helps parents supervise their teen drivers during the practice period. Time to Drive will record the total time of driving and driving in a variety of conditions, keep track of hard stops, provide tips for parents, encourage the parent-teen team to meet driving goals and show a map of past trips. It also generates a log of trips you can provide to the department of motor vehicles. It is available in the iTunes store for $3.99.

DRIVE SCRIBE^® (www.drivescribe.com) is a free smart-phone application aimed at preventing distracted driving. It leverages the phone’s GPS system, mapping data and accelerometer to monitor speed, traffic regulation compliance and sudden movements, such as slamming on the brakes or swerving. Drivers place the smart phone in the car and listen to audio notifications of upcoming stop signs and speed-limit excesses. Aimed at teen drivers, DriveScribe also blocks texts, emails and incoming phone calls. Parents can even elect to receive texts and emails generated from the application to let them know of their teen’s progress.

WISEDRIVE (downloadable for $.99) automatically detects drivers moving at high speeds, disables audio text messaging notifications and sends out an automated reply.

MY MAX SPEED uses the internal GPS to log speed and location every five seconds and downloads all data into a spreadsheet. The app is available for Android smartphones for $4.99 on the Android Marketplace.

SAFE DRIVER monitors the location and driving practices — such as a car’s top speed, excessive acceleration, braking and turning — of drivers and alerts others via email or text whenever the driver exceeds a specific speed. (It even shows where the infractions occurred.) The basic app is free, and an upgraded version costs $4.99.

DANGERS OF DISTRACTED DRIVING is a free app that discusses the consequences of distracted driving, introduces the concepts of feet-per-second and following too closely, and provides visual scenarios to illustrate the concepts discussed.

STEER CLEAR MOBILE^®, a free app from State Farm Insurance, consists of five modules: self-assessment, driving logs, safe driving pledge, video testimonials in which teens describe accidents they were in and the mistakes that caused them, and then a final self-assessment. When completed, drivers are eligible for a State Farm safe driving discount.

NEWLYLICENSED.COM (www.newlylicensed.com) sells car magnets that identify new drivers in hopes that other drivers will use caution, courtesy and patience on road when they encounter young drivers. The hope is to reduce teen accidents.

Written by Sara Baxter

Alan Brown knows this fear all too well. On a rainy day in July 2003 in Cartersville, Ga., his 17-year-old son Joshua drove his truck through standing water. The vehicle hydroplaned and crashed into a tree. Joshua died nine days later.

Looking back, Brown expresses remorse about his son’s inexperience as a driver. “Joshua didn’t take driver’s education,” he says. “We didn’t have access to it, so all he got was what I taught him.”

Experience is the primary factor in producing good teen drivers, says Rob Foss, Ph.D., director of the Center for the Study of Young Drivers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “Good drivers have a deeply ingrained understanding of what driving is all about. They know what they need to be doing, and that knowledge can only come from experience.”

In helping their teenagers gain that experience, parents can look to state drivers licensing for the minimum requirements. But experts encourage parents to go much further to help their teens get the experience they need to drive safely.

Most states require supervised driving for at least six months. Many also mandate 50 documented hours of supervised experience and every state grants driving privileges on a “graduated” basis, typically up to age 18. New drivers in Georgia, for example, are prohibited from driving between midnight and 6 a.m., and in the first six months after a driver obtains a license, only immediate family members may ride as passengers.

But Dr. Foss notes that studies show teens need a minimum of 120 hours of driving experience before being licensed to drive independently and safely. Also, he says new drivers should be prohibited from driving after 9 p.m. instead of midnight during the graduated licensing period. That’s because 70 to 80 percent of nighttime crashes among high school-aged drivers occur between 9 p.m. and midnight, and about 85 percent of their nighttime trips occur during that window.

THE PARENT AS COACH
“Graduated licenses help teenagers build up their skills so they master them,” Dr. Foss says. “This gradual experience has helped prevent crashes.” To guide their teenagers through the learning process, he advises parents not try to act as a driver’s education teacher but as a coach during supervised driving.

“Don’t tell them what to do,” Rob cautions. “If you tell them 20 things, you’re wasting your breath on 19 of them. Let them make a mistake if it’s not dangerous. Speak calmly in a mild tone and give helpful advice. Research shows this is more effective.”

Jim Kennedy, a driver rehabilitation specialist at Shepherd Center, suggests that parents emphasize the following process as they supervise their teen’s driving — meanwhile realizing that these actions become intuitive as drivers gain more experience in various conditions:

1. Search the environment, including a check of mirrors.
2. Identify hazards, conditions and situations.
3. Predict what others will do.
4. Decide what to do.
5. Execute that decision.

“The reaction time for teens is quick,” Kennedy says, “but their knowledge base is limited, so they may not react the right way.” Take the case of a car veering off the road. “The instinct is to yank the steering wheel the other way and probably go too far in the other direction,” he says, “but, of course, that can have consequences.”

GOING THE EXTRA MILE
After the death of his son, Alan Brown embarked on a mission to ensure that Georgia teenagers gain experience behind the wheel before receiving a driver’s license.

In 2005, he was instrumental in getting the Georgia General Assembly to pass Joshua’s Law, which requires every 16-year-old in the state to take driver’s education and participate in 40 hours of supervised driving to qualify for a license.

Even still, many experts — and Brown, as well — recommend that teenagers log more than the required number of supervised hours behind the wheel and that they go beyond driver’s education classes to get more hands-on experience.

“If you have completed the minimum requirements in driver training, you are a minimally trained driver,” says Homer Stillwell, founder of Accident Avoidance Workshops, a defensive driving program.“At best, you have been trained in ‘normal’ driving conditions, which means you know how to operate the vehicle and what the lines and signs mean. But there’s more to driving than that.”

The experts agree that the key factor is supervising teen drivers in the many varied conditions they will experience as independent drivers. One tool to help parents with this task is a smartphone app called Time to Drive (timetodriveapp.com). It records the total amount of driving and driving in a variety of conditions, keeps track of hard stops, provides tips for parents, encourages the parent-teen team to meet driving goals and shows a map of past trips. (See the apps sidebar for more ideas.)

And parents can lead by example. “Kids start learning to drive the minute you put them in a car,” Brown says. “If you speed or text, they will think it’s OK.”

In preventing more teen driving crashes, Shepherd Center is making its own contribution. As part of its injury prevention efforts, the hospital has a launched a safe driving campaign themed “Reasons — Big and Small.” It presents a series of answers to a simple question that matters to every driver: “What’s your reason for wanting to arrive at your destination safely?”

As part of the campaign, which kicked off in April, Bridget Metzger, Shepherd’s director of injury prevention and education, is visiting high schools and making community presentations.

“The number one thing kids should know is that they are driving a potentially lethal weapon and should pay attention,” Metzger says. “I’ve worked with a lot of injured teenagers here at Shepherd Center. Their only wish is that they could go back and turn it around. Most car crashes are preventable.”

Written by Sara Baxter
Photography by Louie Favorite