‘It’s like part of me died the day of the accident’

SIOBHÁN O’BRIEN who has an acquired brain injury following a road accident wants other road users to know that it only took a split second for her life to be turned upside down.

Nine years ago her car collided with an articulated truck. A newly qualified social worker, she was due to attend a graduation ceremony to receive a master’s degree.

“I don’t remember much of what happened. I was on a house call on October 22, 2001. I was a social worker. All I know is my life has never been the same since,” said Siobhán, who uses an electric wheelchair.

Siobhán, who is one of the people featured in the National Road Safety’s new series of Crashed Lives, said ordinary everyday activities, like shopping or driving, were now extremely difficult for her.

“What is most difficult is accepting what happened to me and how my life has changed so drastically. It is like part of me died on the day of the accident. I can never accept this, never.

“Perhaps I only took my mind off the road for a split second, but that is all it takes. I live with this every single day. I had a head injury and two broken femurs (leg bones) and I had a punctured lung,” said Siobhán, who is aged 32 and lives in independent accommodation in Dundalk, Co Louth.

Siobhán said she wanted to feature in the RSA’s Crashed Lives to make people realise that serious accidents could happen in a split second.

Asked how she saw her future, she replied: “If you had asked me that nine years ago I would have said my life is over, but now I am pleased to say I have a good quality of life.

“It is not the life I wanted, nor the life I would wish on anyone, but it is a quality I never thought I would have.”

Marjorie Flood from Castleknock, Dublin, whose son, Mark, 19, was killed after a night out in Dunshaughlin, Co Meath, in January 2008, is also featured in the campaign.

“He was out celebrating with his friends, He had had a few drinks, strayed out into the road and got hit by a car,” she said.

“Until you are affected you don’t realise how many people are killed needlessly on the roads. I can’t make peace with this. This chap I was so fond of is no longer there and will never walk in the door again,” she said.

Consultant in rehabilitation medicine, Dr Áine Carroll, also featured in the series said the National Rehabilitation Hospital had seen the full spectrum of the catastrophic consequences of collisions that were completely avoidable.

“There is before and there is after and there is no turning back,” she warned.