Ellen's story: the importance of seatbelts
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WARNING: Video content includes injury detail and imagery that viewers may find distressing.
To mark the launch of Brake Road Safety Week we are releasing Ellen’s story – a short video showing the horrific consequences of being involved in a collision whilst not wearing a seatbelt.
Ellen was 19 years old when she was on her way home following a shift at work on 14 June 2022. Travelling on the Stixwould Road near Woodhall Spa, Ellen took her seatbelt off momentarily to reach for something on the floor. At that moment, the car in which Ellen was a passenger left the road on a sharp bend and collided with a tree. The consequences for Ellen were devastating, and would change her life.
Ellen was taken to Hull Royal Infirmary where she was put into an induced coma while the extent of her injuries was assessed. Ellen had punctured lungs, a bleed on the brain, a deep gash to her head, a spinal fracture and a femur fracture. She could not talk or walk.
Defying the odds, and exceeding expectations, Ellen has come a long way and is now working and studying at college. Wanting to find something positive to take from her ordeal, Ellen got in touch with the Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership (LRSP), to ask how she could help in raising awareness of the importance of seatbelts.
Today’s video release is a two minute edit of the full version of Ellen’s Story, which is being shown in schools across the county as part of the LRSP education programme.
Nick Matthews, Road Safety Education Supervisor at the LRSP said, “It’s a testament to Ellen’s character that after all she has been through, she approached us wanting to do something to help make our roads safer. We are very proud of what she has achieved with this video. It’s not easy to talk on camera, especially about such a traumatic thing, but Ellen speaks with such honesty and her story is compelling. It’s a potentially lifesaving message and using Ellen’s voice to reach people, both online and in schools, will really help convey the difference a seatbelt makes.”
Road Safety Week will run from today (17 November) until 23 November. The theme is “after the crash” recognising the impact on victims and their loved ones for long after a collision has happened, as was the case for Ellen and her family.
The importance of seatbelts is a key area for our engagement and enforcement. Not wearing a seatbelt is identified as one of the behaviours that cause the most harm on Lincolnshire’s roads, along with speed, distraction, carelessness and drink/drug driving. Nationally, on average 651 people are killed or seriously injured each year due to not wearing a seatbelt. If you’re caught travelling in a vehicle without wearing a seatbelt you could be given a fixed penalty notice of £100 on the spot.
Ellen’s message today is, “If you are going to take your belt off, pull over. I was in the back and this all happened to me. If I was driving, I wouldn’t be here right now and I have been told that by the emergency services. I was naive and silly. Big mistake. So please, wear your seatbelt.”
Showing this video in schools is just a part of the broad programme of education undertaken by the LRSP. Throughout road safety week, we will be highlighting the invaluable work of our Road Safety Officers and their engagement will children in all key stages of education.
They all thought that I'd been hospital for six months. I wouldn't be able to talk. I'd be going to a care home or something.
Just keep your seatbelt on, please.
My injuries - where do we start from?
My lungs deflated...they got re-inflated at the side of the road.
I did 5 or 6 weeks in Hull Royal Infirmary and I was in an induced coma for I want to say it was just 2 or 3 days it was just while they got all the operations done and figured out what was wrong with me. I had a big gash to my head.
The plastic surgeon, it took her like 4.5 hours just to sew my head up.
I had a bleed on the it took them a couple of days to find that because it was so small, but so effective, like, it stopped me speaking for like a good 3.5, 4 weeks and then I had a femur fracture and spinal fracture.
Yeah, the experience, it's changed my life a vast amount.
I couldn't look after myself, I couldn't walk, couldn't go up stairs properly. It was really, really bad.
In the first year I was so down, so depressed and low.
I just thought, “I'm not going to be able to do anything”.
I've come a long, long way.
If you're going to take your belt off, pull over.
I was in the back and this all happened to me.
If I was driving, I wouldn't be here right now and I've been told that by the emergency services.
I was naive and silly and a big mistake.
So... Yeah.
Just please wear your seatbelt.