Parent to Parent: Seatbelt Safety

WSVN -- Dr. Adam Blomberg is on a mission. He knows first hand what happens when you don't buckle up.

Dr. Adam Blomberg: "This is me my senior year in high school."

Adam missed his prom and his high school graduation all because he didn't get his seat belt on in time. He and a friend were pulling out of a gas station, Adam had the seat belt in hand, but before he could buckle it a car broad-sided them.

Dr. Adam Blomberg: "I'm was ejected from the right back seat out of the left side window 39 feet 8 inches directly on my head."

The crash left him in a coma with massive brain injuries. It took months, but he did recover, eventually graduating from high school, college and finally medical school.

Now he's an anesthesiologist at Memorial Regional Hospital in Broward, the same hospital he was taken to after the accident.

Dr. Adam Blomberg: "I love being an anaesthesiologist, but I also love doing injury prevention. I truly believe I have that unique ability to touch lives this way, and if I didn't do it, I feel like it would be a complete waste."

Adam now tells his story at schools all over the country. Reader's Digest calls him the Road Warrior.

Dr. Adam Blomberg: "That is her dead on scene, a young mother of two."

The images shown to high schoolers are too graphic for TV, but it helps these Cypress Bay high schoolers to get the message loud and clear.

Lindsey Zionts: "Just seeing the images of people my age, and you know people that could be my friends, it's just very scary to see things like that happen to them."

Ironically, it happened to Adam's brother Michael, even after helping him with these safe driving presentations.

Dr. Adam Blomberg: "Michael went out the night before, had a little too much to drink, got into a car and didn't put on his seat belt. He was killed instantly, my own brother."

Many of these kids admit they don't always buckle up.

Austin Friedman: "Just cause I'm going around the neighborhood, and I don't feel the need to. I feel like nothing's going to happen."

But now, they say they're going to make a change.

Jay Shectman: "We need to see what is actually happening, and this is real people die every day from this."

Lindsey Zionts: "I'm going to wear my seat belt 100 percent of the time now, instead of 70 percent of the time."

Exactly the words doctor Adam wants to hear.

Dr. Adam Blomberg: "I might not be able to affect every single person in this room, but if I reach one of them, that's one person that was reached."

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Dr. Valerie Goode
http://www.drvaleriegoode.com/

Driving Responsibly in Vehicles Education
http://www.drivingresponsibly.com