{"id":19530,"date":"2014-04-19T10:25:53","date_gmt":"2014-04-19T17:25:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsider.com\/?p=19530"},"modified":"2019-07-24T12:13:31","modified_gmt":"2019-07-24T19:13:31","slug":"distracted-driving-project-yellow-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uhaul.com\/blog\/2014\/04\/19\/distracted-driving-project-yellow-light\/","title":{"rendered":"Distracted Driving: Project Yellow Light"},"content":{"rendered":"

June 10, 2007. 11:47pm.<\/h4>\n

The phone rings, jarring me out of a deep sleep. It\u2019s from the premiere trauma center in the Mid-Atlantic.\u00a0 Our son has been in an accident; we need to get there right away.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know if you\u2019ve ever received a call from the emergency room but that\u2019s about all they tell you; all they\u00a0can\u00a0tell you.\u00a0 It felt like someone had stuck their fist into my gut and twisted.\u00a0 I was literally doubled over in pain.\u00a0 Call it mother\u2019s intuition, instincts \u2013 I knew right then and there that my beautiful 16-year-old son was dead.<\/p>\n

My husband tried to remain optimistic as we took this 50 mile odyssey in the middle of the night to the hospital. It was surreal; we were simply trying to figure out how it happened; what had happened.\u00a0 I called one of Hunter\u2019s friends; the young man who was driving the car was dead.\u00a0 Hunter was in the passenger seat.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How could this be?<\/p>\n

We reach the hospital \u2013 it\u2019s huge and overbearing. The halls are a maze, pristine, white; our footsteps echoing as we walk the near-empty space to the trauma center. I felt so small and insignificant \u2013 it was hard to breathe.\u00a0 We were hurrying along but I dreaded reaching our destination.<\/p>\n

\"Hunter<\/a>There he was.\u00a0 His body was perfect. He didn\u2019t even look badly bruised or hurt.\u00a0 He was attached to so many machines\u2026 something keeping his heart pumping.\u00a0 Something else working his lungs.\u00a0 His eyes were closed like he was in deep sleep.<\/p>\n

He was dead.\u00a0 Hunter Garner, my first child, with everything in the world ahead of him.\u00a0 There would be no summer break.\u00a0 No graduation from high school with his dozens of friends. No Virginia Tech or maybe UVA.\u00a0 No girlfriend.\u00a0 Marriage.\u00a0 Children.\u00a0 Career.\u00a0 No dog to grow old with.\u00a0 His life cut short right before his prime.<\/p>\n

I pretty much died that day too.\u00a0 If you want to know a mother\u2019s definition of hell, this is mine, right here in a nutshell.<\/p>\n

Within days, it was clear that there were two things that were critical to my own survival, and that of my husband and daughter.<\/p>\n

1. \u00a0We didn\u2019t want anyone else to go through the hell we were experiencing
\n2. \u00a0We didn\u2019t want anyone ever to forget Hunter<\/p>\n

Project Yellow Light Hunter Garner Scholarship<\/h4>\n

After some homework, we discovered that car crashes are the number one killer of teens in the U.S. Not gang violence, not teen suicide, not drug overdose or some horrible disease.\u00a0 Car crashes.\u00a0 So we started a scholarship in Hunter\u2019s name and it was vital to us that the teens themselves play a huge role in the reversal of this horrific phenomena.<\/p>\n

Applicants create 30-to-60 second videos to convince their peers to be careful when they first start driving. No essay. Everything online. The contest is open to all full-time high school seniors and college students in the U.S.<\/p>\n

In this format, videos can be viewed again and again so the messages sink in and spread; giving a ripple effect to our cause. It\u2019s all about giving the youth ownership of this critically important message; and allowing them to talk about it in a way that will attract and appeal to each other.<\/p>\n