Learning The Hard Way

At the end of August in 1988, an apprentice mechanic and nearly a year out of Whakatane High School, I got into a car with a severely drunk driver. This decision was fundamentally dumb and should have cost me my life. I went through the windscreen when we failed to take the first bend after leaving the party we were drinking at. My friend and colleague who was with us at the party was also a volunteer firefighter, luckily for me, he was the first on the scene.

I was assessed as too critical at Whakatane Hospital and collected by the Intensive Care Retrieval Team from Waikato. My book is about this accident as well as some of the others I have had, and my subsequent, miraculous recovery. It is also a warning to anyone who has or has thought about driving under the influence. Like me you probably think “It won’t happen to me!” – Well, think again.

And try not to learn the hard way.
Matt