Seat Belts

David McLaren

Way back in the 1970s, before wearing seat belts was law, there was a radio and TV presenter called Jimmy Saville who came on TV telling us to, "Clunk Click Every Trip". That meant ? put your seat belt on. The adverts showed you people that were in car accidents and I remember thinking, "Imagine that happening to you". Well, it did ? to me.

I was a lad of 17 and it was at the time that the bin men in Glasgow were on strike and the rubbish was building up everywhere. On the day that the strike ended I got a lift to work from my boss as usual. There were dustbin lorries everywhere clearing the backlog of rubbish. As we turned into a one way street, we came across 3 of them blocking our way ? one of them was right on the corner and gave us a wave to go round but as we did so another lorry was reversing back and we didn't see it until we hit it. Because I wasn't wearing my seat belt, I went straight through the windscreen. To begin with I didn't realise how much damage had been done as I only felt as though I had been slapped in the face. People were gathering around me and I was beginning to wonder just how bad it actually was when the ambulance arrived. I was taken to hospital in an ambulance with a police escort to help us get through the lights.

When I got to the hospital I was put on a trolley and rushed into casualty at the Victoria Infirmary where the doctor and nurses checked me over. The doctor told the nurses that although I was badly bruised, most of the problem was on my face. He then asked me if I had eaten anything this morning and I replied that yes, I had. The doctor said to me that he was going to phone a surgeon at Canniesburn Hospital, where they used to do all the plastic surgery treatments, to come across the city to see me. After he arrived and had seen my injuries, this surgeon wanted to operate right away. Unfortunately for me, I could not be put under general anaesthetic as I had eaten that morning. Things got worse. I was put under a local anaesthetic instead and after numerous injections into my face, around my eyes and inside my mouth, I endured 4 hours on the operating table, wide awake, as they painstakingly picked out the glass bit by bit. That was the longest 4 hours of my life and the most painful as well.

After the doctor and the nurses had finished with me, they told me that they had put 82 stitches altogether into my face and around my eyes and since then I have had 5 more operations - and a lot more stitches - to fix the damage that was done that day.

So, when experts come on TV and point out the dangers of doing, or not doing, certain things you should listen to them because look what happened to me ? it could happen to you as well. After all, they are the ones that have to put you back together again ? if they can, if you are lucky enough. And over 30 years later and I still have the scars on my face and in my mind.