Positive Attitude Transcends Harm - Testimony of a Road Carnage Victim

Death waved his ugly claws at Mr Steven Trevor Harrison (45, who is principal administrative manager at the Pietermaritzburg Municipality’s Oribi office on September 29, 1997.)

On September 4 this year, exactly five years to the month, death again stood at his doorstep but he refused to open the door.

But his car sustained damage worth R28 000 when someone failed to respect the robot at the intersection and hit his car. The same sort of thing had happened to Harrison in 1997. The first accident left him with a permanent disability. During the second one he only injured his neck slightly because he was driving a bigger car and not a motorcycle.

Harrison believes that a positive attitude has enabled him to rise beyond the stifling cloud of gloom and despondency that often befalls the victims of road carnage. In an exclusive interview with Igalelo, he explained what, and how it had affected his health – he now has an arm that can no longer straighten, has lost his hearing in one of his ears, and he constantly hears sounds like Christmas bells in his other ear – especially at night when it is quiet. The first accident motivated him to serve other people who had been involved in similar situations. He does that by doing voluntary work with government and church structures that assist people who have been involved in road accidents and support their families. In his own words, Harrison recalls the first accident that nearly took his life:

"I was traveling home from work on my motorbike along New England Road, in Pietermaritzburg. As I was approaching the intersection and about to turn left, a taxi (kombi) came from the other direction. I had the right of way, and I had indicated that I was turning left in good time. But he obviously did not heed my signal.

All I still remember is that I fell. I had a serious head injury so I did not recall anything. For the first 12 days I could not recall anything. I asked my wife many times why I was in hospital. According to my neurosurgeon, it is normal not to remember – of course depending on the seriousness of the injury. I was in hospital for three weeks and was off work for five months.

I have a wife and three children – two boys and a girl who is the eldest.

According to my wife, a colleague of mine who is in traffic law enforcement was notified on the road and rushed out to the scene and then went to tell my wife what had happened.

I was rushed to Medi-Clinic where I had a major head operation and surgery to my arm before I was taken to St. Anne’s for a CAT scan, i.e. to check if there was any brain damage.

Fortunately this was not so. But I am told that there was too much blood in my helmet. I was almost drowning in it when they removed it from my head. Meanwhile, I had a dislocated elbow – it was badly broken. The orthopedic surgeon saw that my arm was swollen and believed that I could lose it if he did not operate. Later on I was to have an ear operation.

Apparently my heart did stop three times. I’m told that a friend was passing by and he stopped to see what had happened on the road. He saw someone carrying my playing cards and knew immediately that it was me lying there next to the motorcycle. He then came straight to me and shook me by my shirt and called my name several times, and with that I started breathing. Medically they couldn’t get me around.

I was already working as manager here (at the traffic office) for four years when the accident took place. I started by working at the Christ the King Hospital at Ixopo in 1987, and was later to become town clerk there in 1993.

My educational background includes a qualification in public administration, which I obtained in 1991 whilst working at the hospital.

I was married in 1983, my first born child came in 1987 so we moved to Ixopo whilst my wife was pregnant with my eldest daughter.

You asked about my wife’s reaction when the accident was reported to her.

My wife has a high sense of humour: so she thought the traffic officer who came to bring the message was playing a trick on her. It’s normal though for people to undergo stages of denial. It was a kind of defense mechanism trying to wish away the harsh reality in front of you. When I came back to work five months later, she started to go into depression. My neurosurgeon says it is quite normal – they call it a delayed reaction – that is to say she later started to think of what might have happened to me. She had to be strong for mr and especially for the children. The first-born had just turned ten, and the boys were then seven and four respectively. But I noticed that my left hand side was paralyzed. It’s the way the head reacts to bodily injuries. If you are injured on the right hand side, it affects your left hand side – so I was effectively paralyzed on the left hand side. I couldn’t talk, I relied on the drip for food and oxygen. The first thing I noticed for sure for the first time after 12 days was that I had bars on both sides of me.

My wife had her fears you know. She was concerned that I could become bedridden, and a burden to her. She taught I would have personality changes e.g. abrupt aggression and inertia, not do anything, have no inspiration or would not be able to talk to people and would go through stages of darkness and gloom.

At first, you ask questions like: "What am I doing here? Why did it happen?" Then you say to yourself: "Self it has happened!" I had days when I was very down. I got very depressed. When I saw kids, family and friends, I used to get emotional. I had too much time to think. I was thinking about the trauma my family had been through, and whether or not I would still be able to work for my family. I may forgive the driver, but I have everything against the way that guy drove – not him as a person. The issue at stake is about law enforcement generally. I wouldn’t be serving the traffic police if I didn’t have a concern that the law must be enforced. The taxi driver tried to put the blame at my door. I did not report the matter to the police. But then the state did open a case against the guy. But in a court case people tend to be defensive. So during the court hearing the guy started putting the blame on me. It was only his behaviour which made me think: "Oh, I hope you get what is coming to you."

But if he had been truthful, admitted guilt, I would have asked the magistrate to be as lenient as possible."

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