Motorbike Riders Plead With Young Drivers to Smarten Up

Motorbike Riders Plead With Young Drivers to Smarten Up

Mum and daughter motorcycle riders, Jenni and Heidi Haydon are pleading with young drivers to smarten up when it comes to driving. Speaking from real-life experience, 26 year old Heidi was left a complete T4 paraplegic following a motorcycle crash in December 2009 when she was just 22. Heidi plans to share her story with over 14,000 high school students at the upcoming bstreetsmart event at Sydney's Allphones Arena this August 20-22.

-Being in a crash has changed my life completely,' says Heidi. -My life ended as I knew it. What I was used to, what I took for granted and what was easy for me, was now a thing of the past.

-I was a good driver and rider before my crash. I followed the rules and never had any issues,' adds Heidi. The roads are unpredictable - you never know what may happen next.'

Heidi had been out riding with her mum Jenni for the day. Jenni headed home on her motorbike in Woonona in Wollongong and Heidi decided to take a side trip to the supermarket. Heidi was t-boned by a ute that bulldozed her in to the guardrail after the driver failed to give way on a roundabout.

-I remember a split second in Intensive Care when the nurse told me I would never walk again,' says Heidi. -A tear streamed down my face. All I could think was that my life was over - I would never ride a motorbike again, I'd never be able to go out with my mates and feel comfortable, I couldn't go to music gigs like I loved to,' says Heidi who is paralysed from the chest down.

Heidi spent six months in hospital re-learning all the basic life skills that most people take for granted.

-I had to learn the basics of life with no movement from my chest down, no trunk muscles to help me do the simplest of things,' adds Heidi. -Like how to brush my teeth again, how to eat, how to cough and sneeze. Even things down to having a shower, using the bathroom, cooking and going out with friends all had to be relearned.'

Heidi's mum Jenni had to take four months off work and relocate to Sydney for 18 months to help Heidi through the rehabilitation process.

-The crash changes your life significantly for quite a while,' says Jenni. -The commitment and energy required to care for a loved one in this situation is enormous.'

-As a motorbike rider I used to take lots of risks,' says Jenni. -I loved going fast on windy, twisty roads and pushing myself and the bike to the limit. It was probably more about the thrill than the journey. It was not until Heidi's crash that the full impact of what potentially could happen to me out on the road was realised.

Now I enjoy the journey and ride for the love of the journey not the thrill. I now ride in such a way that will ensure I can always ride again next weekend.'

Both Jenni and Heidi have since however taken up riding again and Heidi is enthusiastic about sharing her story with other young drivers in the bstreetsmart program.

-bstreetsmart is highly confrontational for young people,' says Stephanie Wilson, Area Trauma Clinical Nurse Consultant at Sydney's Westmead Hospital. -Students witness a highly emotive car crash re-enactment followed by real life stories from young drivers such as Heidi. Having these real life stories reinforces the messages communicated by the actors through the re-enactment.

-It is real and it can happen to them,' adds Stephanie. -We want them to be under no illusions that this is likely to happen to at least 1 in 4 of their mates.'

Fed up with the disproportionately high number of young car crash victims that came through their trauma ward on a daily basis, Stephanie and her colleague, Julie Seggie founded the bstreetsmart program in 2006. Since its inception, nearly 70,000 young people have taken part in the program.

For more information, visit www.bstreetsmart.org