Personal Injury Law

"No One Should Go Through What I Did"

By Eddie Farah

Christine Olson of Bradenton, Florida got the call the evening of December 7, 2005. Her son told her there had been an accident and she needed to go to Manatee Memorial Hospital. Christine's daughter, Tiffany, had been on a motorcycle with her boyfriend of nearly one year, Dustin Wilder. They rode his 2002 Kawasaki motorcycle to St. Petersburg to attend a bike meet.

Christine got in the car and prayed the entire time that her daughter was okay. But when she arrived, Tiffany was not there. Other area hospitals would not release any information. Christine says she "was in a state of panic" wondering if her 22-year-old daughter was crying out for her Mom.

Finally, the security guard at Manatee Memorial called the Florida Highway Patrol and at 1:30 Christine and her son met them in the parking lot of the hospital. " I'm sorry your daughter is gone." The officer then handed Christine an evidence bag with Tiffany's watch, her broken earring, a toe ring and some lip gloss and told her to call the medical examiners office in the morning.

Something had to change, Christine thought. She waited six and a half hours to find out about her daughter. Christine later found out that that's the average time it takes for a family member to be contacted in case of an emergency. Sometimes it takes days.

Christine finally found out what happened. About 7:00 p.m., a car traveling westbound hit Olson and Wilder who were traveling northbound along U.S. 19 in Palmetto. Tiffany died immediately, breaking her neck when she was thrown 93 feet. Wilder died shortly after the accident. His parents also could not locate him and he died without seeing them one last time.

Christine says her daily mission is to make a significant change in honor of Tiffany. She went to State Representative Bill Galvano from Bradenton and together they pushed for emergency information to be placed in a registry attached to a person's driver's license, naming next of kin and loved ones.

The Emergency Contact Information System allows everyone to enter their information into a database that is accessible by the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (DHSMV). The database is secure and used by most Florida law enforcement agencies.

And she also started a web site, Toinform familiesfirst.com to tell the story of her beautiful daughter and to make her death into a mission. You can enter your contact information through a link on Christine's web site by clicking on the Emergency Contact Information drawing of a vehicle, or directly to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.

As of last year, more than one-half million Floridians had registered their names in the system.

All Floridians are urged to enter their information so someone does not have to repeat Christine's experience. No one plans for accidents and they happen in the blink of an eye. "No one should go through what I did," Christine says. #

Full post as published by Jacksonville Personal Injury Lawyer on August 06, 2008 (boomark / email).